Microsoft 2 manual Disabled WAU, To disable the WAU link

Volume Activation 2.0 Operations Guide

Programs menu. This link and the program are only in Windows Vista Business editions available through volume-licensed and retail channels.

System administrators can choose to disable WAU for users by adding a registry value to the reference image before deploying Windows. When WAU is disabled and the user clicks the WAU link, the error message, shown in Figure 1, appears. This prevents the user from obtaining an upgrade license using Control Panel.

Figure 1: Disabled WAU

Warning Some procedures in this section contain registry changes. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To disable the WAU link

1.Log on to the client computer.

2.Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

3.At the command prompt, type regedit.exe and then press Enter.

4.Navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\ WAU. If needed, create the Explorer and WAU keys. To create the Explorer key, right-click the Policies key, point to New, and then click Key. Type Explorer as the name of the new key, and then press Enter. To create the Explorer key, right-click the new Explorer key, point to New, and then click Key. Type WAU as the name of the new key, and then press Enter.

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