Windows Vista Volume Licensing

Eiolon · Nov 30, 2006, 10:28 AM

I'm not sure where to post this but I just wanted everyone to know that we received our Volume Licensing for Windows Vista today and it requires activation, unlike Windows XP Volume Licensing.

There are two ways to do this:

VA 2.0/MAK - Volume Activation 2.0/Multiple Activation Key: this key will activate Microsoft Windows Vista through the internet or telephone, and have a limited number of activations associated with them. Computers can be activated on an individual basis or by a central computer which can activate multiple computers at a time. If you require a MAK please click on the Request Multiple Activation Key(s) link.

VA 2.0/KMS - Volume Activation 2.0/Key Management Service: this key will be used to enable a new service in your environment that will automatically activate Windows Vista computers. You must have a minimum of 25 Windows Vista computers connected together to use the KMS, and all computers will be required to check back to the central service twice per year to stay activated.

Not to say there won't be any workarounds to bypass activation but it looks like Microsoft is taking a harder stance on business owners.

Soluzar · Local time: Nov 30, 2006, 03:35 PM

Considering that Windows XP Corporate Edition was extensively pirated, who can blame them? It apparently did not require activation, and so was the pirate's OS of choice.

Kaiten · Local time: Nov 30, 2006, 02:18 PM

We should all just wait until the consumer editions come out. Not only will there be many more piracy/activation workarounds by then, but we will also have a more stable and tested OS by then.

Early adopters always get the shaft be the legitimate or pirate.

RYU · Local time: Dec 1, 2006, 12:55 AM

I have way to Activation your WinVista RTM (6000) if you want.

Cyrus XIII · Local time: Nov 30, 2006, 11:30 PM

Hm, guess any halfaway experienced user who hasn't seriously considered switching the OS by now is in it for gaming, mission-critical apps or the pain. There will be the usual stability and compatibility issues (not all might be resolved, even over time) and then there is this tinkering with cracks ... unless you get your hands on a legit copy of this insanely priced product.

Still, I got a good laugh out of the news regarding volume license activation. The idea of some little gizmo, sitting on one of a company's servers, busily calling home ... well, I'm sure it's perfectly safe.

^-^ · Local time: May 23, 2007, 01:20 PM

I, too, used Ryu's way for my Vista Ultimate.

Render · Local time: May 23, 2007, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by ^-^

I, too, used Ryu's way for my Vista Ultimate.

And what way is that, exactly? He sure doesn't explain it.

Merv posted an activation crack somewhere a while ago, and I've heard it works flawlessly.

Yume · Local time: May 24, 2007, 05:30 PM

Don't know if anyone else knew this, but with the Vista Licensing, your still able to install XP Professional instead of Vista.

Found that out from our supplier along with some interesting info about Microsoft changing some of the names of their products. If I recall, Frontpage is now called Sharepoint.

^-^ · Local time: May 24, 2007, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by Render

And what way is that, exactly? He sure doesn't explain it.

Merv posted an activation crack somewhere a while ago, and I've heard it works flawlessly.

And that's the one I used.

flakpyro · Local time: May 24, 2007, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by Yume

Don't know if anyone else knew this, but with the Vista Licensing, your still able to install XP Professional instead of Vista.

Found that out from our supplier along with some interesting info about Microsoft changing some of the names of their products. If I recall, Frontpage is now called Sharepoint.

Frontpage and sharepoint are very different thinks, sharepoint is a dynamic web app that intergrates with Office for group collaboration, front page is a crappy HTML WYSIWYG

Render · Local time: May 24, 2007, 11:50 PM

They discontinued Frontpage (AMEN!) and released a new website design software called Expression Web. It branches into two parts: Standalone program, and a version that's integrated into Sharepoint itself for those poor saps running Sharepoint over a network.

flakpyro · Local time: May 26, 2007, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by Render

They discontinued Frontpage (AMEN!) and released a new website design software called Expression Web. It branches into two parts: Standalone program, and a version that's integrated into Sharepoint itself for those poor saps running Sharepoint over a network.

We will be soon

spikeh · Local time: Jun 10, 2007, 08:53 AM

Can someone please post the crack? It'd be interesting to see if it's the one released by PANTHEON; I never got the chance to try it out.

OEM versions of Vista, which includes all the sub-versions from Home Basic to Ultimate, do not require activation and was released quite a while ago. Updates work immediately after install with no fuss at all. Unless Microsoft can block such OEM copies (WGA2 or are OEM copies "watermarked"?) then this will no doubt become "pirates' OS of choice".

