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Windows 7 RTM Cracked With OEM License Key

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1:11 PM - July 29, 2009 by Marcus Yam

Well, that didn't take long.

With every release of Windows is the inevitable race by the pirate community to crack it. Even with activation schemes, which make things considerably more challenging, hackers were able to find a way to activate Windows Vista with a special OEM key. This very same hack has now made its way to activate Windows 7 RTM.

Such a key allows OEMs to pre-activate machines – something definitely not meant for the consumer market. The OEM activation system relies on a special BIOS that identifies itself to Windows. A software hack is all that's required to fool Windows into thinking that any machine is an authorized one that can be activated using the OEM license key.

The OEM license key this time around was extracted from a Windows 7 Ultimate DVD image from Lenovo, which contained the data that hackers needed to make the activation tools.

This type of hack is particularly difficult for Microsoft to stop because it means that it would lock out and greatly inconvenience Windows 7 integration processes already underway at one of its OEM partners – in this case, Lenovo.

Microsoft wasn't able to block out the OEM BIOS hack for Windows Vista until it released Service Pack 1, leading us to suspect that the same could apply for Windows 7.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
Add your comment
stradric 07/29/2009 7:51 PM
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-20+

If they knew about this type of exploit when Vista SP1 came out, then they have no excuse. That's just piss poor.

nekatreven 07/29/2009 7:51 PM
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-18+

Ohhh....I'm off to search the torrents the wonderful torrents of...well, you get the idea.

Anonymous 07/29/2009 7:52 PM
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-20+

how quickly your product is cracked is directly proportional to how successful it will be. People in marketing should seriously use this as a viable metric for predicting sales.

Core2uu 07/29/2009 7:53 PM
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Core2uu 07/29/2009 7:57 PM
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SirCrono 07/29/2009 7:58 PM
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-5+

duderth is right, I remembrer reading an article that said that the high adoption rates helped Microsoft mantain their domain over the enterprise market, it makes sense if you think about it, as long as every home user uses windows and office (legit or otherwise) the enterprises will have no choice but to stick to them (or at least the indirect costs of changing plataforms will be higher)

tacoslave 07/29/2009 8:03 PM
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-6+

johnny depp = best pirate ever

laserlight_2 07/29/2009 8:03 PM
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Core2uu 07/29/2009 8:05 PM
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Upendra09 07/29/2009 8:18 PM
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Core2uu 07/29/2009 8:25 PM
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Core2uu 07/29/2009 8:25 PM
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neon neophyte 07/29/2009 8:26 PM
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Jerther 07/29/2009 8:29 PM
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Fadamor 07/29/2009 8:39 PM
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-5+

RTM happened a couple of weeks ago. Lenovo (shocker this is a Chinese company) obviously let one of their OEM-specific copies get "stolen".

Kill@dor 07/29/2009 8:59 PM
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-1+

Wow...talk about a high speed hijacking! I'm begining to question Windows 7's security features as well.

Jerther 07/29/2009 9:06 PM
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-10+

Kill@dor :
Wow...talk about a high speed hijacking! I'm begining to question Windows 7's security features as well.


I believe those security features are just to keep the average Joe honest. Just like ordinary door locks: they prevent honest people from entering my house and taking that 20 i've left on the table while I'm not there.

Hell, we have customers calling us complaining their DVD burner doesn't work, and they tell us they're trying to copy a rented DVD.

Anonymous 07/29/2009 9:07 PM
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-11+

DRM doesnt stop pirates, it screws with legit users. Maybe one day companies will realize this.

Im not surprised that its been cracked before release, thats the norm.

freak77power 07/29/2009 9:08 PM
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-7+

Anything can be cracked and pirated. Has nothing to do with security. I don't think MS will bother putting any other activation scheme in future Windows releases. Only way to prevent pirating like this is to run OS from special integrated ROM chips on mobo where windows or any other OS is preloaded to. ROM chip should be swappable so you can run any OS.

chaohsiangchen 07/29/2009 9:15 PM
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-2+

tacoslave :
johnny depp = best pirate ever



And the greatest pirate ever is G.P. LeChuck.

Jerther 07/29/2009 9:22 PM
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-6+

freak77power :
Anything can be cracked and pirated. Has nothing to do with security. I don't think MS will bother putting any other activation scheme in future Windows releases. Only way to prevent pirating like this is to run OS from special integrated ROM chips on mobo where windows or any other OS is preloaded to. ROM chip should be swappable so you can run any OS.



yeah, Parallel Port Sentinels :)

those were the days...

But even then, it was possible to either crack the program so it didn't check for the sentinel, or to let it think it was actually there.

Netherscourge 07/29/2009 9:35 PM
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-0+

MS will probably just patch it up anyway.

theblackbird 07/29/2009 9:36 PM
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--2+

Downloaded Win 7 Ultimate OEM, applied an already click-and-forget made activator. Works.

This is pretty amazing considering the consumer release date is like 22 oct.

amnotanoobie 07/29/2009 9:46 PM
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-2+

That was fast, though I think there would be an open position at Lenovo by now.

fracture 07/29/2009 9:53 PM
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-4+

Hopefully Lenovo won't interogate any of their workers for them to commit suicide.

bk420 07/29/2009 9:54 PM
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tektek2000 07/29/2009 10:12 PM
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-2+

I for one can say.. i am not the one who did it! besides.. WIN7 is a good product.. one that would finally be worth buying... from china/thailand and other countries that get it for much cheaper!!

gmcboot 07/29/2009 10:24 PM
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-4+

This is not a bad thing for Microsoft. This will allow more people to get into Windows 7 and use it, get hooked on it, then when SP1 comes out, those users will have to buy a version or go back to XP or Vista. If Windows 7 is really as good as an OS as some are saying, then those people or a significant portion of them will buy it.

neon neophyte 07/29/2009 10:53 PM
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shadowkazama 07/29/2009 11:00 PM
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-7+

"Microsoft wasn't able to block out the OEM BIOS hack for Windows Vista until it released Service Pack 1, leading us to suspect that the same could apply for Windows 7."

That sill haven't stopped it. The OEM BIOS hack still works with SP1 and SP2.

sticks435 07/30/2009 12:18 PM
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-4+

shadowkazama :
"Microsoft wasn't able to block out the OEM BIOS hack for Windows Vista until it released Service Pack 1, leading us to suspect that the same could apply for Windows 7."That sill haven't stopped it. The OEM BIOS hack still works with SP1 and SP2.


Yea, I had no problems using a modified version for SP1


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