[HN Gopher] Microsoft support 'cracks' Windows for customer afte...
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Microsoft support 'cracks' Windows for customer after activation
fails
Author : layer8
Score : 54 points
Date : 2023-11-16 21:29 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bleepingcomputer.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bleepingcomputer.com)
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| _> "It's literally easier to crack windows than to pay for it,"
| exclaimed Pyburn._
|
| Because Microsoft doesn't care if you crack it or pirate Windows
| anymore as Windows stopped being their main cash-cow a long time
| ago.
|
| They know PC sales are slowly declining and that Windows is
| loosing marketshare to Mac and Linux in an already shrinking
| market, so they want as many people as possible to keep using
| Windows, regardless if you pay for it or not, as that way they
| maintain their OS monopoly and they can monetize users through
| ads and subscriptions anyway.
|
| That's why they stopped enforcing DRM checks on pirated Windows
| keys, and even if you don't activate it, it still works fully
| functional, with just a watermark as the only deterrent, big
| whoop. Or if you want to be legit you can buy a 3 Euro gray-
| market CD-key online which also activates just fine.
|
| So unless you're a business or a super ethical user, there's
| really no point in paying sticker price for Windows today when
| the alternative ways of getting it range from dirt cheap to free.
| joshuaissac wrote:
| > They know Windows is loosing marketshare like crazy to Mac
| and Linux so they want as many people to keep using it as
| possible regardless if you pay for it or not.
|
| That has been the case for a long time. Here is a quotation
| from Bill Gates from 2007:
|
| > "It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when
| there's piracy than when there's not," Gates says. "Are you
| kidding? You can get the real thing, and you get the same
| price."
|
| https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007...
| flashback2199 wrote:
| > Windows is loosing marketshare like crazy to Mac and Linux
|
| The biggest change I've seen is in the stackoverflow developer
| survey results and it was like a 10 percent difference over 5
| years or something like that with the gain roughly split 50-50
| between macOS and Linux
|
| Then in the general population windows market share looks
| stable
|
| I'd love to have a link that shows otherwise though, I've tried
| to find good data on this
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| Meh, Stackoverflow is niche of devs who swing hard in the
| Mac/Linux camp but don't represent the average user
| worldwide.
|
| Seems like current worldwide marketshare is just 63% for
| Windows and in the US it's closer to 55% because Macs and
| Chromebooks eat into that.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR7KqCbnjfw
| yreg wrote:
| Yeah, "loosing marketshare like crazy" probably only in the
| software development / designer bubble.
| candiddevmike wrote:
| WSL + VScode ends up being a better Linux development
| environment than most distros...
| silisili wrote:
| Those are a pretty big portion of people who buy and use an
| actual computer anymore. Sure you still have plenty of
| other desk jobs using some outdated version of Windows, but
| the personal market is all but doomed. Even my 70ish year
| old parents just use tablets for everything these days, and
| MS has next to zero marketshare.
| shantara wrote:
| This and other surveys only take into account desktop/laptop
| computers. For an average person their Android/iPhone or an
| iPad has fully replaced their Windows PC. I'm certain that if
| one included mobile platforms into the marketshare stats,
| they would show a significant decline in the percentage of
| people who use Windows.
| cantSpellSober wrote:
| > The Microsoft support engineer in this case, ran the following
| PowerShell command
|
| If there's no chiptune accompaniment, it's not a _real_ crack
| nullindividual wrote:
| Something to keep in mind is that these support agents do not
| work for Microsoft. They're all outsourced. I've had Azure Pro
| support experiences where the "engineer" suggested to do
| something that was simply not possible within the Azure service I
| was using.
|
| Jump over to enterprise support and there's a good chance you'll
| get an FTE (or an FTE after demanding an escalation).
| layer8 wrote:
| Slightly related, Microsoft recently stopped accepting Windows
| 7/8 keys for Windows 10/11 [0], a change which now is also
| causing issues when reactivation is triggered on existing
| installations due to hardware replacements [1].
|
| [0] https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/11/23913107/microsoft-
| windo...
|
| [1] https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/15/23958751/microsoft-
| windo...
| nzrf wrote:
| Well that answers why my keys no longer work on recent re-
| install. Ended up having to get grey market key. Figured after
| 10 years wasn't the worst expense, but the amount of adverts
| and telemetry they gather for the price not sure it's even
| worth the 15 dollars.
| all2 wrote:
| You can get stripped down versions of windows on _ahem_ other
| parts of the internet. If you 're going through the trouble
| to get a grey-market key, might as well choose your
| installation media with some care.
