Foo - ALL Windows installs are not genuine atm

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mlts22
08-25-07, 04:25 AM
Found out the hard way that anything that uses Windows Genuine Advantage will be automatically flagged as suspect, which disables features of Vista and 2008. I'm not yet sure if it affects XP, though I'm not going to try. This occurs regardless of how valid your CD key is.

When some software, be it an update or grabbing something like MBSA runs, it will state that it can't tell if the software is genuine or not... which due to the guilty until proven innocent coding of WGA (or genuine as the case may be), You will get an error code of "0xC004C4A5", your OS is flagged, and features like the Aero UI in Vista will get disabled.

MS is going to have a lot of very unhappy people as systems autoupdate and go into "OS invalid" status. Apparently due to a glitch with an update, ALL windows installs are not genuine.

Times like this is when I wish Apple would make MacOS runnable (legally that is) on PCs, even if it meant requiring a TPM-enabled motherboard.

Sources:

http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2053834&SiteID=25
http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=1004&SiteID=25

Edited: As of 3:19 CST, it seems to be fixed, so if your system got flagged as non-genuine, I'd hit www.microsoft.com/genuine and have it re-validated.

Go_Fast
08-25-07, 08:37 AM
geek.
skiahh
08-25-07, 08:44 AM
I'm sticking with XP when the time comes for a new computer.

Cypress
08-25-07, 08:49 AM
I'm sticking with XP when the time comes for a new computer.

You have until November... They will stop making XP around then.

Might be a good investment... Buy 10 copies of XP, then sell them in December :D
skiahh
08-25-07, 09:01 AM
I have 3 copies now; two that came with computers, one I got while at school.
Cypress
08-25-07, 09:15 AM
Cash Money Millionaire!
Maelstrom
08-25-07, 11:17 AM
I have 3 copies now; two that came with computers, one I got while at school.

Keep in mind, OEM's aren't transferrable. So really your 2 computers own XP.
skiahh
08-25-07, 12:28 PM
Keep in mind, OEM's aren't transferrable. So really your 2 computers own XP.

What do you mean they're not transferable?
linux_author
08-25-07, 12:29 PM
- i have a box copy of Win 3.11 still in the shrink wrap... been meaning to take it out to the range...
Maelstrom
08-25-07, 12:32 PM
What do you mean they're not transferable?

Last time I checked, oem version of windows belong to the computer. So.....if you decide to buy a new pc and try to install that windows, you are pirating that copy.

Might have changed but I know it still applies to Server 2003.
skiahh
08-25-07, 12:35 PM
Hmm.... well, I figure I paid for 3 copies, I'm going to use them.

I thought you could also take it off that first computer and put it on another.
Maelstrom
08-25-07, 12:54 PM
No, OEM belongs to the box, not the person.

And really, you didn't pay for a copy, you paid OEM. The actual cost of windows is signifigantly more than what most people pay when they buy a pc. That said, you might well have bought windows. Some companies can't sell OEM versions.
mlts22
08-25-07, 02:19 PM
OEM versions are bought, assuming they will be put on a machine by a reseller. The reason why an OEM copy is cheaper is because its assumed that the buyer will do 100% of the support, and that the copy is bound to one machine. Its not transferable to new machines like retail copies. Retail copies can be moved to a new machine (assuming you format the old machine's hard disk).

If you use volume licensing by Microsoft, its assumed that all the PCs you are using your volume licensing key on have a previous OEM copy of Windows. Yes, a VLK copy of XP will install with no activation on any PC, but its technically a license violation unless the PC came with XP or Vista preinstalled.

Well, as for the WGA servers, they seem to be back up, so if your copy of Vista got flagged as non-genuine, hit the MS website, and you can have it re-validated back to normal.

All and all, I wonder if WGA will cost MS more in the long run, especially after this morning. Instead, for future OS versions, maybe MS should do what Apple does, and use the onboard TPM to validate copies of Windows. This will make WGA obsolete totally, as well as activation (except for the first time a copy is licensed and a certificate is put in the TPM for storage.)

Yes, MS did get WGA fixed, where its working normally as of now, but it definitely caused a number of people some headaches this morning.
v1k1ng1001
08-25-07, 03:53 PM
http://www.ubuntu.com/

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/ubuntu?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs