Pre-Activate an XO

• NOTE: The 'Getting Activation/Developer Keys for one or many XOs' section of the page Activation and Developer Keys has a lot of useful information on this topic.

1. Acquire a 'Collector Key'
   • see Activation and Developer Keys on how to make a 'Collector Key'
2. Remove any previous LAPTOPS.DAT files on the 'Collector Key'
3. Insert the 'Collector Key' into the turned off laptop, and press the power button.
   • The 'Collector Key' will grab the information off the laptop that it needs, put it in a file called LAPTOPS.DAT, and power-down the laptop.
4. Login to activation.laptop.org
5. Click on 'Create a new lease request'
6. Select Developer Key, leave the duration blank, and upload the LAPTOPS.DAT file that you just got off the laptop.
7. Click 'Request releases'
   • The Activation Manager should then give you a develop.sig file to download. (if it happens to be called leases.sig, you just need to rename it after downloading it)
8. Put the develop.sig file onto another usb key (not the 'Collector Key')
9. Insert this key into the shutdown laptop, and press the power button.
10. As the laptop boots up, you will be given the option to hit the esc button and get to the ok prompt. Do so.
11. Change the manufacturing data, so that it includes the information needed for being pre-activated.
    • See How to Change Manufacturing_data under Pre-Activating a laptop