How To Activate An XP Mode VM On Windows 10

Updated about 6 yrs, 9 mths ago (March 8, 2018). Know a better answer? Let me know!

How to activate an XP Mode VM on Windows 10

You are running Windows 10 and you want keep using an XP Mode virtual machine after its activation has expired.

Windows XP Mode only works under Windows 7. If you need to run XP on Windows 10, you should start from scratch with a new XP install and a valid XP licence key.

However, if you are one of the many people who have an XP Mode virtual machine and need to continue using it for some reason, this is one way to achieve that.

Warning: this may violate the XP Mode licensing agreement.

There are many ways to run an XP VM on Windows 10. One way is to use Oracle VM VirtualBox and either use the existing XP Mode or extract the files from an XP Mode download you have.

However, running XP Mode on anything other than Windows 7 will result in the XP virtual machine not being activated, and there does not appear to be any way to activate it.

If your XP VM has already had its activation expire, you will not be able to login.

To bypass this:

You will now be logged into your expired XP VM, but it is still not activated.

To bypass the activation:

Warning: this may violate the XP Mode licensing agreement.

 

 

Updated about 6 yrs, 9 mths ago (March 8, 2018). Know a better answer? Let me know!

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User submitted comments:

Andrej, about 5 yrs, 3 mths ago
Thursday August 29, 2019 9:24 PM

Hi,
I have windows xp mode and i moved from virtual pc to hyperv. Virtual machine work but i have problem with activation. I can not run the machine because repor that i must activate windows.
I tried with your solution but doesn't works, do you have any other solution?

Thank you,

Andrej

Vladimir, about 5 yrs, 2 mths ago
Friday October 4, 2019 7:05 PM

Useless. Doesn't work.

kman, about 5 yrs, 2 mths ago
Wednesday October 9, 2019 6:35 PM

worked for me! Fresh Oracle VM install, activation period didn't expire. I used Win XP pro SP2 disk..

LordDarkScythe, about 5 yrs, 2 mths ago
Thursday October 17, 2019 3:49 PM

Did not work in Hyper-V when migrating from XP Mode from Windows 7. Asks for activation on a previously Windows XP Mode VHD. Still looking for a way to get back into this VM.

kevin, about 5 yrs, 2 mths ago
Friday October 18, 2019 9:14 AM

Works like a charme on fresh extracted xp-mode vhd on virtual box. Thank you!

DankMeme, about 5 yrs, 1 mth ago
Monday October 28, 2019 12:57 PM

I already had the

“FF D5 71 D6 8B 6A 8D 6F
D5 33 93 FD”

lines in regedit. Still in the activation loop.

I got it running, about 5 yrs, 1 mth ago
Friday November 15, 2019 11:57 PM

After many angry days and hours I got the XP-Mode VHD running with this trick!!

This will also work with Windows 10 I think (in my case I used Windows 7 but VirtualBox works also with Win10).

Because the manual is too long I uploaded it here:
https://app.box.com/s/uwic433l1mx4ypvi8eqpvxqubz8o97ie

Sven, about 5 yrs, 22 days ago
Friday November 29, 2019 1:27 PM

Me again. After discovering some weird instabilities with my Windows10 VM (my Windows 7 VM crashed continuously after some days and reboots) I switched over to an Windows 10 VM with VirtualBox and hope it runs better with an other OS.

Sven, about 5 yrs, 22 days ago
Friday November 29, 2019 1:29 PM

Update: (I typed something wrong in my last post):
Me again. After discovering some weird instabilities with my Windows 7 VM (my Windows 7 VM crashed continuously after some days and reboots) I switched over to an Windows 10 VM with VirtualBox and hope it runs better with this OS.

srluk, about 4 yrs, 11 mths ago
Monday January 13, 2020 5:03 PM

This really works!! Saved me a lot of time. Thanks!
https://app.box.com/s/uwic433l1mx4ypvi8eqpvxqubz8o97ie

Sven, about 4 yrs, 10 mths ago
Wednesday January 22, 2020 12:36 PM

Thanks, this was my manual I posted here before, but I found out even this runs only 30 days or so. But nevertheless you get your system running !!

Sven, about 4 yrs, 10 mths ago
Wednesday January 22, 2020 1:00 PM

Today I finally got stuck on a new error message, it seems I couldn't use my manual from app.box.com for an endless time :-( The warning message now is (in Germany), I think I didn't see the warning before in the last months: "Ein Problem hat verhindert, dass der Lizenzstatus dieses Computers genau überprüft werden konnte. Diese Windows-Kopie muss bei Microsoft aktiviert werden. Möchten Sie Windows jetzt aktivieren?"

Hank, about 4 yrs, 9 mths ago
Sunday March 1, 2020 3:46 AM

Used this prior to the 30 day expiration and it worked flawlessly. Thank you!

Lucho, about 4 yrs, 5 mths ago
Friday July 3, 2020 5:31 PM

It's seems to work! Thanks!!

Relieved user, about 3 yrs, 5 mths ago
Saturday July 10, 2021 1:23 AM

After a few days of trying odds and bobs, this has pulled through for me and can confirm it works on Win10 Home x64

Thanks heaps Sven, it was doing my head in.


Quote;
"After many angry days and hours I got the XP-Mode VHD running with this trick!!

This will also work with Windows 10 I think (in my case I used Windows 7 but VirtualBox works also with Win10).

Because the manual is too long I uploaded it here:
https://app.box.com/s/uwic433l1mx4ypvi8eqpvxqubz8o97ie"

Ray, about 2 yrs, 1 mth ago
Monday November 14, 2022 5:54 PM

Didnt work, oddly i wonder if they OOBETimer is case senseitive

Anyway, seemed simple but didn't work, same result asking me to activate windows
Ray

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