You are the man, just want you to know that. Been wringing my hair out for a week trying to reload this stupid HP Compaq Evo D530, don't have the restore disks. Tried an XP Pro disk from a newer and an older Compaq we had, neither would work. After a bit of research I copied the i386 folder from another HP (newer), but it too would ask to activate after Windows finished installing. Finally found this post, ran your files to get my XP key from the new one, used it when installing on the other one, and presto, no activation needed. Very thankful for your help, hope I can someday return the favor. Speaking of, I noticed in another thread you are looking for certain OEMBIOS files from certain manufacturers. We see a ton of computers come through here monthly, so if you have a need feel free to ask and I'll see what I can scrounge up.