The short answer is: you cannot register without purchase. Registration is one step during the purchase process. If you like WinRAR and want to keep it, you should click on the Buy Online link and buy a license.

You will receive an email after you make a purchase (can be up to 24 hours after your order is placed), and that email will contain an attachment that is your key file. Please make a backup of this file in a safe place -- you'll need this file if you get a new hard drive, computer, or have any other system failure.

You must make sure that WinRAR is already installed on your computer before attempting this process -- if you don't have WinRAR installed, visit our downloads section, and download a copy, install it, and then return to complete this process.

1. If you use a traditional email program installed on your hard drive, save the attachment to the C:\Program Files\WinRAR folder.
2. If you use a web-based email program like Gmail or Yahoo! then use the normal steps to save an attachment to your hard drive (often this is done by clicking on the file name and a download page will open; use the normal file save procedure you use for any other file). Make sure you choose the "Save as" option -- NOT open -- and save it to the C:\Program Files\WinRAR folder.
3. Fast Method: Double-click on the RARKEY.RAR file in the C:\Program Files\WinRAR folder. If you get a message about "Thank you for support" then WinRAR has been properly registered. If you do not see this message, then close WinRAR and continue with the steps below
4. Normal Method: Browse to the C:\Program Files\WinRAR folder by double-clicking on the My Computer icon, then double-clicking on the C drive, and then Program Files, and at last WinRAR.
5. If you see a file called RARREG or RARREG.KEY, then skip to confirmation step below.
6. If you see a file called RARKEY.RA_, then right-click on it and choose Rename and rename the file to: RARKEY.RAR and then follow the next step.
7. If you see a file called RARKEY or RARKEY.RAR, then right click on it, and choose extract here from the pop-up menu

Confirming successful registration:
Any of these steps will help you confirm that WinRAR successfully sees the key file.
Click on Start, Programs, WinRAR, WinRAR to launch WinRAR

• The title of the WinRAR application would say (evaluation copy) when it is NOT licensed
• From inside WinRAR, click on Help, About WinRAR and the lower section of the panel should have a section that says Registered To. (unlicensed versions just say Trial Copy)

You will receive an email after you make a purchase (can be up to 24 hours after your order is placed), and that email will contain an attachment that is your key file. Please make a backup of this file in a safe place -- you'll need this file if you get a new hard drive, computer, or have any other system failure.

You must make sure that WinRAR is already installed on your computer before attempting this process -- if you don't have WinRAR installed, visit our downloads section, and download a copy, install it, and then return to complete this process.

1. If you use a traditional email program installed on your hard drive, save the attachment to your desktop.
2. If you use a web-based email program like Gmail or Yahoo! then use the normal steps to save an attachment to your hard drive (often this is done by clicking on the file name and a download page will open; use the normal file save procedure you use for any other file). Make sure you choose the "Save as" option -- NOT open -- and save it to your desktop.
3. Fast Method: Double-click on the RARKEY.RAR file and if you get a message about "Thank you for support" then WinRAR has been properly registered. If you do not see this message, then close WinRAR and continue with the steps below
4. Normal Method: Right-click on the RARKEY.RAR file on your desktop and choose "Extract Here". A new file will appear on your desktop called RARREG.KEY -- this is your license key. DO NOT double-click on this file; Windows throws an erroneous error about the registry and this is not a registry file.
5. Browse to the C:\Program Files\WinRAR folder by double-clicking on the Computer icon, then double-clicking on the C drive, and then Program Files, and at last WinRAR folder.
6. Copy the RARREG.kEY file into the WinRAR folder either by right-clicking on the file and choosing Copy and then Pasting it into the WinRAR folder, or you can drag and drop the file into the folder

Confirming successful registration:
Any of these steps will help you confirm that WinRAR successfully sees the key file.
Click on Start, Programs, WinRAR, WinRAR to launch WinRAR

• The title of the WinRAR application would say (evaluation copy) when it is NOT licensed
• From inside WinRAR, click on Help, About WinRAR and the lower section of the panel should have a section that says Registered To. (unlicensed versions just say Trial Copy)

You will receive your key file in a single .RAR file attached to an email. You can complete the process in one of many fashions, making sure WinRAR is installed on the target machine before proceeding.

1. You can take the .RAR file to each machine you wish to register and double-click on it, and WinRAR should auto-register with a pop-up showing success to the effect "thank you for support".
2. You can take the .KEY file from inside the .RAR file and just copy it straight to the C:\Program Files\WinRAR directory on any machine you wish to register
3. You can put the key file into the C:\Program Files\WinRAR folder and validate it worked on a single machine, and then you can just copy the entire WinRAR folder to each machine you wish to register (WinRAR will create any missing registry entries when it runs for the first time on the machine -- you will have to create your own shortcuts, however.
4. You can deploy the entire application with popular push agent software packages with the key file being applied before the package is created. NOTE: There is no .MSI version of the installation.

If you need the specific steps, please read the details from a single key installation. Purchasing multiple keys is just a matter of repeating the single key process up to the number of licenses you purchased.

If you're using Outlook Express, it's security settings will make it appear as though the attachment is not there. This is not the case, Outlook is "protecting" you from the attachment, and you need to change a setting to see your key file.

1. Start Outlook Express
2. Click on Tools, and then Options
3. Click on the Security tab
4. Uncheck the option: "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus"
5. Click Ok
6. Save the key file listed as part of the normal registration process above
7. Return to the security tab and re-enable the option: "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus"

If you have purchased within the last 12 to 24 hours, it's possible that the order has not yet been processed. We are working on a system to improve delivery times, but today it's a manual process, and it can be further delayed by communication problems with the key generator.

If it has been longer than 24 hours, then please use the contact us link and send us a message with your order number. It is entirely possible that your order has been processed, but you may have provided a bad email address, and we have not been able to deliver the key to you.

Many email providers these days have very stringent filters to try to block out spam, and often legitimate emails get caught in their nets. Make sure you check your spam and suspect email folders for the key before contacting us, as it is often filed there.

Further, if you get your email from either MSN or Hotmail, then Microsoft has probably deleted this message and did not notify you or us of the delivery problem. If you use email from these providers, then send us a message with the contact us link providing your order number, and request the keys be sent in another format. Please report this problem to Microsoft so they can fix their overzealous filters (MSN and Hotmail are the only email systems we've encountered with this problem).

When we receive your message, we'll resend your key during our next order processing.

All of the registration sites are run independently, so I am unable to take any actions on orders placed with other sites. To follow up on an order problem from another site, use the Lost Key link to report the problem to the Germany office, and they can locate the site you ordered from.

Please remember to provide your full name, address, city, state and zip code and when you placed your order and at what site so they can track the problem down and get your keys resent.

1. Make sure you have a backup of your license key (rarreg.key)
2. Download the latest version (release or beta) and save it to your hard drive
3. Make sure WinRAR or RAR is not running on your machine anywhere
4. Double-click on the downloaded installation file and proceed to install WinRAR or RAR over your existing installation (all settings, configurations and so forth are retained)
5. WinRAR looks for the presence of your license key each time it launches and it will detect the key there during startup.