Slashdot Mirror
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."
But I just tryed this with an invalid version of Windows, and no dice. I think the article is misleading, and this isn't even newsworthy. I don't believe this is a way to "skip" authentication, but simply a way of manually entering your key into the URL, essentially what you would've done anyway, except in a form text area. No?
All recent files on there check once more for "authentic" installs once you run the downloaded file.
$_='while(read+STDIN,$_,2048){$a=29;$b=73;$c=142;
And how long before this gets worked around by bunches of Microsoft drones who suddenly somehow know about it?
I got it! This was a plant by management at Microsoft to see how many of their staff come up to them saying that they read "somewhere" about a WGA hole!
if the answer isn't violence, neither is your silence / freedom of expression doesn't make it alright
Is this not old news?
Isn't the WGA a form of content protection? Only a pirate and this is a serious felony. Publishing this will convince the children that theft is allowed.
We must get homeland security involved.
Fight Spammers!
Doesn't an email address defeat the purpose of being an anonymous coward?
Well you could use DOS 6.22.... I'm sure that isn't checked.
8 comments and the server is already screwed. Nice.
Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick Two.
On each download page, add &Hash=6VJPCR9 to the url and you can download without the check.
The code changes regularly, at which time you need mgadiag.exe to find the new code.
http://www.kernel.org/
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
mirror for the lazy:6 04b34dc63bb/index.html
http://mirrordot.org/stories/3627c5be2ac21048d6da
And the facts support your allegation can be found where exactly? None? That speaks volumes.
Just because you get modded "insightful" on Slashdot doesn't mean you actually are in real life.
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.
You don't even need some silly executable to find the daily hashes to append to the url. Microsoft provides a ready community where the latest codes are reported!
Nice kneejerk reaction, but the real reason to do this is if you have a legitimate copy of Windows, but don't want Microsoft's phone-home crap on your PC.
As I mentioned in a post in a different article, I've had a painfully annoying run in with Window Activate while in the middle of a computer upgrade.
The short description, XP decided it needed to Activate (could NOT log in without activating it), but I hadn't finished installing drivers; forcing me to phone up their support instead of doing it online.
Then, because I had not yet installed the rest of the hardware (which; without the drivers installed were causing the machine to reboot, or bluescreen before windows even started). the Windows Activation bitched at me again when I was done. At least this time it gave me a 3 day window before it would deactivate; this gave me an opportunity to install the rest of the drivers, etc.
This second time it forced me to call Microsoft again, even though the network connection was now working fine, because the machine had changed too much, and been activated too many times.
Then it lead me to believe I could just use the automated method (the voice recognition is actually pretty good), but after reading a billion digits to the computer it decided I wasn't allowed to do it that way and passed me off to an operator.
And you think I want to trust WGA if I need a hot-fix to add security patches, etc?
The only people not having problems with Windows XP Activation and WGA are the damn pirates.
That building's connection is provided by a company on the top floor that NATs everything but the server rooms. There are something like 1500 users on that outgoing IP, including the open wireless network in the coffee shop on the first floor (and boy does it cause some interesting problems sometimes.) And a 7 digit alphanumeric hash of a 25 digit alphanumeric product key means there are roughly 8x10^19 collisions for each hash. (Less that that because not all the keys are valid, of course, but still.)
Not worried.
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:
Of course not. You don't think Activation was designed to actually be secure, do you? It was designed to annoy enough of the genuine customers to make them think that the Authorities Were On The Case. Kind of like airport security.
My trick is to download stuff via a Windows 2000 install. I've only done it once just the other day, but it was from a W2K installed from one of those install CDs that had a setup file changed to bypass the CD key. (for which everybody knows the "default" key anyhow, so this was really just to save me time when installing)
Since I know that someday Microsoft will probably decide to take all the W2K patches offline, my plan is to download a copy of the installers for every patch that was auto-installed.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
So far I have never had a problem with the WCT (Windows Checker Thingy) and my copy of Crossover Mac. So I cannot validate this proccess. On the other hand, Codeweavers seems to have solved this problem...