| s3p wrote:
| With complementary spyware of course
| LordDragonfang wrote:
| I mean, spyware comes standard with Windows 10 and 11
| blibble wrote:
| you can get the official media from Microsoft so there's
| essentially no risk in using a grey-market key (other than
| you may lose your $3)
|
| vs. a random .iso from some dodgy forum containing god
| knows what
| freitzkriesler2 wrote:
| Dang very good to know. I've been using a Windows 7 pro serial
| for well over a decade. I just rebuilt my laptop a few months
| ago too using that serialvamd activated without a problem.
| Guess it's time to buy a windows 11 serial or (yuck) use the
| home edition that comes for free.
| all2 wrote:
| _Hey kid, wanna buy a *nix?_
|
| Give Linux a shot. Mint is a good easy-going distro that
| debloats Ubuntu. They have a few different window managers
| they offer and all of them are pretty good. The defaults are
| sane and the whole thing is pretty easy to use.
| layer8 wrote:
| People around these parts are generally well aware of their
| options.
| forgotusername6 wrote:
| I spent hours booting my new pc on windows 8 (with no network
| drivers), manually activating by phone, only to have it be
| unactivated again once I upgraded to windows 10.
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| > _who paid $200 for a genuine copy of Windows 10_
|
| Ouch. I'd rather pay the far, far lower price that major PC
| builders pay.
|
| > _The Microsoft support engineer in this case, ran the following
| PowerShell command on the customer 's Windows PC [the Massgrave
| activate 1liner on Github]_
|
| It works as advertised btw.
|
| Just having one thing on the internet be not-hostile or having
| something Microsoftish that isn't gaslighting me while being
| malicious and exploitive - that in itself is nearly a joy.
| yreg wrote:
| There are resellers that are selling Windows keys (obtained in
| bulk) for single digit dollar values.
|
| European Court of Justice has declared that it is legal and
| Microsoft has to accept it.
| Prickle wrote:
| I wonder how this would work relative to Microsoft's 'genuine'
| services. I remember having a whale of a time on XP. Our
| officially purchased Japanese CD of WindowsXP got "caught" as a
| non-genuine product by Microsoft.
|
| I assume the same/similar risk exists here for this user.
|
| If you purchased the legal copy, and it doesn't work. Then a
| official agent uses a illegal copy and activates your account.
| Then you login to a microsoft account. Do you risk losing your
| entire account due to a TOS violation?
| freitzkriesler2 wrote:
| Probably and this is why I wish after a certain amount of time
| Microsoft would just release a DRM free release for VMs and
| people who want to use it on period correct hardware.
|
| I'm still rocking a serial I used back in 2003 for an older
| machine I use for games and nostalgia.
| teruakohatu wrote:
| Where are these VMs? I tried to find a legitimate Microsoft
| XP VM to run some old software but wasn't able to find any.
| EMIRELADERO wrote:
| Forget the VMs. You can use UMSKT
| (https://github.com/umskt/umskt) to generate valid keys and
| phone activation confirmation IDs for any pre-Vista MS
| product.
| bombcar wrote:
| They took them down when they gave up on Edge.
| kuratkull wrote:
| That is why you try not to bind any important accounts to
| anything remotely fishy. Goes for Google, goes for MS, goes for
| everything. If you have an important account hard-linked to
| something very important you are sitting on a ticking bomb.
|
| EDIT: Whenever you see "Login with Facebook, Google, Github,
| .... or email [hidden away in smaller font]", always choose
| email.
| mainpassathome wrote:
| fun fact: the tool used is open source
|
| https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts
| hamhamed wrote:
| the irony is that the code is hosted on github, a microsoft
| owned corporation
| wintermutestwin wrote:
| Is this well known to be safe and trustworthy?
| sandworm101 wrote:
| Every bad day for windows is another great day for Linux. You
| have a choice. Make it.
| Lacerda69 wrote:
| this is the year of the linux desktop!
| vlachen wrote:
| Surely this time!
| wintermutestwin wrote:
| Oh man. I bought a win 10 retail box and the key is valid, yet
| activation just keeps failing. I have been putting off calling
| support because this is for my gaming only PC. Maybe I shouldn't
| bother calling whatever Indian body shop that MS uses for this
| and I should just crack it myself? Seems safer? Is it? Can anyone
| point me to a trustworthy crack and place to get it?
|
| I hate this company and I am kicking past me who spent much of my
| early career gleefully switching hundreds of firms over to
| windows from Novell.
| SSLy wrote:
| well, if you look closely at the screenshots you have all your
| answers.
| layer8 wrote:
| https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts
|
| This is also the one used in TFA.
| thedaly wrote:
| To be fair, that activation script/crack does work really well
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(page generated 2023-11-16 23:00 UTC)