{"id":794,"date":"2007-05-17T23:04:35","date_gmt":"2007-05-17T22:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/05\/two-methods-of-avoiding-windows-vista-product-activation.htm"},"modified":"2007-05-17T23:05:40","modified_gmt":"2007-05-17T22:05:40","slug":"two-methods-of-avoiding-windows-vista-product-activation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/05\/two-methods-of-avoiding-windows-vista-product-activation.htm","title":{"rendered":"Two methods of avoiding Windows Vista product activation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A few months back, I wrote about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2006\/11\/windows-vista-product-activation-for.htm\">how Windows Vista product activation works for volume license customers<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Last night I was searching to find out what the grace period is before activation is required and I stumbled across some interesting articles.\u00c2\u00a0You see, it turns out that there are three main problems with product activation:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Corporate IT departments want to produce customised Windows builds.\u00c2\u00a0 These builds must\u00c2\u00a0be valid\u00c2\u00a0when deployed to client PCs (i.e. the product activation period must not have expired!)\u00c2\u00a0and, as the product activation timer is ticking away\u00c2\u00a0during the customisation process, there needs to be a method to &#8220;rearm&#8221;\u00c2\u00a0product activation.<\/li>\n<li>OEMs want to ship pre-activated versions of the operating system (an arrangement\u00c2\u00a0with which I&#8217;m sure Microsoft are happy to comply as\u00c2\u00a0they need OEMs to preload their operating system and not an alternative, like, let&#8217;s say&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dell.com\/ubuntu\/\">Ubuntu Linux<\/a>!), so Microsoft\u00c2\u00a0provides these so-called Royalty OEMs with\u00c2\u00a0special product keys which require no further activation, under as scheme known as system-locked pre-installation (SLP) or OEM activation (OA) 2.0.<\/li>\n<li>Anti-piracy measures like product activation\u00c2\u00a0is that they are to hackers\u00c2\u00a0like a red rag is to a bull.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The net result, it seems, is two\u00c2\u00a0methods to avoid product activation.\u00c2\u00a0 The first method, can be used to simply <a href=\"http:\/\/www.windowssecrets.com\/comp\/070315\/#story1\">delay product\u00c2\u00a0activation, as described by Brian Livingston at Windows Secrets<\/a>. It uses an operating system command (<code>slmgr.vbs -rearm<\/code>),\u00c2\u00a0to reset the grace period for product activation back to a full 30 days.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The Windows Secrets article also describes a registry key\u00c2\u00a0(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\ SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\SL\\SkipRearm) and claims that it\u00c2\u00a0can be set to <code>00000001<\/code> before rearming, allowing the rearm to take place multiple times (this registry key is reset by the rearm command, which is also available by running <code>rundll32 slc.dll,SLReArmWindows<\/code>); however, <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/wga\/archive\/2007\/03\/19\/another-reported-workaround-ineffective.aspx\">Microsoft claims that the SkipRearm key is ineffective<\/a> for the purpose of extending the grace period as it actually just stops <code>sysprep \/generate<\/code> (another command used during the imaging process) from rearming\u00c2\u00a0activation (something which can only be done three times) and does not actually reset the grace period (this is confirmed in <a href=\"http:\/\/technet2.microsoft.com\/WindowsVista\/en\/library\/aefc41f4-a3ec-4f98-a1dc-88a0d045172b1033.mspx?mfr=true\">the Windows Vista Technical Library documentation<\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Regardless of that fact, the rearm process can still be run three times, giving up to 120 days of unactivated use (30 days, plus three more rearms, each one\u00c2\u00a0providing an additional 30 days).\u00c2\u00a0That sounds very\u00c2\u00a0useful for both product evaluation and for corporate deployments &#8211; thank you very much Microsoft.\u00c2\u00a0 According to Gregg Keizer at Computer World\/PC World Magazine, a\u00c2\u00a0Microsoft spokesperson has even confirmed that it&#8217;s not even\u00c2\u00a0a violation of the EULA.\u00c2\u00a0 That is good.<\/p>\n<p>So that&#8217;s the legal method; however some enterprising hackers have a second method, which avoids activation full stop.