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
mgadiag.exe still 'phones home' to verify your windows and to obtain the download code (being a diagnostic tool, it also displays some additional license information).
it's no different than running the manual verification using the 'alternate tool' (i.e. the method, still available, that firefox users had to use before microsoft released a netscape/firefox plugin version of the activex checker). http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=50344 (genuinecheck.exe at microsoft.com)
the only thing this will bypass is the installation of the verification activex (or plugin)... so you're still being subject to the 'body cavity search' -- the only difference is that you get to choose when you drop your drawers...
Many of us know firsthand that activating a Microsoft product can often be an onerous task, but this seems a little suspicious. Assuming that:
1. someone owns a valid Windows license and
2. they're pretty organized and didn't misplace their key and
3. they believe that Microsoft does not collect private information using WGA
then why would circumventing WGA be of use to them? In that situation, is patching a pirated copy of Windows the only realistic use for this trick? Could somebody chime in and suggest *another* use for it?
The only real reason to go around WGA is if you're using a pirated copy of Windows.
Incorrect. I, personally, have Windows machines, but I'm not foolish enough to let machines running Windows to have close connection to the Internet. So if I wanted to download updates I would want to do it from this NetBSD machine, which is what I customarily use for online things (and which is routed to the Internet).
My Windows machines are authentic, and I have all the 'paperwork' and media to prove it. I'm just not gonna hang them out on the net.
And it makes perfect sense that people who want to apply all the patches to secure a Windows system are going to want to get those updates first on an already secured system. Am I supposed to connect my machine with a freshly installed Day Zero copy of Windows 2000 (I pre-registered to pre-order Windows 2000 before it came out, so I have first release media with all the exploits, etc.) online to download security patches? Do I seem like I'm nuts?
As I mentioned in a post in a different article, I've had a painfully annoying run in with Window Activate while in the middle of a computer upgrade.
I feel your pain. I provide all our company's in house tech support. If a machine goes down and needs a hard drive replaced, I don't fudge around calling up Microsoft when the WPA thing starts bitching. I have a utility that patches an operating system file, and bam, no more WPA or WGA bullshit. If they want to accuse me of being a pirate, they can come on in and look at the product key hologram stickers on every box I do this to. Its not that I'm pirating it, I just don't have time to jump through all their hoops. Alot of my users do all their work on the computer, and if its down for more than 2 hours or so I start to get flak.
Check out the cave on the east side of lake Hylia. Strange and wonderful things live in it.
Microsofts solution to piracy is to charge even MORE money for Vista (up to $400 depending on the type). Ironically rather than lower the price to make it more attractive for people who would normally pirate it, they charge the legitimate people MORE which essentially encourages the legit people to pirate it. Following the huge WGA fiasco even the legitimate home users are going to be running pirated versions soon; as far as I can tell Microsoft only makes money off businesses.
Microsoft and EA both seem to be engaged in some massive stupidity campaign with the way they are handling their customer base of late, and it seems to be a raidly emerging pattern that the bigger you are, the less you care about your customers. What really boggles the mind is even tho this defies all logic they still seem to stay afloat.
I think someone has been scarfing up way too much porn on the side.
in addition to the other (entirely valid) reasons noted by folks for wanting to get around the horridly flawed idea of WGA authentication: i run windows inside emulation, generally without a direct real-world network connection. it's much nicer to be able to download bits in my native environment and move them over at my leisure.
i speak for myself and those who like what i say.
If anything, I think it was editorial laziness rather than ethics that resulted in that article not having a link.
I prefer this method: go to AutoPatcher and choose your OS (Win2K, XP, 64, or 2k3). Benefit here is that they do have some nice registry tweaks and/or installers (TweakUI for example) all rolled in for you. Wonderful to bring a new install "up to speed" in as few clicks as possible and keep the file size requirements to a minimum.
:)
:) -- they cover the same Windows families, but to get one you have to download it ALL. This is, of course, good for multi-flavored environments...