Regarding KMS, the activation server was leaked and released before the existance of the timer cracks. It was the only way then to activate the corporate editions of Vista. Although, it was not much of use for those who wished to activate Ultimate.

Render · Local time: Jun 10, 2007, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by spikeh

Can someone please post the crack? It'd be interesting to see if it's the one released by PANTHEON; I never got the chance to try it out.

OEM versions of Vista, which includes all the sub-versions from Home Basic to Ultimate, do not require activation and was released quite a while ago. Updates work immediately after install with no fuss at all. Unless Microsoft can block such OEM copies (WGA2 or are OEM copies "watermarked"?) then this will no doubt become "pirates' OS of choice".

Regarding KMS, the activation server was leaked and released before the existance of the timer cracks. It was the only way then to activate the corporate editions of Vista. Although, it was not much of use for those who wished to activate Ultimate.

The one I have now (thx Merv) is by Team Paradox. This is a copy and paste from the readme:

Spoiler:

Code:

		*************************************************************
		*** OEM BIOS Emulation Toolkit For Windows Vista x86 v1.0 ***
		*************************************************************


What's the purpose of this release?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bypassing the product activation requirement of Microsoft Windows Vista x86.


How does it work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Microsoft allows large hardware manufacturers (e.g. ASUS, HP, Dell) to ship their products
containing a Windows Vista installation that does NOT require any kind of product activation as
this might be considered an unnecessary inconvenience for the end-user.
Instead these so-called 'Royalty OEMs' are granted the right to embed certain license information
into their hardware products, which can be validated by Windows Vista to make obtaining further
activation information (online or by phone) obsolete.
This mechanism is commonly referred to as 'SLP 2.0' ('system-locked pre-installation 2.0') and
consists of the following three key elements:

1. The OEM's hardware-embedded BIOS ACPI_SLIC information signed by Microsoft.

2. A certificate issued by Microsoft that corresponds to the specific ACPI_SLIC information.

   The certificate is an XML file found on the OEM's installation/recovery media,
   ususally called something like 'oemname.xrm-ms'.

3. A special type of product key that corresponds to the installed edition of Windows Vista.

   This key can usually be obtained from some installation script found on the OEM's
   installation/recovery media or directly from a pre-installed OEM system.

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

So the basic concept of the tool at hand is to present any given BIOS ACPI_SLIC information to Windows
Vista's licensing mechanism by means of a device driver.
In combination with a matching product key and OEM certificate this allows for rendering any system
practically indistinguishable from a legit pre-activated system shipped by the respective OEM.


How do I use it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Preliminary hint:
Most operations described below require elevated privileges, so disabling UAC (Run->MSCONFIG.EXE->
Tools->Disable UAC) for the time being is recommended, Of course, it can be safely re-enabled after
all steps have been performed. Otherwise OEMTOOL.EXE and some SLMGR.VBS operations must be explicitly
run with adminstrative privileges.

1. Install the Windows Vista x86 edition of your choice without entering any product key during setup.
   Basically any Windows Vista x86 installation media will do, regardless if it's MSDN/Retail/OEM/...,
   MSDN/Retail are recommended though.

2. Install the emulation driver.

   Run OEMTOOL.EXE, select the OEM BIOS information to emulate (ASUS might be a good choice given the
   fact that it's the only OEM for which a complete set of product keys is provided ;)) and hit the
   '<Install Emulation Driver>' button.

   Alternatively you can just right-click the ROYAL.INF file and chose 'Install' from the appearing
   menu. This only allows for installing the default OEM BIOS information (ASUS) though and is strongly
   discouraged unless OEMTOOL.EXE fails for some unknown reason.

   When prompted about whether to install an unsigned driver, allow it.
   (For some odd reason Microsoft didn't wanna sign this one...;))

3. Reboot your machine.

4. Install the OEM certificate matching your OEM selection during driver installation by running

   SLMGR.VBS -ilc <OEMNAME>.XRM-MS

   (e.g. "SLMGR.VBS -ilc C:\ASUS.XRM-MS" if you chose to install the default driver and extracted
    the certificate file to C:\)

   Note that this operation might take quite a while depending on your system, so be patient.

5. Install an OEM product key matching the installed edition of Windows Vista x86 by running

   SLMGR.VBS -ipk <OEM_PRODUCT_KEY>

   (e.g. "SLMGR.VBS -ipk 6F2D7-2PCG6-YQQTB-FWK9V-932CC" if you're running Windows Vista Ultimate using
    the default emulation driver)

   Note that this operation might take quite a while depending on your system, so be patient.