\u00c2\u00a0 Basically <a href=\"http:\/\/www.haklabs.com\/2007\/bypass-vista-activation-with-paradox\/\">it tricks the operating system into thinking that its running on a certain OEM&#8217;s machine, before installing the relevant certificate and product key\u00c2\u00a0to activate that copy of Windows<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mydigitallife.info\/2007\/02\/17\/windows-vista-oem-activation-crack-by-patching-slic-into-motherboard-bios\/\">early (paradox) version involved making hex edits to the BIOS<\/a> (hmm&#8230; buy a copy of Windows or turn my PC into a doorstop, I know which I&#8217;ll choose) but <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mydigitallife.info\/2007\/03\/10\/vista-loader-20-oem-bios-emu-crack-softmod-update\/\">the latest (vstaldr) version even has an installer for various OEMs, and if that doesn&#8217;t work then there is a list of\u00c2\u00a0product keys<\/a> which can be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mydigitallife.info\/2007\/01\/28\/how-to-change-windows-vista-product-key\/\">installed and activated<\/a> using two operating system commands:<\/p>\n<p><code>slmgr.vbs -ipk productkey<br \/>\nslmgr.vbs -ato<\/code><\/p>\n<p>I couldn&#8217;t possibly confirm or deny whether or not that method works&#8230; but <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/wga\/archive\/2007\/04\/10\/reported-oem-bios-hacks.aspx\">Microsoft&#8217;s reaction to the OEM BIOS hacks<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0would suggest that this is not a hoax.\u00c2\u00a0 Microsoft&#8217;s Senior Product Manager for\u00c2\u00a0Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA),\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/wga\/\">Alex Kochis<\/a>, describes the paradox method as:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/wga\/archive\/2007\/04\/10\/reported-oem-bios-hacks.aspx\"><p>&#8220;It is a pretty labor-intensive [sic] process and quite risky.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(as I indicated above).\u00c2\u00a0 Commenting on the vstaldr method, he said:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/wga\/archive\/2007\/04\/10\/reported-oem-bios-hacks.aspx\"><p>&#8220;While this method is easier to implement for the end user, it&#8217;s also easier to detect and respond to than a method that involves directly modifying the BIOS of the motherboard&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Before continuing to hint at how Microsoft may respond:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/wga\/archive\/2007\/04\/10\/reported-oem-bios-hacks.aspx\"><p>&#8220;We focus on hacks that pose threats to our customers, partners and products.\u00c2\u00a0 It&#8217;s worth noting we also prioritize our responses, because not every attempt deserves the same level of response. Our goal isn&#8217;t to stop every &#8216;mad scientist&#8217; that&#8217;s on a mission to hack Windows.\u00c2\u00a0 Our first goal is to disrupt the business model of organized counterfeiters and protect users from becoming unknowing victims.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0This means focusing on responding to hacks that are scalable and can easily be commercialized, thereby making victims out of well-intentioned customers.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Which I will paraphrase as &#8220;it may work today, but don&#8217;t count on it always being that way&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/genuine\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/genuine.png?w=700&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Ask for genuine Microsoft software\" \/><\/a>Note that I&#8217;m not encouraging anybody to run an improperly licensed copy of Windows.\u00c2\u00a0 That would be very, very naughty.\u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;m merely pointing out that\u00c2\u00a0measures like product activation (as for any form of DRM) are more of an inconvenience to genuine users than they are a countermeasure against software piracy.<\/p>\n<h3>Disclaimer<\/h3>\n<p>This post is for\u00c2\u00a0informational purposes only. Please support genuine software.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few months back, I wrote about how Windows Vista product activation works for volume license customers.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Last night I was searching to find out what the grace period is before activation is required and I stumbled across some interesting articles.\u00c2\u00a0You see, it turns out that there are three main problems with product activation: Corporate IT &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/05\/two-methods-of-avoiding-windows-vista-product-activation.htm\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Two methods of avoiding Windows Vista product activation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[98,59],"class_list":["post-794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-windows-vista","tag-software-licensing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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