A Different Kind of WGA 'Problem' 348
Ed Bott recently attempted to scout out the problems reported in so many horror stories floating around the net relating to Microsoft's WGA. He did experience problems, however, not the ones that you might expect. He intentionally installed a pirated copy of Windows XP to see how the process worked but was unable to get WGA to recognize his computer as pirated. From the article: "I'm reluctantly running a pirated version of Windows and can't get caught no matter how hard I try. But these same people want us to believe that the WGA software they've developed is nearly foolproof. They claim that all but "a fraction of a percent" of those 60 million people who've been denied access to Microsoft updates and downloads are guilty, guilty, guilty. Right."
Re:Corporate (Score:3, Interesting)
All our computers are patched regularly and automatically, without a problem.
Re:Corporate (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Corporate (Score:5, Interesting)
predictably -mostly the honest are inconvenienced (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately -and predictably, in the course of 2 moves I have lost my activation key #s -I didn't glue them to my machines as recommended because I planned on moving the license to another, newer machine eventually.
Now I can't even finish the install without having to find some cracked key from some warez site. Then it won't let me install any security patches or Service Packs.
After the 30 days or whatever is up and I have to activate I then try the warezed key and am told that this key has been used too many times -Duh! a
and then I have to call MS support and get a new activation key from them. Fortunately they haven't given me too much grif, but its still a hassle.
Thanks to old flakey hard drives I have had to do this twice and now it has died a third time.
This time I said screw it and went to fry's and bought a new HP dual core media center PC for $750. so I guess MS won this round.....
But I will be trying this again since I have several more machines sitting around -I guess I'd better write down the key# the next time they give me one over the phone again. Does anyone know if the activation #s they give over the phone are 1-time codes or if they will work multiple times?
Has anyone had any luck just asking them for new activation codes?
-What's the speed of Dark?
Re:Corporate (Score:5, Interesting)
I work for a university, and I have a Windows XP laptop (university property) installed using our school of engineering key (we have a site-wide license). Is that a "corporate" version? Anyway, I had not booted that laptop in Windows in a LONG while, since I had been mostly using it with another hard drive with SuSE linux installed.
Recently, I booted it, and gave my ok to its doing 18 Windows Updates (techstaff won't support my laptop unless I do the updates). After doing the updates (from my home, I am not sure if this is relevant), Windows now claims that the copy is pirated.
Since it is certainly not pirated, I decided to simply not bother with it. The fun part is that in some couple of weeks, I am going to give a talk at Microsoft with that laptop... and no, I don't plan to fix it before then!
Damn that Microsoft! (Score:3, Interesting)
Why is this a problem for anyone but Microsoft (or those who have a perverse desire to be labeled as a pirate and then blog about it)? Do you suppose maybe he got a false negative because Microsoft is less willing to pull the trigger when in doubt?
Re:A solution to your problem (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It's still a problem. (Score:5, Interesting)
I can't speak for "most legitimate users," but I can describe my own brief run-in with a WGA malfunction.
A few weeks ago, when the updated version of WGA was pushed out, my Dell-with-the-original-OS booted with a notice claiming that Windows was not genuine (despite the previous version of WGA reporting no problems). I grumbled about Microsoft's lying sack of *ahem* I mean, POS anti-piracy crap that couldn't tell a real copy of Windows from a fake one, then logged in, fired up a web browser, went to the Knowledge base, mucked around until I found a link that said something like, "Validate here"... and it said, "Oh, yeah, you're genuine. No problem, pal." (Actually, it's a Dell, so that would be "No problem, Dude.")
I spouted some variation of "WTF?" Then I rebooted the machine, just to check, and sure enough it said absolutely nothing about being a pirated copy of Windows.
I eventually concluded that Norton In(ternet)Security had probably blocked the initial validation attempt. With no desktop shell, I didn't have the chance to say "yes, let the damn packet through."
The whole process took maybe 10 minutes, but it was an annoying 10 minutes. I've had my share of frustrations with Linux,* but it's never told me I was ripping off RedSuMandrivuntu.