Don't trust somebody other than Microsoft themselves? (I can even write that with a straight face
Go to: Microsoft Downloads and Search in the Windows sub-section. Search for "iso-9660". Be amazed. Problem with this is these downloads are huge (not that I mind on a 10Mbit synchronous pipe
Me, myself, and I? I prefer to click on the Apple and choose "Software Update..." (or softwareupdate -ia from the command line). Of course on the servers a good 'ol fashioned "yum update" does the trick. But hey, that's just me. Microsoft is making this WAY TOO HARD -- and I've begrudgingly paid for each and every one of my Windows installs (personal and/or corporate).
Don't install WGA notifications (seperate download, unneeded to download genuine Windows software). No phone home. Problem solved.
I am the maverick of Slashdot
Thank GOD I don't have to do that shit anymore. I finally gave up on even my legal copy of XP and I use strictly Debian Linux. I haven't been asked for the first license key or anything. Funny how that works. And, you know, contrary to popular belief, My computer hasn't exploded, my pets haven't turned on me and I haven't missed a day of slashdot.
Decaffeinated coffee is kinda like kissing your sister.
Right. I did this:
u lt.aspx?ln=en-usu lt.aspx?ln=en-us&Hash=6VJPCR9
a milyId=94E5BF41-2907-4415-8F72-DA7C2C2ACE09&displa ylang=en&Hash=6VJPCR9
Ran IE.
Tools >> Windows Update
I get the page with the choice of Express or Custom buttons.
I replace: http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/defa
With: http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/defa
Then I press Enter.
I get the page with the choice of Express or Custom buttons.
I press the Custom button or the Express button.
I get the page with the yellow/orange Genuine Windows Validation header.
I press the continue button.
I get page asking me to buy a key.
Result: Doesn't work.
I also did this:
Ran IE.
Copied and pasted link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?F
Pressed Enter.
Successfully downloaded IE7 RC1 file.
Ran file.
IE7 installation wants to validate.
Result: Doesn't work.
So, if I can't view the page that shows which updates I need and, for the one file (IE7 RC1 install) I do know the name and location of, it ends up wanting to validate on its own anyway, what the bleeping use is any of this to begin with?
http://windowsupdate.62nds.com/ This site downloads all the updates using their own firefox plugin. It also doesn't install WGA or checks.
Works every time i use it. http://www.p2plife.com/forums/Official_muBlinder_P age-t320.html
Would you buy a car if you had to get your VIN checked every time that you needed to buy parts for it? Would you buy a car if you knew that there was going to be a manufacturer recall almost every day that required replacing or adding parts? I'll add a twist: what if you thought that same brand of car was the only brand allowed in your company parking lot? What if you thought that brand of car was the only brand of car that you could get parts for?
I think that the above hypothetical scenario is a simple analogy of what I like to call "The Windows Problem". Nobody likes WGA. Nobody likes the endless parade of patches and hotfixes that require a reboot as often as not. Nobody likes having to be ever vigilant against security threats. People are starting to see that Windows is very flawed. Since we as a society have spent the majority of our IT budget for the last 20 years on making this one OS the (often) only platform for our IT solutions, how do we change course now?
There are those who believe that once people hear the Good News about Linux they will throw off their Microsoft shackles and march hand-in-hand into the FOSS promised land. OK, maybe I overstated that a little, but you get the point and you know the type. Ubuntu is ridiculously easy to install, but my mother couldn't do it. She uses XP because that's what Dell installed on her computer. Even though she sees Windows as the only reasonable alternative, she still bitches about it. "Normal" people had a hard enough time getting Windows to do what they want it to do, and they'll be damned if they are going to learn it all over again.
Unless everyone else switches first.
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords
Making light of national security is serious. This is the USA, you have no right to criticize the government!
Is WGA applied universally to downloads, even ones meant to fix serious problems? Or, for instance, can you always download security patches without the rubber gloves?
Probably not. I can imagine hundreds of illegal copies of Windows already taken over and turned into spam bots, etc. and thanks to WGA, there is no way to fix them. Can WGA keep these machines off the Internet, keep them from harming others? No.
