Service Pack 1 will change that behavior. On the good side the functionality will remain and will no longer be reduced, on the bad site this will be compensated by nag screens known from shareware programs that nag the user to buy the application after x days. Windows will use those nag screens and have a 15 second timer before the user will be able to click on Activate Later to continue his work.

Users will still only be able to download system security patches for the system, all other downloads will fail like before. Users who have been using the Bios or Clock Timer hack to activate Windows Vista illegally will face troubles as well. The Service Pack 1 will be able to detect those hacks but there will not be dire consequences either.

Those users will only face the same nag screens like all other users who did not activate their system in time. I think it is fairly interesting that users of non-activated Vista operating systems will get better deals to purchase a copy of Vista than users who bought the operating system from retailers.

Windows Vista Ultimate retails for $329 at Amazon currently while the offer for non activated versions can be purchased for $199. So, users who like bargains probably will download Vista, use it for 30 days and purchase it for a lower price afterwards.

via Ed Bott

The weakness was first discovered by the famous (underground) group Paradox which discovered a way to emulate so called “Royality OEM2″ which require no activation at all. Those special OEM versions are only issued to major computer manufacturers such as Dell and Asus to take the hassle of activating the operating system away from their clients. These manufacturers embed license information into their hardware products which is equivalent to a online or phone registration.

This is called system-locked pre-installation 2.0 (SLP 2.0) and it consists of three key elements: (taken directly from the Paradox info file)

• The OEM’s hardware-embedded BIOS ACPI_SLIC information signed by Microsoft.
• A certificate issued by Microsoft that corresponds to the specific ACPI_SLIC information.
• A special type of product key that corresponds to the installed edition of Windows Vista.

“If all three elements match Windows Vista’s licensing mechanism considers the given installation a valid system-locked pre-activated copy (that does not require any additional product activation procedures).”

Which means they had to create a tool that would emulate an SLP 2.0 system fulfilling all three key elements. This process introduced by Paradox could be described as rather complex for the average user.

Thankfully a group called Clony created a one click activation from this information. The process would be the following:

• Install RTM or Retail Vista without product key
• Execute a single file and follow the instructions
• Reboot Windows Vista

Now this does not sound complicated at all, does it ? In case you are wondering where to get those activation files. I do not want to link directly to them because it could mean serious trouble.

Please rest assured that this method to bypass Vista activation does not tinker with your bios at all. It is a pure software emulation of a OEM bios.