Backup file for Windows product activation
Windows keeps a file that contains a coded record or “hash” of the type of hardware that your system has installed. It is part of the Windows Product Activation process. The file’s name is wpa.dbl and it is in the folder Windows\system32\. There is also a backup file wpa.bak. These files should be copied to some external medium such as a thumb drive, CD, etc. They can then be used for repair if the originals get damaged. They can also be used to avoid having to reactivate if some sort of “repair” installation of Windows is necessary. Note, however, that these files cannot be used to circumvent activation on a different computer or even if a total reinstall is done on the same computer. How Windows Product Activation works is discussed in considerable detail at this reference.
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