In time, networking protocols evolve, systems change, etc. so these wide-open networked machines will eventually lose some of their teeth. But not before another decade or so of anguish, thanks to Microsoft's unbelievable failure to accept responsibility.
"Microsoft killed my company, I hold a personal grudge. I don't use Microsoft products and neither should you."-JWZ
You lose the edge of the discusssion when you start swearing because you don't really have a point to make. That speaks volumes.
Just because you get modded "insightful" on Slashdot doesn't mean you actually are in real life.
WGA has caused a machine of mine to reboot almost daily. I don't know exactly why, but every time it does there is a wga error log in the temp directory (with entries up to the time it rebooted). I've googled it and tried to find the exact cause, but none of the other solutions worked and no one else seems to have the same exact problem. I just get random reboots.
The worst part is that I didn't even download WGA, it did it all by itself. I didn't have automatic updates on, but then one day it was on. The next day I had WGA installed, and the day after it started blue screening and rebooting. The odd thing is that now it is only rebooting once a week (ON MY PVR!!!) and now I can't send the error reports to Microsoft (Windows doesn't even noticed it crashed? Before it was at least logged, the memory was dumped and later could be sent off for analysis).
This machine though is 100% legit. I've even paid for mpeg-2 decoding software, which I refused to pay for on other machines. For a while I thought it was bad hardware or drivers, now I know it's a feature! Basically, $800+ building a sweet PVR/HD gaming PC and it's unstable because of WGA. Usually I'm a Windows supporter (to a point). When you work it right you don't get a lot of problems. This eMachines I'm typing on has had Windows XP installed since the factory, March 2004. I've never had to re-install, or even fight it back into Windows (which is why I call shenanigans on Linux sysadmins who need to reinstall XP every six months. Hey bud, you aren't doing something right).
I'm a fan of Windows - not Microsoft. WGA should die, but we all know this. I'm done ranting. Thank you.
Get your Unix fortune now!
Same here, Win2K on my PC, the XP era having led to my switch to MacOS.
There was just something that rubbed me wrong back then and still does today about having to marry the OS to the box, then having to verbally justify over the phone any hardware migration. While it was far from the only reason for migrating my non-gaming activities to Macs, it was the primary motivation for freezing my Windows upgrade path.
On a related note...
The fact that Adobe has now begun this practice is disturbing, though I suppose I can take consolation in the fact that Adobe allows you to "deactivate" an installation to move it rather than having to call them up and tell them your story. That said...
Why can't we all just get a dongle?
Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
What's wrong with this picture: a company (granted, not with much of a positive reputation) tries to minimize rampant piracy by encouraging validation of your purchased license. In return you get 5 years worth of free updates plus additional software, which although of dubious value is still free as in beer (i.e. Security Center, Firewall, Malicious Software Removal, etc.). Does Windows have tons of problems? Yes. Is it totally crappy? Hell. no. Is this move something to bitch about? Absolutely not. People especially from the Apple camp should hold their tongues as even though OSX is a lot less prone to exploits (it's not that simple but for the sake of conserving valuable bandwidth, let's leave it for the time being as such), since OSX release in 2001, if users wanted to keep-up with updates, we had to dish out $100/year for every incremental update since (and some of which were touting bug fixes as one of "hundreds" of new features). All in all, we are talking about another ~$500.00 since year 2001. Now, on Windows, yes one had to get anti-virus software et al, but most of that is, believe it or not, free (google for AVG anti-virus suite for instance). So, when the Vista comes out with a $400 price tag for the top enterprise package, I think that should still leave Windoze users with a nice Franklin smiling in their pockets. Now, as far as security and virii go, that's yet to be seen...
All that being said, I've written this post on my triple-booting MBP. And just for the record: after having dealt for many years with all of them, I have to admit that I hate Windows, OSX, and Linux with passion (ok, Linux less so simply due to its philosophical supremacy), despite the fact that (or should I perhaps say because?) I use all three on a more-or-less daily basis...
windiz update will let you update versions of windows that Microsoft thinks is not registered correctly.