   See PKEYS.TXT for a list of OEM product keys published by different OEMs.

6. Run 'SLMGR.VBS -dlv' or right-click 'Computer' and chose 'Properties' to verify your licensing status.

Due to the variety of possible combinations of different earlier Vista activation hacks we're not gonna
provide details on 'persuading' existing installations to accept this method.
During our test the general procedure depicted above worked out fine though, i.e. installing the emulation
driver, rebooting the machine and then using the officially documented ways of installing a matching OEM
certificate and product key should do the trick in all but the most messed up cases.


What's that '<Dump OEM BIOS Information>' button in OEMTOOL.EXE for?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It dumps the BIOS ACPI_SLIC information of any SLP 2.0-enabled OEM system.
The dump can consecutively be used to emulate ('clone') that information on any other system by specifying
the 'Custom' option.
Using this function on a system booted using the emulation driver will give a dump identical to the currently
emulated OEM BIOS information, so be sure to uninstall the driver and reboot the source machine first if you
intend to dump the actual hardware-embedded OEM BIOS data.


What are all those files for?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DIFXAPI.DLL			- a runtime dll for Microsoft's DIFx API used by oemtool.exe
OEMTOOL.EXE			- an application for installing/uninstalling the emulation driver
			  	  and dumping BIOS ACPI_SLIC information from any SLP 2.0-enabled
			  	  Windows Vista OEM system
PKEYS.TXT			- contains a list of validated OEM product keys
README.TXT			- this file
ROYAL.INF			- driver .INF file, can be (ab)used to install the emulation driver
			  	  in case oemtool.exe fails to perform this task
ROYAL.SYS			- the emulation device driver

CERTS\ACER.XRM-MS		- the certificate that corresponds to the ACPI_SLIC information
			  	  emulated by the driver when 'Acer' has been selected during
			  	  driver installation
CERTS\ASUS.XRM-MS		- the certificate that corresponds to the ACPI_SLIC information
			  	  emulated by the driver when 'ASUS' has been selected during
			  	  driver installation
CERTS\HEWLETT-PACKARD.XRM-MS	- the certificate that corresponds to the ACPI_SLIC information
			  	  emulated by the driver when 'Hewlett-Packard' has been selected
			  	  during driver installation
CERTS\LENOVO.XRM-MS		- the certificate that corresponds to the ACPI_SLIC information
			  	  emulated by the driver when 'Lenovo' has been selected during
			  	  driver installation



Enjoy,
TEAM PARADOX '07

I can still post it.

Marina · Local time: Jul 12, 2007, 10:22 AM

I hate Vista!
I've just bought my new notebook (asus), overall it's an OK spec but because Vista OS it's very very slow and I've glitched NWN eventhrough I've ATI radeon X2300! I can't even play KOTOR 2 which is really old game!
It's bother me to search for new program for vista compatible as well (I can't use my old Kaspersky).........

I hate it!

Little Shithead · Jul 11, 2007, 11:41 PM

Yeah, I'd hate something too if it gave me grammar as bad as yours.

Dark Nation · Local time: Jul 11, 2007, 11:14 PM

This would be a problem if, and only if, Vista were worth pirating in the first place right now. We'll see in a while if that remains true.

Originally Posted by Kaiten

We should all just wait until the consumer editions come out. Not only will there be many more piracy/activation workarounds by then, but we will also have a more stable and tested OS by then.

I think you mean wait until the Service Packs come out. Microsoft has already released Consumer and Business versions, as they did with WinXP, only this time with more options.

evilboris · Local time: Jul 16, 2007, 01:58 AM

I dunno, the only problem I have with Vista is driver immaturity (mainly caused by Nvidias elitism - they barely support anything which isnt top-of-the-line jazz. I had to install WinXP drivers for my nForce 3 mobo to get acceptable performance for my AGP GF7600GS and to fix some nasty crashes at movie resizing.).

Oh and it uses a fuckton of ram. Every app uses a bit more ram then it does in XP, and that can accumulate after a while. But mostly its that I'm using Aero Glass, which is 100+mb easily; not like i care since it doesnt continously dig in the pagefile unlike XP does.
Heck I may as well try that Readyboost function on a spare pendrive I have (uses pendrive as RAM, specializing only in fast, short calls to get the most use out of the pendrive instant access speeds, but only for that cuz usb interface speeds sucks).