How To Disable Windows Genuine Advantage Notification in 3 Simple Steps
Following three simple steps now you can get rid of the pesky and sometimes buggy Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notifications:
1. Reboot Windows in safe mode (hold the f8 key while booting and you will get the option to boot in safe mode) and then:
2. Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and search for wgalogon folder and delete it. You should backup up the registry beforehand, in case somethiong goes wrong.
3. In your windows directory search for files wga* and delete them.
You are done!
Now reboot back normally and continue your work. Windows Genuine Advantage will not bother you anymore.
Note: I had previously posted a tip which requires a third-party executable. Now it is not required anymore. You can do it yourself by carefully following the guide above.
Warning: Use at your own risk. Backup everything before you do.
Bonus Hint: A better option is to switch to Linux and enjoy all the peace of mind that comes from using Genuine Linux operating system and non-Microsoft software and in not using Genuine Windows software. Additionally laugh all the way to your bank with all the money saved in licensing.
Filed under Fedora Core 6, Headline News, How To, Linux, Linux Migration, Microsoft, Open Source Software, Windows | 
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April 29th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Hi,
Thanks for the tip. Definitely handy to counter Windows irritating nonsense.
Chrissy
June 20th, 2007 at 4:11 am
sorry, but i am not good with computers. =)
Um, how do you open windows directory?
June 20th, 2007 at 4:45 am
whoa! cool! thanks a lot. DID anyone experience that their computer slowed down after the occurence of WGA? Perhaps that WGA is the reason of the slow down? Can anyone tell me a fix for that? I don’t think my computer was slow before i had WGA. my PC has 1GB of RAM, 2.66 Ghz, i think… But whenever i play music then, say, open firefox or MSword, the music still plays but it slows. As in the voice of the singer/song slows, starts to sound like its in slow motion.
TIPS please, would be very greatful. Thanks.
CHeRRy
August 8th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Hmm switching to Linux to have more problems than a simple annoying “Your Windows is not genuine” notification? No thanks, I do want my hardware to still be recognised by my Operating System
August 31st, 2007 at 6:50 am
Que tal.
Otra forma bastante sencilla es ejecutar Autoruns (que inclusive ahora es de Mocosoft), en la pestaña Winlogon buscar WgaLogon, desactivar la casilla y listo…., aunque es cierto que ocupará espacio en disco y en el registro; por lo que es realmente recomendable usar una distro linux, personalmente estoy contento con Gentoo, que ha revivido mi vieja tortuga WinBugs en una verdera computadora que es capaz de mostrar todo lo que puede hacer, siempre que tenga un OS de calidad (*nix like).
Saludos…
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Hi, looks like MS has very much changed how WGA works - just installed WinXP Pro SP2 on Dec 2, 2007, installed all updates (including WGA), followed the 3 steps, but no Reg entries or referenced files found! I searched for WGA and found different info, disabled it, and no more encrypted checks back to MS.
I\’m not strong enough with Win to give a write-up so perhaps someone who knows the correct way to disable the new method will follow-up - thx.
December 26th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Hi!
Thanks so much for the tip.Its really help me to remove it.Never thought automatic update have a side effect…..nonsense.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
great ……… absolutely great……..
February 16th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
ok the easyest way to get ri of it is to go to add or remove in the control panel the tick the box SHOW UPDATES un install the last update on the list of updates not the genuine notification cus u cant remove the one above it it will say it might make these programs not work properly it wont do anything except get rid of the genuine advantage notification tool, after you have un installed then restart or urn off
February 16th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
ok the easyest way to get ri of it is to go to add or remove in the control panel the tick the box SHOW UPDATES un install the last update on the list of updates not the genuine notification cus u cant remove the one above it it will say it might make these programs not work properly it wont do anything except get rid of the genuine advantage notification tool, after you have un installed then restart or turn off
February 24th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I can do steps 1 and 3, but I can’t open up the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
It’s saved as a .pf file, and I don’t know how to open those types of files. Can you help me?
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:36 pm
thanks a lot.A very good tip and my genuine problem has gone.
March 24th, 2008 at 9:35 am
VERY GOOD ADVICE you Got here..
thank you so much!
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:17 am
That is great solution for remove/disable Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notifications. but when you search for wga* please don\’t delete wgapi.dll if you found. This dynamic link is not related with that notifications massage. Anyway, thank for your posting. 100% working
May 18th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Hey there are about 5 other “solutions” i tried to fix this problem and yours is the only one that worked.
THANKS A TON FOR THIS!
July 20th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
thanks for the info on removing wga from my pc.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:16 am
[...] morning (a year after I installed my Windows). Fortunately, I was able to find your blog and your 3 simple steps solved the problem like a charm. Thank [...]