2014 saw the end of support for Windows XP, an operating system considered by many to be one of the best versions of Windows ever. They’re kind of right that even though it reached end of life 9 years ago it still maintains some market share and it is one of the most popular and used versions in retro gear.

That’s exactly what it does Demand for Windows XP activations remains surprisingly highhow well it gets along with old hardware of very different generations, and that we can run it without problems on computers based on Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium IV, Athlon XP, Athlon 64 and even more recent CPUs such as Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, or first and second generation AMD Phenom.

It’s impossible to deny that Windows XP has had a very long life and coexisted with some of the most important hardware components in history. He still lives in many of those retro outfits to this day, but its activation was conceived from the beginning as one of the safest and most difficult history because in order to complete it, it was Microsoft who had to do it over the Internet or by phone.

It goes without saying that with the end of support for Windows XP, it was no longer possible to activate the specified operating system. This is an important issue for those users who want to build retro computers with hardware that will do their best with said operating system, as well as for those companies and professionals who have devices and systems dependent on said operating system, whether for reasons compatibility or power issue.

The fact is that it has finally succeeded after almost 22 years since the launch of Windows XP bypass the activation algorithm of the mentioned operating system which required, as I told you, an internet connection or a phone call. It is no longer necessary to use an external server for activation, it is now possible to do it completely offline and in a secure way.

Details of this achievement have been shared last April, but I preferred to wait a while to see how it develops before sharing this information with you. Today I can confirm that it works and that the tool “xp_activate32.exe” It is able to activate Windows XP offline installations without any problems. Its weight is only 18 kilobytes. Great news for retro lovers as well as for those businesses and professionals who are still dependent on Windows XP.