Registered To

[S.Sengupta]

'How to Change Name and Company Information After You Install Windows XP'
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q310441

regards,
ssg MS-MVP

 

[Guest]

The store that put the PC togeter entered N. Chenier as the registered to
field which prevents me from activating the Windows XP without having to call
Microsoft.
How do you change the Registered To field?

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Registering Windows and activating it are two different things. You need to
activate Windows but registration is optional. You can replace the info by
searching thru the Registry with "regedit" and replace the name.

However, if the PC is a name brand (IBM, Dell, HP), as of the end of March
2005, all these CD key (COAs) must be activated thru the phone call.
Microsoft did this because people were selling the CD keys without
installing them on the authorized PCs.

 

[T. Waters]

Wondering why you believe that this field could affect product activation.
There is a cause for your problem, but it may lie elsewhere. The store knows
the history of the product key they gave you, so you may want to ask them if
it is a fresh key.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Several large OEM builders (IBM, Dell, HP, Gateways) are now blocked from
automatic Internet activations. People were selling those OEM keys to
non-autorized PCs. Microsoft now requires a phonecall for activations of
these keys.

 

[T. Waters]

Yes, someone mentioned that fact a few hour ago:
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+Activation+shift+wont+be+a+pain/2100-1011_3-55
95059.html
But see the original post: "store that put the PC together"
Unless I am mistaken, this should be a system builder OEM version of XP.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

The store that put the PC togeter entered N. Chenier as the registered to
field which prevents me from activating the Windows XP without having to call
Microsoft.
How do you change the Registered To field?

To fix the "Registered to" information for WinNT/2K/XP,
you can use Start > Run > Regedit.exe to edit:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOwner

and:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\RegisteredOrganization

How this will affect the name displayed in previously installed
applications will vary depending upon each individual program; some
read the registered owner information dynamically, while others read
it only during installation.

However, I don't see how this information could have any possible
affect upon either Activation or Registration. Which are you trying to
do, and exactly what error message(s) do you get?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Greg Burns]

Is MS still enforcing this new policy? It has been working once again with
our Dell computers since middle of March.

http://tinyurl.com/6hj23

Greg