back to article Vista volume activation cracked

Pirates have succeeded in making cracking, rather than simply circumventing, Windows Vista product activation easier than ever before. A crack from pirate group Pantheon allows pirated Vista installations to be activated and made fully operational. The approach avoids reliance on beta activation or time stamp hacks, instead …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Pete Silver badge

    still wouldn't want vista

    even if they gave it away - happy with my (legal) XP and will be for many years to come. It does everything I need

  2. Aaron

    Old news

    This seams old because this method has been used many times before, its just using exactly the same method as the bios bootstrap loader which I've been used many times even with SP1. Before anyone gets on their high horse about piracy I actually own a legit copy vista came with my laptop, but it never automatically authenticates because I reinstall a lot because I play with and break multiple operating systems for fun, I use this method because its quicker and easier than calling Microsoft up for manual activation once a week.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Great! Crap for free!

    So now I can download Vista from a warez site, and run it as if it was a fully licensed version without paying a penny..... "free" still sounds too expensive for something which is just a load of tripe in the first place. To install this OS I would want to be paid!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    An inside job?

    After all, Microsoft must be really desperate to boost sales of Vista....

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Uh oh -

    - Looks like Myth got pwnt!

  6. Senor Beavis
    Joke

    That's great for Microsoft

    It's the only way the take-up rate of Vista will ever increase

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Richard Rayner
    Pirate

    um, isnt this like. very old news?

    seriously, this has been going on since June 07, probably long before then.

  9. Mark
    Gates Horns

    Fixed in SP1

    Reading the SP1 release notes, I seem to recall something about BIOS expliots being fixed by SP1.

    Shame Microsoft wasted all that time fixing crack holes, and not fixing the dire performance problems of Vista, even when SP1 is applied.

    (Why should it take 2 seconds to show the fucking volume slider, even on a Vista certified laptop with Core 2 Duo and 3GB of RAM)

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Too little too late?

    Glad to see Microsoft getting this type of press, but does anyone really care? Since the release of Vista, there just hasn't been a huge uptake and, frankly, why would anyone want to pirate that steaming heap anyway?

    I vote Paris, because she'll do anything. :D

  11. Karl Lattimer

    security model

    create security system -> rely on security system -> some 12 year old breaks security system

    Surely microsoft would have been better off making it infinitely piratable as its gotten them so far in the past.

  12. Jolyon Ralph
    Thumb Down

    Old news!

    This article is exactly one year old! And no, it's not a misprint in the date.

    Jolyon

  13. Aram
    Pirate

    Only a matter of time

    Of course, this is only going to be useful if there are people who want to use the OS!

    Ahhrrrr!

  14. adnim

    Is this any different

    from the OEM BIOS crack that includes certificate files from ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo which has been available since vista first hit the shelves?

    Is there anyway to get micro$oft to pay one for installing this OS? I might be interested in using it if the payment was large enough.

  15. b166er

    But what happens if

    you install KB940510?

  16. Matt

    new news??

    isnt this the same bios crack thats been about, pretty much Vistas release?? or is this a different OEM Bios certificate hack???

  17. John Smith

    Interesting...

    If Vista adoption doesn't increase now then it really is a good indicator that you just couldn't give Vista away...

  18. Mectron

    Where is the news?

    OEM activation as been arround for a while now. Even for Sp1

    Must be a very slow news day

  19. Guy
    Pirate

    Great News

    This now means that people who visit Thepiratebay can see for themselves why they shouldn't install Vista, rather than hearing it from someone else!!

  20. Roy

    News?

    This isn't new but has already been addressed by the elusive Vista SP1...it disables hacks such as this.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yepp probably an inside jobe

    M$ has always been the biggest beneficiary of pirated M$ software. This is why it took so long for a real competitor to orifice to appear in the market place. The competition to a copy of orifice was a pirated copy, it was free so how to do sell people a legit copy of your own sw.

  22. Paul Leighton
    Thumb Up

    Vista isnt bad!

    Once again I see the usual 'who would use this shit anyway' 'vista is shit' type posts from people whom most probably never used vista and just following the other sheep.

    @ Mark... I click the volume bar, and it appears! instantly!! not 2 seconds...suggest you have other issues?

    Been running vista for a year now, business and at home, theres been a few glitches but no more than xp had pre sp1+2 im sure...

    overall its a relaiable, solid, decent OS and hopefully SP1, and future SP's will improve it further!

  23. Beau
    Unhappy

    Getting Difficult

    This just proves how difficult is must be to get a legal copy of XP. in some places.

  24. Robert-James Cooledge
    Joke

    Just some-one with thoughts

    OJ --nearly right BUT whats to say they didn't post it themselves we're all writing about IT!!!!!!

  25. hexacet
    Pirate

    old news

    KB940510 doesnt disable the patch or indeed vista, it just tells you all is not well

    the SLIC patches ave been around as long as vista, the only reason this is news is because the KB940510 update has made a lot of people aware of the shafting theyve recieved (mostly "presintalled" ebay buyers)

    theres even a few guides around on how to extract the slic key yourself, ive been using a self extracted advent slic file for months to create stable vlited vista installs for my various advent pc's

  26. J-Wick

    @Mark

    Ex-fucking-actly. That's why I'm investigating alternatives to Windows, to see if I can avoid it when I need to get a new computer. Most likely Linux, but I'll even consider a Mac.

    Neither will be perfect, but they'll be a damn site better than Vista!

  27. Edward Pearson

    So what?

    A) It's stretching it a little to call this news.

    B) I don't know why they bothered, Vista is a marketing ploy, nothing more.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    RE: Great! Crap for free!

    You could not pay me enough to Install it let alone use it!

This topic is closed for new posts.