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Sunday November 22, 2009 10:47 PM AEST
Skip Navigation LinksPC Authority > News > Microsoft closes in on Vista BIOS crack
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Microsoft closes in on Vista BIOS crack

by Tom Sanders  on Apr 12, 2007
Tags: Microsoft | Vista | BIOS | crack
"I honestly like Vista, after I vLite it, and rip out the User Account Thingy, and cut out the bloat, it's sweet. :P"
 
Emulating a special OEM BIOS marker offers way to bypass Vista's anti-piracy.
Microsoft is studying a BIOS hack that allows pirates to circumvent the anti-piracy features that are built into Windows Vista.

Reports about the crack started circulation online a few weeks ago. The method uses a feature that allows system builders to qualify new computers as licensed by inserting a short digital marker in the BIOS. Upon detection of this special marker, Windows XP and Vista bypass product activation and anti-piracy checks.

This OEM Activation programme is limited to large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with which Microsoft has a direct relationship.

The basic input/output system (BIOS) is software that is built into a computer's mother board. It provides a computer with the first instructions when it is booted up, allowing the operating system to start loading and components like the keyboard, display and disk drives to function.

Users looking to install a pirated copy of Windows Vista however can use the BIOS markers to bypass the product activation check too. This prevents Vista from getting earmarked as pirated and put in a reduced functionality mode.

Crackers could go into the BIOS and change its content to make it appear to be from a qualifying OEM. That method however is labour intensive and risky: a single programming error can permanently disable a motherboard.

A more popular method uses special software that fools Windows into believing that it is running on a qualifying system.

"While this method is easier to implement for the end user, it's also easier to detect and respond to than a method that involves directly modifying the BIOS of the motherboard," Alex Koc, a senior program manager for Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage programme wrote on a company blog.

While he wouldn’t say if the company plans to respond, he mentioned that the company is monitoring the situation.

"Our goal isn't to stop every 'mad scientist' that's on a mission to hack Windows. Our first goal is to disrupt the business model of organized counterfeiters and protect users from becoming unknowing victims. This means focusing on responding to hacks that are scalable and can easily be commercialized, thereby making victims out of well-intentioned customers."

Microsoft has seen cases of BIOS hacks on Windows XP over the past few years, he added, but they were limited in their scope. Koc suggested that there were easier methods of cracking Windows XP's piracy protections that kept people from using the BIOS crack.

"Because Windows Vista can't be pirated as easily as Windows XP, it's possible that the increased pressure will result in more interest in efforts to hack the OEM Activation 2.0 implementation."

Copyright © 2009 v3.co.uk
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Comments: 18
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Tobysatch
Sep 1, 2008 4:22 PM
I am surprised that anyone would actually want to pirate Vista. Why not just whack yourself on the temple with a hard drive and save yourself a worse headache? What WAS Microsoft thinking when they spat that one out?


Comment made about the PC Authority article:
Microsoft closes in on Vista BIOS crack?
Emulating a special OEM BIOS marker offers way to bypass Vista's anti-piracy.

What do you think? Join the discussion.
maxcam
Sep 1, 2008 4:46 PM
Why would anyone go to this much trouble when others are just getting an enterprise copy of the same OS and installing that
.:Cyb3rGlitch:.
Sep 1, 2008 4:49 PM
Tobysatch, I'm interested in hearing your experience with Vista.
Alistor
Sep 1, 2008 5:13 PM
Good on 'em, I say, keep Microsoft on their toes. :)
Slatts
Sep 1, 2008 6:11 PM
I recall reading an article a few months ago about fooling the vista upgrade system.
It involved loading the Vista update disk then installing it again over the top of its self.
Anybody heard of that?
Nat.W¿LL¿
Sep 1, 2008 6:21 PM
its reported that the process of installing or rearming vista with the date set to 2099 confuses the grace timer into thinking the grace period ends in 2099, allowing system to avoid activation:S
all sounds dodgy to me
midbear
Sep 1, 2008 6:49 PM
I can't believe that would work, that's like the oldest hacking trick in the book. All of us old codgers (metaphorically speaking of course) will remember that one from the heydays of shareware, I'm sure there are a few very embarrassed programmers M$ HQ over this one!
Alistor
Sep 1, 2008 7:08 PM
Nat.W¿LL¿ wrote:
its reported that the process of installing or rearming vista with the date set to 2099 confuses the grace timer into thinking the grace period ends in 2099, allowing system to avoid activation:S
all sounds dodgy to me


IIRC They fixed that with SP1.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:.
Sep 1, 2008 7:19 PM
Slatts wrote:
I recall reading an article a few months ago about fooling the vista upgrade system.
It involved loading the Vista update disk then installing it again over the top of its self.
Anybody heard of that?

Yup, I've done that before. It's better than having to install two OSs.
Nat.W¿LL¿
Sep 1, 2008 7:51 PM
Alistor wrote:
Nat.W¿LL¿ wrote:
its reported that the process of installing or rearming vista with the date set to 2099 confuses the grace timer into thinking the grace period ends in 2099, allowing system to avoid activation:S
all sounds dodgy to me


IIRC They fixed that with SP1.

oh lol whoops:P
mordie
Sep 1, 2008 7:59 PM
At the moment at work only 2 people, as after as I'm aware, have it installed on their desktop machines. We don't support and the place I work will not even deploy it until atleast sp2 is release. I can't even get a copy to test or evaluate...

I was in MS Vista beta2 and wasn't impressed with the OS then. If it has improved we are not getting a chance to play with it. - hell we only got office 2007 in the last 2-3 months to use in the IT area - it's not been deployed outside the department as yet...Mainly due to inhouse systems which is fair enough.


Hobo_Joe
Sep 1, 2008 9:08 PM
my two cents!

I like Vista!! :P

I'm all out of cents :(
Nat.W¿LL¿
Sep 1, 2008 9:13 PM
Hobo_Joe wrote:
my two cents!

I like Vista!! :P

I'm all out of cents :(

aw if u like vista u dont have any cents (sense) hehe
Hobo_Joe
Sep 1, 2008 9:27 PM
PUN!!!

That was awesome :P

Nah using Vista comes in handy! I mean hey sure there are problems with it, but no OS is perfect...
Plus as long as there are customers out there purchasing it to install on our equipment, there's always going to be a need for me to know it!
midbear
Sep 1, 2008 10:44 PM
Hobo_Joe wrote:

Plus as long as there are customers out there purchasing it to install on our equipment, there's always going to be a need for me to know it!


Hobo that is a very sound business plan :cool:
Hobo_Joe
Sep 1, 2008 10:50 PM
hehe thanks :P
I've been caught out before not knowing about certain OS' and how they run on our equipment. That's why I started to familiarise myself with RedHat, windows server 2003 and others.. I'm by no means a pro, but knowing some basics can pay off big time!
midbear
Sep 1, 2008 11:11 PM
Me pleasure :) You are so right a little bit of knowledge can go a long way!
Alistor
Sep 3, 2008 11:53 AM
I honestly like Vista, after I vLite it, and rip out the User Account Thingy, and cut out the bloat, it's sweet. :P
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