Install Windows 2000 without supplying the CD key

You can configure W2K to install without having to manually enter the CD key during the setup process.

First, you want to copy your Windows 2000 setup files from your CD to your hard drive. You have to copy at least the I386 directory.

Now go into the I386 directory you just copied onto your hard drive and look for a file called setupp.ini.

Right click it, select Properties, and remove the Read-only checkmark. Now open the file to edit it.

Your setupp.ini file should read something like this:

[Pid]
ExtraData=6166656C736263737373B2574A0581
Pid=51873XXX

Replace the XXX (generally it’ll be three zeros) at the end with “270”. It should now read something like this:

[Pid]
ExtraData=6166656C736263737373B2574A0581
Pid=51873270

Now you can now install Windows 2000 without a serial number!

You should remember that doing this might be considered illegal in Microsoft’s eyes so as such it’s not something I would recommend to do.

Install MS Office without supplying the CD key

Heres how to do it

Copy all files of your MS office CD to the hard disk.

Find a file called Setup.ini (which is found in the \FILES\SETUP subfolder). Right click the file, select Properties, and remove the Read-only checkmark. Now open the file to edit it.

Inside the file setup.ini, should be like this

[Options]
; The option section is used for specifying individual Installer Properties.
;USERNAME=customer
;COMPANYNAME=company info
;INSTALLLOCATION=C:\Program Files\MyApp

In the USERNAME section enter the registered owner’s name, do so also for the COMPANYNAME value.

Make sure you remove the “;” from the beginning of the lines (“;” means comment)

Now, add a following line to the [Options] section:

PIDKEY=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY

NOTE: Use your own CD key, the above string is just an example (you wouldn’t believe the number of e-mails people actually send me telling me that the tip doesn’t work…)

(25 characters from your CD key, without the “-” seperation)

It should now read something like this:

[Options]
; The option section is used for specifying individual Installer Properties.
USERNAME= customer
COMPANYNAME=company info
;INSTALLLOCATION=C:\Program Files\MyApp
PIDKEY=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY

NOTE: Use your own CD key, username, and company info.

Save the setup.ini file, burn the whole folder that contains the installation files to CD.

Now you can now install Office without needing to supply a CD key during the setup process!