Posted March 5, 2007 It's official: Pirates crack Vista at last A genuine crack for Windows Vista has just been released by pirate group Pantheon, which allows a pirated, non-activated installation of Vista (Home Basic/Premium and Ultimate) to be properly activated and made fully-operational. Unlike cracks which have been floating around since Vista RTM was released in late November, this crack doesn’t simply get around product activation with beta activation files or timestop cracks - it actually makes use of the activation process. It seems that Microsoft has allowed large OEMs like ASUS to ship their products with a pre-installed version of Vista that doesn’t require product activation – apparently because end users would find it too inconvenient. OEM Emulation This version of Vista uses System-Locked Pre-Installation 2.0 (SLP 2.0). It allows the “Royalty OEMs” to embed specific licensing information into the operating system which Vista can activate without having to go back to Microsoft for verification. The licensing components include the OEM’s hardware-embedded BIOS ACPI_SLIC (which has been signed by Microsoft), an XML certificate file which corresponds to this ACPI_SLIC and a specific OEM product key. Pantheon released a bundle which includes the certificate files from ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo along with OEM product keys for Vista Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate, and an emulator which allows the BIOS ACPI_SLIC driver for any manufacturer to be installed without requiring the system to be physically running that hardware. For example, you can install the ASUS certificate information on any machine, not just an ASUS. And yes, the crack most certainly works. You end up with an activated, legitimate copy of Vista which passes all the Windows Genuine Advantage checks. The release of this crack does make a bit of a mockery of the whole volume activation process. I was beginning to think the new activation process introduced with Vista might spell the end of easy and large-scale Windows piracy, and if the only way to activate Vista was to have it communicate directly with Microsoft, then that just might have been a possibility. But allowing such a workaround to OEMs just because their users might not like it has introduced a weakness into the system. Pirate groups are well known for exploiting any weakness no matter how small (as evidenced by the cracking of KMS), so once this activation process became known it was only a matter of time. As the crack is tied to specific product keys, it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will be able to do anything about shutting out machines activated using this method. But their work will be made much more difficult now that such machines have completely bypassed the online activation process, and are connecting as legitimate copies of Windows. APCMAG Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 5, 2007 Funny how Vista is easier to crack than XP. Infact, theres another one floating around that completely validates your machine via the Windows website... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 5, 2007 It really is a stupid security hole, almost like its on purpose. And why is Vista easier to crack then XP? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 5, 2007 It really is a stupid security hole, almost like its on purpose. And why is Vista easier to crack then XP? Windows Update after a while was blocked to anyone without WGA installed or with WGA alerts. Vista has WGA, more embedded than XP and is easily removed... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 6, 2007 Looks to me I'll be installing Vista anyway. Needless to say it's a legal version and I'm posting it in thread out of sheer randomness. Of course. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 6, 2007 It almost sounds to easy, doesn't it? Well, it's not like Microsoft isn't making enouegh money already so losing about seven billion wont be any of Billion-Bill's trouble. It does sound kind-of easy to crack Vista apparantly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 8, 2007 They should've just released it half the price. I gotta admit that through crack is the only way right now that I would bother with Vista, [edit: or if I won a copy, like Jordan >.>] even an OEM copy is too expensive for the underwhelming number of improvements. I'm sticking with XP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 8, 2007 They should've just released it half the price. I gotta admit that through crack is the only way right now that I would bother with Vista, [edit: or if I won a copy, like Jordan >.>] even an OEM copy is too expensive for the underwhelming number of improvements. I'm sticking with XP. Half the price wouldn't cut it. They would make the same profit and give everyone a official copy if they cut it off to about 40 to 50 euro's (that'll be around 25 pounds for you, British). But 250 (170 for you, Britanica) is way too much for regular consumers... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 9, 2007 They should've just released it half the price. Yeah, not double the US price - at least in Euro it's double the price. I mean sure there is tax but that can't make such a difference. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 9, 2007 As long as Americans pay for our piracy, its aaaalll goooddd. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 9, 2007 Time to partition a hard drive and try it out EDIT: Legally of course :P Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 10, 2007 As long as the timecrack works i'll stick with it. If it gives me any trouble then... And Jordan, since when is Vista easier to crack? XP didn't even need any crack to work 100% and as far as i know the updates still work without the WGA. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 10, 2007 does this work for the oem version only or retail? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 10, 2007 As long as the timecrack works i'll stick with it. If it gives me any trouble then... And Jordan, since when is Vista easier to crack? XP didn't even need any crack to work 100% and as far as i know the updates still work without the WGA. I'm pretty sure XP needed WGA. It did when I decided to finally update. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 11, 2007 they will just update it... How exactly are they going to stop this via update? Theres no way to tell who has a legit copy and who activated by this crack! All Microsoft can do is stop the software vendors from distributing it like this further and then change the activation method for new copies, if you already have this installed, activated and running then you're sorted for life! (unless ive missed something glaringly obvious) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 11, 2007 I'm pretty sure XP needed WGA. It did when I decided to finally update. I'm sorry man, but i'm running a non-legit version of XP on my laptop and i have acess to the updates. (Through windows itself, not the website though.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 11, 2007 So do I, but I'm running WGA fine the :P Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 11, 2007 Old news. People were downloading Vista Ultimate BEFORE the OS was even released. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 11, 2007 Old news. People were downloading Vista Ultimate BEFORE the OS was even released. Its not the fact that Vista has been cracked thats news, its just a new way to crack it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 11, 2007 A way that makes it legit, and not rely on changing the time. EDIT: Well, appear legit to Microsofts servers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 11, 2007 On the WGA issue, Windows XP didn't come with WGA in its first realease, so they couldn't demand from its users, but with Vista it became mandatory to use it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 11, 2007 So I would have thought that since WGA is built into vista but not XP then Vista would be harder to crack? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 11, 2007 So I would have thought that since WGA is built into vista but not XP then Vista would be harder to crack? I think it is, but Microsoft left some "vulnerabilities" by letting people have trial versions, and letting OEMs hand out free copys to their costumers. Thus creating the possibility for unchecked versions of Vista. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
