ghacks Technology News

How to disable Microsofts new Anti-Piracy Program Update


It seems that the method that I previously posted is not working really well. If you rename the files windows will try and install the update again. Therefor one has to find another way to disable this, what we do is disable the execute bit on wgalogon.dll. That way, winlogon can’t call it as a notification package at boot, and since WgaLogon is responsible for running and maintaining WgaTray.exe, no more tray popups either. (source)

  • In explorer, go to Tools > Folder Options. Then, go to View > Advanced Settings and uncheck “Use simple file sharing”. Hit OK. Now, let’s change the permissions for WgaLogon:
  • In the Address bar, type (without quotes) “%WinDir%\system32″ and hit enter.
  • Scroll down to WgaLogon.dll, right click on it, pick Properties. Go to Security.
  • Hit the Advanced button, uncheck the Inherit box at the bottom, hit the Copy button, then hit OK. Now we have a local copy of the ACL which we can modify.
  • Go through each listed user/group and remove the “Read & Execute” permission for that file, leaving the “Read” permission as-is.
  • Hit OK to apply the permission changes and close the file properties dialog. Restart the machine. You can now turn “Use simple file sharing” back on, if you want.



  • Tags: ,
    Categories: Security



    Related posts:

    How to disable Microsofts new Anti-Piracy Program
    Microsoft expands anti-piracy program
    Find out if your windows uses a valid product key
    Disable the Windows XP Guest account correctly
    Test your Anti-virus program

    35 Responses to “How to disable Microsofts new Anti-Piracy Program Update”

    1. Lobo Schmidt says:

      Still couldn’t find the “WgaLogon.dll”. I must be under some virus or something like that.

      Maybe it’s time to format my system again. I’ve been experimenting some strange situations.

      Anyway, thanks for posting this up. I’ll try it again latter.

    2. Martin says:

      Lobo you only have that file if you download the latest patch as far as i know..

    3. Lobo Schmidt says:

      Oh, now I understood, thanks Martin.

      But now comes this doubth (sorry about the spell):

      How can I install the lastest version of Internet Explorer (not that I want to use it more than my Opera or my Firefox) and bypass it’s windows certificate test?

    4. Martin says:

      This tool has nothing to do with the checks that are made when you download patches. At least that´s what I think.

      I think it is an independent tool thats sole purpose is to verify the key of the windows installation.

    5. yee wei says:

      hello,im from malaysia.Im almost done to disable Microsofts new Anti-Piracy
      .but what do u mean by “leaving the “Readâ€? permission as-is.” ???

    6. Bill Gates says:

      thank God for Mac

    7. Jones says:

      its only a start..MS is goona kill your family next

    8. Anne says:

      …and rape your dog

    9. Ragnar Danneskjold says:

      This worked great! Thanks so much.

    10. Colin says:

      Brilliant! Very clear for an old fart like me to follow and it worked! i’ll be back!

    11. pililatus says:

      Gracias son unos genios

    12. Emann says:

      Thank you oh great one…. we are not worthy…

    13. Kujo says:

      Worked like a charm! Thanks.

    14. Dorey says:

      Awesome it worked!if I can do it, anyone can

    15. keren says:

      hello,
      thankyou thankyou thankyou it works great!!!!!
      it annoyed me soo much and now it’s gone!!!!!!!

    16. silviu says:

      only works for ntfs there is no security tab for fat32

    17. slackware says:

      thank god for linux

    18. spider says:

      Tried almost everything, looking for hacks all night. So far this one only worked. Thnxs.

    19. RM says:

      I found number ways to disable that pesky Update from MS but your method
      worked (crossing fingers) and hopefully will continue to:). I was a iditot
      and should have known when MS has a Eula for a Download to Read it or hire
      a lawyer hehe. Thx alot. Was terrifed I would mess up and system would not
      boot. Regards. RM.

    20. Cici says:

      hi, but when i right click and get into the ‘properties’of Wgalogon.dll,
      there is no ’security’, so i don’t know what to do now, only saw ‘General’,
      ‘version’, and ‘Digital signature’. pls help me. it is rather annoying,
      because everytime i try to shut down my PC, the WGA.exe always keep running
      and can’t be stopped. thnx a lot!

    21. Martin says:

      did you do exactly as the article told you to do ?

    22. Tom says:

      Fantastic! Works like a dream…Thank you so much!!!!Now just turn

      of automatic update! SLICK!

    23. Bruce says:

      THANKS!

      On my LEGIT DELL OEM copy of XP at work, this newest update was forcing my system
      to connect to the internet on every boot up, I guess for some kind of authentication
      process.

      Since I have several automated PC’s, that re-boot automaticly, the “PROXY
      AUTHENTICATION” (we need to have a valid user id and password to connect to the
      internet, I cannot automate this process) would sit there until I pressed the
      OK button.

      Since these PC’s are application servers, running 24/7 and I schedule daily
      re-boots on some of them, this new authentication was very annoying.

      The above posted process seemed to work very nicely for me!

      Thanks!

    24. Eugene says:

      Thanks. It works great.

    25. aresdamian says:

      thanks, This worked great! Thanks so much.

    26. BAF says:

      Bruce: if they are 24/7 servers, why do you reboot them?

    27. Slayer0420 says:

      Spybot search and destroy detects it as a startup item (system.ini) .
      You can just remove the check to disable it @ start up.
      Deleteing it doesn’t work it just comes back .

    28. GPig says:

      just download Autoruns from sysinternals … http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/autoruns.html
      run it and go to the WinLogin tab and clear the tick box next to ‘Wgalogon’ – it couldn’t be easier.

    29. walter says:

      Thanks a lot!! it works only with NTFS filesystem. Not with FAT32 since there´s no security tab.
      (funciona solo en NTFS, no con FAT32 ya que no hay solapa de seguridad)

    30. JD says:

      I don’t have “Use simple file sharingâ€? as a folder option under view. Any thoughts?

    31. Bebe says:

      When I open Explorer and I go to Tools… there is no “Folder Options” only “Internet Options”. If I go there and go to the “Advanced” tab, there is no “Use simple file sharing” box to uncheck. Any ideas why and what one can do in this situation?

    32. BB says:

      Thanks, worked well. Can I turn Updates back on?

    33. Martin says:

      Bebe yes, Explorer is not Internet Explorer. Open a Folder, there you find the Tools menu and everything else.

    34. Dee says:

      so with having some permissions off would anything be different? other then the anit-priacy program turned off?.. like any secruity issues that was disabled because of this ?

      it works btw.
      thanks

    Trackbacks/Pingbacks

    1. [...] Lo que se debe hacer, según ghacks, es desactivar la parte ejecutable de wgalogon.dll. De esta manera, winlogon no podrá utilizarlo como un paquete de notificación al inicio, y debido a que wgaLogon es responsable de correr el wgatray.exe (el que avisa cuando estamos utilizando windows), no habrán más avisos mientras trabajamos, tampoco. [...]

    Leave a Reply   Subscribe To Comment Rss

    © 2005-2009 Ghacks.net. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - About Us