The trick to modify and change registered owner and registered organization in Windows XP actually does work for most, if not all versions of Windows operating system, such as Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.

Users are only asked to enter owner and organization name information during installation. Some OEM (original equipment manufacturer) computers with silent automated installation does not even ask for such information. Instead, default settings such as OEM manufacturer name is been used when PC or server loads the pre-installed copy of Windows operating system. Another possible scenario is changing ownership of computer, when you buy an old PC, or the company has been acquired or merged with new entity.

In order to change the registered owner name and registered organization name in Windows OS, use the following registry hack:

  1. Run Registry Editor (regedit).
  2. Navigate to the following registry key:

    HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

    Change Registered Owner and Organization

  3. In the right pane, locate the REG_SZ (string) value named RegisteredOwner. Double click on it to edit and modify the value data to change the registered owner name.
  4. Again in the right pane, locate the RegisteredOrganization. Double click on it to edit and modify the value data to change the registered organization name.
  5. Close Registry Editor.
  6. The change take effect immediately.

    Tip: To view the registered owner and organization, view the About Windows dialog by going to Help -> About in Windows Explorer window. Alternatively, run winver.exe or simply winver.