gHacks technology news » kms http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:22:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Hack to activate Windows Vista explained http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/18/hack-to-activate-windows-vista-explained/ http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/18/hack-to-activate-windows-vista-explained/#comments Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:38:49 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/18/hack-to-activate-windows-vista-explained/ This is not working anymore and has therefor been pulled from this server.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/18/hack-to-activate-windows-vista-explained/feed/ 10 Will Microsoft ever learn ? http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/07/will-microsoft-ever-learn/ http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/07/will-microsoft-ever-learn/#comments Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:22:20 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/07/will-microsoft-ever-learn/ According to the website apcmag “pirates” were able to crack the vista activation server. As you all know every Windows Vista edition has to be activated, even the enterprise editions which was not the case in Windows XP. Imagine a company with thousands of computers all running Windows Vista. It would probably take some time to activate each on its own. The clever folks at Microsoft wanted to make it more comfortable for their business clients and created the so called Key Management Service.

The KMS works as a activation hub for all computers connected to it which means that all Vista editions can be activated at once using the server. To counter abuse the activation is only valid for 180 days and everything needs to be re-activated in that period. The software, scheduled for release next year, apparently got into wrong hands and “pirates” were able to tweak the Key Management Service that way that it would activate the Vista edition without connecting to the Microsoft Activation server at all.

Everything a Pirate needs is now available freely, though illegally, on the internet. You may download a full retail version of Windows Vista with some CD keys and you may download the Key Management Service to activate the edition without Microsoft ever knowing.

This will only work with Business and Enterprise editions and the time limit is still active. I personally think that it is only a matter of time until those nasty “pirates” create a version that activates Vista completely. Another drawback is that you will still be subject to WGA checks if you use services such as Windows Update to update your operating system. Again, only a matter of time for this as well.

Will Vista be less copied than XP ? I don’t think so. Sure activation and WGA could make this happen but it seems that the “pirates” are on step ahead, again.

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