*My main PC is a Fedora Core box. My wife's main PC is a Mac. We share this Windows box, mainly for gaming.
Re:Well, shit, I have the opposite problem... (Score:3, Interesting)
Bullshit. You can get OEM Windows licenses with a mouse or keyboard (in fact it's the cheapest way to get them, short of buying in bulk from fire damaged stock (one company I worked with licensed all their machines that way - far cheaper than a volume license deal)).
What happens if you WANT to get caught? (Score:2, Interesting)
My friend has a pirated keygen'd version of xp pro, and also has a hologramed cd of xp pro complete with serial number and all... Is there an easy upgrade path available to him to go legit, without having to reinstall (too many games/apps/whatever he says.)
Volume License Keys Always Pass The WGA (Score:5, Interesting)
e.g. HP has all the computers in the Sydney office running with one Volume License Key, now if someone were to leave HP's employ and continue to use the key MS would have no way of knowing so has to let it pass the WGA.
It has to just shrug and go well thats HP let it pass or risk annoying the hell out of a lot of HP people if they refuse it.
The bigger licensing issue is of course ACADEMIC (Score:2, Interesting)
Mrs Smith trots off to the high street computer co and wants Windows XP, now does she buy the full version for $300 or the academic version for $98?
Come on M$ $300 for XP but only $98 if you put a red sticker on the outside of the box with Academic Version written on it?!
I would be interested to know how many of the boxes are sold at $300 in high st stores!
Re:However what might be happening (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Who are the developers (Score:3, Interesting)
Some of the software I now use to run equipment in the shop costs over four thousand dollars, and, while it's useful and allows me to run my business (which is why I pay for it), it's not as "worth it" as I'd like it to be. Now I come to my point. None of this software uses serial-based authentication. It's all done via USB or (with older software) LPT dongles. It goes back to the two schools of authentication: something you know versus something you have/are.
There are HASP dongle crackers out there, but they're not very common, and I have no clue how well they work. I honestly haven't tried. Installing a pirated copy of Windows on grandma's computer so the poor old dear can check her email and play solitaire doesn't bug me, but my morals get rubbed the wrong way by "stealing" something that I plan on using to make a lot of money.
So, how long is it before we start seeing hardware-based registration schemes? It might be expensive for a company like Adobe to have the keys made, but volume pricing and the amount of money they'd save versus privacy might be worth it. Microsoft certainly has the weight (and the volume) to get them made cheaply enough for it to benefit. The increased usage of dongles would certainly make them a bigger target for cracking (vide: Windows viruses versus Mac viruses), so it might be a wash in the long run. Companies certainly gain mindshare by having their products be ubiquitous, even if it's at the cost of a few pirate copies, but it seems like every z0mg l33t p1r4t3 kiddie out there (at least the ones I know) have a copy of Photoshop even if they don't use it.
Re:A solution to your problem (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:However what might be happening (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Many people just use their employeer's key (Score:4, Interesting)
Those machines are likely set up with a corperate VLK, so the key on the sticker is not in use (and the company has arguably paid twice for their software, so those licences are "spare" too...).
So how long until we see ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Or one that makes WGA think it's legit.
Either could cause all sorts of havoc.
I wonder if it's already happened?
(Wouldn't it be interesting if it had happened to the author of TFA? B-) )
Re:Feh! Windows XP Pirate Edition (Score:2, Interesting)
Included in this release is a file which is actually the first cracked release of the genuine advantage dll ever put out. It has been modified to allow me (and now you) to download stuff from microsoft as of 07/26/06. How does this work?
A few things you should know - when microsoft wants to be they're exceedingly lazy. Very, very, very lazy. Why do I say this? Well lets look at how this system works.
