Seattle author Brian Livingston of WindowsSecrets.com recently revealed how “Microsoft allows bypass of Vista activation” on his Web site. Microsoft allows a registry hack called SkipRearm so customers can rearm a computer to restore the Windows system to the original licensing state. Rearming causes all licensing and registry data related to activation to be either removed or reset. It also resets the grace period timers. Essentially SkipRearm specifies whether to execute the Windows Software Licensing Rearm program which removes licensing values set during system installation and testing. This will restore your computer to its original state prior to the user logging on for the first time.
For step-by-step instruction on how the registry key can be modified, check out Brain Livingston’s article here.
