How do I activate WindowsXP now that support has ended?

Question

What Options are there to activate Windows XP nowadays?

The "regular" methods provided with XP (phone and online) don't work anymore. The phone number is not valid for activation anymore (I tried the German one) and the online activation does not work either (in a quick test within a DMZ other protocols like ICMP or HTTP worked fine when I accessed an internet server).

The latest question/answer I could find here on superuser is this one: XP Activation and Dual Booting which doesn't provide an answer to my question. In addition the question asks only if it can be done in general not how (neither does the existing answer say how), and about other problems (dual boot), so I decided to post the question again as specific question just about the activation process.

The solutions can be a workaround (disabling the activation check), but for security reasons, it shouldn't contain a binary download. Preferably it also shouldn't require a network/internet connection. Although there is no way around using WinXP, I want to minimize security risks.

EDIT1: Since quite a few people asked, please note why (in my opinion) this question is not a duplicate of XP Activation and Dual Booting, please see my explanation above. I made a thorough explanation in meta here.

EDIT2: it was suggested to call MS support and/or sales unfortunately they do not help with WinXP anymore.

EDIT3: please be aware that running an outdated OS without security updates poses security risks explained here as BurceWayne points out correctly. Therefore, if possible you should change/upgrade the OS of your device. However in some cases it's not an option to change to a different OS, e.g. because certain drivers/HW/SW is only compatible with Win XP.

EDIT4: note, the activation process comes after entering a installation/serial key (e.g. from the licence sticker)

Answer 1

I found two solutions, and both of them work offline, so you don't have to connect the WinXP system to a network (although I have to use WinXP I try to minimize security risks):

A) Activating over the phone

Calling the current MS activation number for a product still in support (e.g. for activation for Win7) and choosing "Other Products" in the voice menu. This is my preferred one since you don't have to tamper with the system. In my case (Nov 2019) I followed the link to the Microsoft Licensing Activation Centers worldwide telephone numbers.

B) Disabling activation process

Deleting the value of the OOBETimer key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/WPAEvents/OOBETimer) and starting the activation via command prompt: msoobe /a. This will disable the activation requirement for good but might cause issues (although I haven't found any yet) (source)

C) Create a phone confirmation ID yourself (3rd party tool)

You need to download Neo-Desktop/WindowsXPKg, select the phone activation in Windows and run the tool to create the confirmation ID. Detailed instructions are given in the readme section of the tool on the GitHub site. (source)

Side note: The number I used for Germany was +49 89 2444 5093 (checked August.2023) but I would suggest looking at the list provided through the link since those numbers will be updated. US number +1 888-571-2048 is supposed to work as well, but I didn't try it.

Side note 2: Here's a little note from the developer responsible for the Windows Product Activation on YouTube: Blame Me: The INSIDER Secrets of Windows Product Activation!

A small request on my own behalf: if the solution worked for you please consider an upvote, thank you!

Answer 2

I managed to activate an XP license key using this link that I got off of a Microsoft support forum. I don't know how long this link will stay active, but as at posting date it still works.

UPDATE:

The link that I posted is not on the Microsoft site, but to the best of my knowledge it is what Microsoft uses for activation. It is referred to as Microsoft's "Self Service for Mobile".

This link just allows you to manually activate the the installation. So you select activate via phone option, then your XP box activation screen will give you a set of numbers. You enter these numbers into the site and the site gives you the response numbers to enter into the XP installation that you are needing to activate. Then you click on "next" and the activation completes.

So there is no way that this could contain malware or virus's because nothing is installed or run on the box that you are activating, unlike the other options listed here that involve running scripts to by-pass the activation process.

I am just giving my experience here; I had a box belonging to a friend of mine that somehow got into an activation loop (even though it had previously been activated for years), and I got the PC activated using the link. And I did so by following the standard Microsoft activation screens.

I also gave the link to the Microsoft forum where I found this link, but, yes, disclaimer: use at your own discretion.

Answer 3

Regarding failure of online activation, did you check the date on the system?

I activated Windows XP on an old machine one week ago.

After two days of trying to figure out why almost everything Internet-related was not working (browsing, windows update, activation), it turns out the date was wrong and set to 2004.

A wildly wrong date will break anything that uses ssl/tls, as certificates will be assumed to be either expired (if the date is in the future) or not yet valid (if the date is in the past). This apparently includes windows activation.

I changed it to the current date & time and was able to activate and update the OS.

Answer 4

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So, try this .bat script to do this process. Due to the limit size (3.9mb) for .gif files, link for viewers here.

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This .bat script will do it.

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@echo off && cd /d "."
rem :: the windows reg key used to activate process in this bat/cmd read/write/delete ::  
set "_wpaKey=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents"

reg query  "%_WPAKey%" | find /i "OOBETimer"                & rem/ output key value in screen
reg export "%_WPAKey%" ".\PAEvents_SAVE_Original.Reg"       & rem/ save original value in file
reg delete "%_WPAKey%" /v "OOBETimer" /f >nul               & rem/ remove the key/value
reg add    "%_wpaKey%" /v OOBETimer /t REG_BINARY /f        & rem/ recreate the key/value
timeout /t -1 2> nul                                        & rem/ time out to see the results
cd /d "C:\WINDOWS\system32\oobe"                            & rem/ goto to drive/folder C:\WINDOWS\system32\oobe\
start "" /realtime C:\WINDOWS\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a   & rem/ start the activate windows interface 
echo/:: sample key !! --^>  ISAY-REIN-STAT-EMO-NICA^!       & rem/ if need put some windows key to view/copy/paste   
pause >nul                                                  & rem/ pause to keep console windows 

Answer 5

I just successfully activated an old copy of Windows XP I had installed using the toll free U.S. phone number listed in the activation dialog (888-571-2048), so it's possible the issue was with the German number and not phone activations in general.

As part of the call, they provided me with an online activation link, which allowed me to activate my copy online. After providing the link, I was instructed to hang up the call. I was able to enter the information from the activation dialog into the online form, and enter the resulting activation code into the activation dialog. This successfully activated my installation Windows XP.

Presumably you could pay for a 2-minute long international call to the United States to generate your unique activation link, and then hang up and perform the rest of the activation online.

Answer 6

To be honest I never activated an installation of Windows XP legitimately, with one major reason being I'm located in China where codes like MRX3F can be found online everywhere.

I'm not advocating piracy but the truth is, no one cares about this 2001-era antique anymore, so most likely you'll find any working solution satisfactory.

In fact the last time I had to touch Windows XP was preparing for labs of an archaeological course where we're taught about 8086 assembly (Intel Microprocessors), and I just applied a random solution that I found online to activate the Windows XP in my virtual machine.

In fact Windows XP uses offline activation, and its verification algorithm has long been leaked, which means anyone can generate an infinite amount of valid keys and get along with them.