This dll is loaded into internet explorer as an add-on. When you access the site, the site checks the file is the right version, asks it "is this computer genuine", and trusts the dll to find out. The dll send the yes or no to them without some sort of thing attached to say "and this is why I think so". All it sends is a yes, or a no. That means the dll just needs to always send a yes. Well what about that first part, the whole "checks the version". Microsoft must have some crc checking or something right? Wrong! It does not check the crc (or any info) on the exe aside from the version string. That's it.
What does this mean? It means we can have a surefire way of getting around this with only 1 cracked dll.
Step 1: go to the microsoft site and when it tells you it needs to put genuine advantage ocx on to work, go ok. It'll tell you your copy is bad (or else why are you reading this?)
Step 2: get an old cracked 'LegitCheckControl.dll' file from anywhere. Keep this file safe.
step 3: take your trusty copy of resource hacker, resource workshop, whatever (resource hacker available free from http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/), and open the old file. Run another instance and open the other.
step 4: so now you have both files open. Expand "version info", then 1, on both. In 1033 you'll see
1 VERSIONINFO
FILEVERSION 1,5,530,0
step 5: look at the newer, noncracked file. See how the version is a larger number? Either change the numbers on the older file to look like the newer one, or just copy paste the script exactly from the old file into the new.
Step 6: hit compile script, save the old dll, and copy it into your system directory, overwriting the non-cracked one (make sure internet explorer is closed or this won't work).
You're done. That's it. You can do this every time it stops working. That wasn't so bad now was it?
My WGA Issue (Score:3, Interesting)
A client's laptop started complaining. I checked its key, and it did not match the key on the sticker. So I attempted to change the key. No go with MS's vba script. No go with the activation wizard (which is another suggested way to change it) - it stated that the key was invalid. Further 'hacking' with the activation wizard (No, I don't know what I did, but there was a maximum of three buttons I could have clicked, and one of them was 'cancel!') got me a key I could use on the phone, and, after telling a bored Indian the story ("Have you installed this software on any other machine?" - I swear that quoting a snatch of Alice in Wonderland would have succeded!) he coughed up the activation code. WGA no more, but my it's a drag!
If I charged them full price, It may well have been more than a new licence. Even so, it probably would have taken just as long to get it to accept the freshly bought key.
Re:Corporate (Score:5, Interesting)
False positives waste hours of my work day. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Who are the developers (Score:3, Interesting)
Variant on WGA problems (Score:4, Interesting)
Had a problem last week that I'd never seen before...
I had to reinstall XP Pro at home, so duly provided my license key during installation. Much to my displeasure, I was then required to go through the whole WGA problem to get some critical security updates.
It flagged my license as a dud, and put my code on screen for me to see and sort out.
Except that it didn't put in my code - the one I'd set when I installed Windows - but a completely different code...
Re:A solution to your problem (Score:4, Interesting)
Fortunately for me:
* I did not use at that time and I do not use now unlicenced software, nor did the company I worked for at that time use unlicenced software.
* The law in my country would not put me in jail for using unlicenced software (only a fine).
* BSA do not have the right to make inspections in my country. They can log a complaint and have the police come to me.
Still, I was responsible for IT, and had to receive the letters, read them and explain to my betters what were those letters about every two weeks. I did not enjoy being threatened to be put in jail, being acused of stealing, and being taken for a full. The letters stopped arriving when I answered one of them, asked BSA to explain me why they think they have the right to do what they threatened to do, and had the word "lawyers" in that reply.
Why are they con artists ? I was in their database because my company already bought the software they claimed to "protect". BSA are lazy, at least around here: they don't look for infringers, they just pound honest people with threats in order to have something to report to their sponsors. BSA does not look for the interests of their sponsors, only for the money they pour into BSA for those "awareness campaings" etc.
Unfortunately for their sponsors,
after my experience with BSA:
* I don't buy or recomend to the people in charge to buy software from the companies members of BSA. There is always a good enough alternative, and running the risk of getting in the spotlight of BSA is not worth the trouble.
* I still think it's lame to use "pirated" software, but I am kinda glad so many people do it, as far as the sponsors of BSA are concerned.
* I run a clean shop, free as in free speech.