How do you want to get screwed today?
May. 6th, 2004 07:09 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
coyoteden.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
techrecoveryHeads up about a problem we might see:
Windows XP Service Pack 2 is coming soon. There's a lot of improvement and security features, but be warned:
If you have a less-than-legit copy of Windows XP, you WILL be locked out of your computer if you install SP2
This only applies to Windows XP Pro with a Volume License Product Key (VLK). XP Home is not affected. At all. If you got XP Pro with your computer (OEM) or purchased it (Retail), you're legit and therefore OK. If you have a pirated copy of XP you will find after applying SP2 you will not be able to log on.
Here's why:
If you go into the system control panel, you'll see a number of the format 11111-222-3333333-44444. This is your Product ID, generated from your CD Key. The three-digit group identifies what product this ID is for. On XP Pro Corp the three digit group will be 64x, where x might be number. Legit copies will be 640. In the Gold release of XP anything from 640-649 is valid. When MS found out XP Pro Corp was being pirated, they blocked the two most commonly used product keys from being able to install Service Pack 1.
With SP1, only the two known leaked keys were blocked. They both generated 640, and crackers assumed ALL 640 keys were blocked. Key generators making corporate keys will always generate codes of 641-649. These keys worked... until now. Microsoft has never used 641-649 in any keys so they disabled them. Service Pack 2 RC1 (current Technical Preview) is unaffected, but all builds after v.2111, including the soon-to-come RC2 and the final public release, will not let you log on if your product ID contains 641-649.
To reiterate, and hopefully spare people some grief: If you are using a pirated or keygen-made CD-Key, you will be locked out of your computer after installing SP2!
You will be presented with the windows activation dialog. XP Pro Corp does not have activation, but if you click "Activate" you will be told your key is invalid and be prompted for a new one. After entering a valid key you can log on. In case you're wondering, it doesn't try to phone home. You can change your key and proceed even with no connection to the Internet. If this fails, you can use the old "Telephone" > "Change Product Key" trick.
ObCoveringMyAss: I'm not a warez d00d. I have a legit VLK, but when I said all legit keys were 640, I meant "for most values of all." A few legit VLK do generate 64x and they will need to be changed by M$. That's what happened to me. I researched this because I know a lot of copies of XP pro are going to stop working and we're going to be taking the calls.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 is coming soon. There's a lot of improvement and security features, but be warned:
If you have a less-than-legit copy of Windows XP, you WILL be locked out of your computer if you install SP2
This only applies to Windows XP Pro with a Volume License Product Key (VLK). XP Home is not affected. At all. If you got XP Pro with your computer (OEM) or purchased it (Retail), you're legit and therefore OK. If you have a pirated copy of XP you will find after applying SP2 you will not be able to log on.
Here's why:
If you go into the system control panel, you'll see a number of the format 11111-222-3333333-44444. This is your Product ID, generated from your CD Key. The three-digit group identifies what product this ID is for. On XP Pro Corp the three digit group will be 64x, where x might be number. Legit copies will be 640. In the Gold release of XP anything from 640-649 is valid. When MS found out XP Pro Corp was being pirated, they blocked the two most commonly used product keys from being able to install Service Pack 1.
With SP1, only the two known leaked keys were blocked. They both generated 640, and crackers assumed ALL 640 keys were blocked. Key generators making corporate keys will always generate codes of 641-649. These keys worked... until now. Microsoft has never used 641-649 in any keys so they disabled them. Service Pack 2 RC1 (current Technical Preview) is unaffected, but all builds after v.2111, including the soon-to-come RC2 and the final public release, will not let you log on if your product ID contains 641-649.
To reiterate, and hopefully spare people some grief: If you are using a pirated or keygen-made CD-Key, you will be locked out of your computer after installing SP2!
You will be presented with the windows activation dialog. XP Pro Corp does not have activation, but if you click "Activate" you will be told your key is invalid and be prompted for a new one. After entering a valid key you can log on. In case you're wondering, it doesn't try to phone home. You can change your key and proceed even with no connection to the Internet. If this fails, you can use the old "Telephone" > "Change Product Key" trick.
ObCoveringMyAss: I'm not a warez d00d. I have a legit VLK, but when I said all legit keys were 640, I meant "for most values of all." A few legit VLK do generate 64x and they will need to be changed by M$. That's what happened to me. I researched this because I know a lot of copies of XP pro are going to stop working and we're going to be taking the calls.
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-06 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-06 04:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-06 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-06 05:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-06 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-06 08:06 pm (UTC)thanks for the update.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-07 01:21 am (UTC)*evil grin*
no subject
Date: 2004-05-07 07:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-07 10:32 am (UTC)Ok, update on this info...
Date: 2004-05-09 12:04 pm (UTC)Strange of M$ to admit their product is SO insecure they are willing to make the patches for it available to unauthorized users.
Maybe this key-blocking will vanish in future builds. I think it might have been a bug to start with. Playing around a bit with a generated key that doesn't work (645 PID) eventlogs a message along the lines of "tampered product ID" or something like that.
hmmm
Date: 2004-05-13 04:56 pm (UTC)