Handssolow 0 Posted April 8, 2006 I'm a bit mystified by the functioning of the wpa.dbl file. There lots of information on the web about how XP creates a snap-shot of your hardware and if you change too many hardware components you have to call MS to reactivate your copy of Windows. You can download xpinfo.exe to check your PC and it reports the critical items of hardware that have been changed. Change too much, particulary the network card and you need to call MS. It is possible to backup this file if you want to reinstall XP on the same PC without needing to reactivate. There's a suggestion that with the full versions of XP after 120 days the wpa.dbl slate is wiped clean and you can install some new hardware without calling MS. It's not so clear what happens with the two OEM types(OEM preinstalled or OEM bundled with some hardware) and whether you can change any of the hardware in this way after 120 days. Mine was bundled with a piece of hardware. I've been following my wpa.dbl file Properties over the past few months and it looked like every 60 days there was a modification despite no hardware changes, though my file reports a modification dated today for no apparent reason. It's just over 120 days since I had to replace some faulty memory and somewhat less since I Ghosted my HD. I haven't yet recovered the votes for my memory or HD according to wpa.dbl(using xpinfo.exe). Questions. Is there any way that I will be able to further change by PC's hardware with my OEM version, will wpa.dbl never be reset with my copy of OEM XP Pro? Am I stuffed? Has anyone changed their motherboard and reinstalled their OEM XP. Share this post Link to post
