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Hackers Fool Vista into Activating!
Techtree News Staff, Dec 11, 2006 1324 hrs ISTOne of the ways to activate Windows Vista available to Microsoft volume licensing customers is Key Management Service or KMS...
One of the ways to activate Windows Vista available to Microsoft volume licensing customers is Key Management Service or KMS that requires a centralized server that clients can activate against every 180 days. As such, it's the server that hosts the product keys; and not the client machines.
Thus, with KMS, a company can run a Microsoft-supplied authorization server on its own network, and activate Vista without contacting Microsoft for each copy.
Although KMS is meant to benefit system administrators with many on-site clients, reports are already doing the rounds that some hackers have used a VMWare image and a VBS script to simulate a local KMS that can generate valid Vista product keys.
This workaround, dubbed "Microsoft.Windows.Vista.Local.Activation.Server-MelindaGates," can activate both Enterprise and Business editions of Vista. However, the Home and Ultimate editions of Vista cannot work with a KMS, so they cannot be easily activated with the MelindaGates Hack.
Reportedly, the hacked download is available online on sites such as 'The Pirate Bay' and other file sharing sites.
The MelindaGates Hack or download is a VMWare image. The idea is to download and install VMWare Player (a legal free download); boot the image; and use some VBS script (supplied with the activation server download) to have the client Vista machine get its activation from the local server. And, there is no communication back to Microsoft.
Microsoft has refused to comment on the hack.
Actually, Microsoft designed Vista as its first Windows OS requiring volume users to activate each product, and this was integrated mainly as an anti piracy measure.
Of the latest reports, several security experts are not at all surprised that hackers have come up with a workaround for Vista's product activation; however, there are others who feel that Microsoft should be happy that it took none less than the acquisition of a KMS server to fool Vista into activating...
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