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Download From Microsoft Without a WGA Check
Anonymous Coward writes, "When you want to download a file from Microsoft, a WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) check is performed. Microsoft installs a small piece of software on your computer that contacts the Microsoft server and checks the validity of your installed Windows software. If the test fails you will not be able to download the file(s). The following method gives you the ability to download every file from Microsoft without a WGA check."
I did the same thing, went to a test machine with an old blocked VLK and tried it, no dice. Then I realized... Hey, wait a minute. This looks like it's just a shortcut to inputting your product ID by using a hash... I wonder what would happen if I just replaced the hash with one from a valid system?
Not having a valid windows system handy I was willing to run a somewhat questionable executable on, where could I get a valid hash? Oh hey, look at that. Right there in the article it says "(example &Hash=6VJPCR9)". I appended that to the URL, and bingo. "Genuine Microsoft Software".
mirror for the lazy:6 04b34dc63bb/index.html
http://mirrordot.org/stories/3627c5be2ac21048d6da
Some people just don't like to be frisked every time they want to download or install a piece of software. For me it is the equivalent of getting a cavity search every time I go to the airport. I really just don't enjoy my holes being probed at every turn. My copies of XP are valid and I could really do without WGA.
Download everything from Microsoft without WGA Check
Monday, September 4th, 2006 | Translate to: German flag Spanish flag French flag Italian flag Portuguese flag Dutch flag Greek flag Japanese flag South Korean flag Russian flag Chinese flag
When you want to download a file from Microsoft a WGA (windows genuine advantage) check is performed. Microsoft installs a small piece of software on your computer that contacts the Microsoft server and checks for validity. If the test fails you will not be able to download the file(s). The following method gives you the ability to download every file from Microsoft without a WGA check.
All you need is the tool mgadiag.exe and the download url of the file that you want to download. Mgadiag.exe is the Microsoft Genuine Advantage Diagnostic Tool. Start this tool and check the value of the "Download Center Code", this should be seven chars consisting of upper case letters and numbers. Remember that code and open the website of the file that you want to download.
A download page looks similar to this one for Internet Explorer 7. All you need to do is append the following value to the url and you will be able to download the file without a WGA check.
&Hash="download center code"
Replace the "download center code" with the code that you looked up in the mgadiag.exe tool. This code changes frequently, make sure you have the correct code before starting the downloads.
To sum it up for the lazy ones:
1. download mgadiag.exe
2. start mgadiag.exe and look at the download center code
3. visit a download page at microsoft.com
4. append &Hash="download center code" to the url (example &Hash=6VJPCR9), no quotation marks needed
5. Hit enter
Microsoft is probably going to fix this soon, it is working nevertheless at the moment.
Update: I created two images to show you the difference that the &hash= entry makes:
Phone home was reported on beta versions of the software. Microsoft documented the phone home practice and removed it in the final version of the software. As far as I know, no complaints have been made about phone home practices since the final version was released.
I love my sig.
So what the hell is the point of this?
....or you can do what I did; modify your hosts file with "127.0.0.1 update.microsoft.com" so that any time it tries to automatically go to windows update, it can't.
Then, go to WinDiz at windowsupdate.62nds.com using a non-IE browser. It's faster, more secure, doesn't TRY to make you install the latest DRM upgrade, just the critical patches.
The Only system I have that I let go to windows update is my Media Center laptop; it has to be running all the latest DRM/Spyware to work properly, so I just go with the flow and Isolate it on my home network.
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
Except, you can't block access to Windows Update or certain other Microsoft websites by using the HOSTS file. You just can't.
Microsoft wrote some sort of hack into Windows so that requests for Microsoft websites (including update.microsoft.com and microsoft.com) cannot be blocked or redirected by malware or viruses.
Try it and see for yourself: put two lines in the HOSTS file, '127.0.0.1 google.com' and '127.0.0.1 microsoft.com' (without the quotes). For the uninitiated, the HOSTS file is located in \Windows\system32\drivers\etc, and you'll need Administrator priveleges to edit it. Now open up your favourite web browser and try to open google.com. You'll find that Google is unreachable and returns an error. Now try microsoft.com and watch as the page merrily loads.
Maybe you'll need to rethink your tinfoil hat solution for avoiding Automatic Updates?