I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
Because you're a n00b. Original post stated doing an upgrade which means dropping a new board in and hoping Windows boots or doing a repair on the new hardware so you don't have to do a clean install. Once the OS is loaded it whines about massive earth shattering hardware changes requiring you to activate RIGHT NOW!! so the world doesn't end. Sometimes you get 3 days. Well, if you can't log into Windows to install drivers to try and activate online you have to call one of the ever friendly barely speaking engrish folks over in India with a shaft job reading numbers all day and having to put with me when I call on an almost daily basis (I'm a computer shop technician). Then, one you're activated and get your base drivers installed, make a few changes, and BAM! call Microsoft again because you keep screwing up your computer.
Just an FYI, listen to the stupid recording, when it asks if you're calling to activate just press "0" to get transfered faster.
Not certain if it's been mentioned here earlier, but Windows 98 isn't checked (I have an old games box at home running on that OS). It's behind a NAT router and reasonably protected against malcode.
Similarly, I don't recall this posing a problem under Windows Server 2003, which I also run. Anecdotally I've heard that its memory management is slightly better than WinXP's.
The other friendly feature of Windows 2003 is the repeated adding of trusted web sites to your browser list in IE, which promotes use of Firefox better than anything else.
Microsoft also knew which was the better operating system, they charged more for win2kpro than they did for xp. Kind of boogles the mind that according to their pricing the older operating system was worth more and according to their marketing the older operating system was worthless and only fit to be upgraded to the latest operating system. I once spoke to a microsoft rep and he challenged me on downgrading from a legal copy of XPpro to win2kpro with out paying them (for what, the downgrade package ????!!).
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
I'm waiting for "How to download from (pay)iTunes without paying for it" and "Circumvent Payment in Valve's Steam"
Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!
Ran MGADiag on Wine / Fedora Core 5 and the hash it spat out worked like a charm.
->www.chuma.org, ranting and Newtons, what more could you want?
"...The following method gives you the ability to download every file from Microsoft without a WGA check."
Why would I want to inflict such heinous damage to my computer? Every File from M$? I'm trying to minimize the number of malware, spyware, etc. on my system!
P226
Send an argument to the ssh client, telling it to execute "screen -xRR" (those are the default arguments screen use when it runs as a login shell), with these args, whenever you connect you will re-attach to the same session you were running.
/etc/passwd because that breaks scp and sftp, I havent tested but I guess they would break too if you added screen to .bashrc (as other posters have stated), because scp and sftp depend on having bash when connecting.
Avoid setting up screen as a login shell via
I had nearly the same experience. Except during the first call to India, I had read through all the numbers to the "customer care representative" and was promptly disconnected. I had to call and run through the same crap a second time just to get my damn drivers installed.
I there wasn't already a bunch of technical software already installed (this machine interfaces to a GC/Mass Spec) I would have reinstalled from scratch with our VLK.
How to turn off the Windows Update feature in Windows XP
You receive one or more error messages when the system administrator disables Windows Update or Microsoft Update
OK. Download Windows Defender from another computer, say, to a fileserver in a clean net/dirty net configuration. Now try running the installer on the other machine on the clean net, oops. guess what? It requires WGA to be installed in order for it to install. WTF?
Microsoft has gone too far with this bullshit. Stop treating paying customers like criminals. All you folks are doing is alienating your legitimate customer base while not deterring the professional "pirates" in the slightest.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
The apps I have tried downloading (just to see if it would work you understand, I wouldn't actually use them) have asked to install some WGA software, but underneath they offer an "alternative" method, which involves getting a tiny app which outputs a code which you then enter into the site. This app works perfectly well in a regular WINE installation and checks out as having a Genuine Microsoft Windows System, thus letting a GNU/Linux user download Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, etc. I don't know whether this is relevant or not, and I assume that option will disappear once WGA is firmly entrenched in every Windows installation, but I thought I should point it out.
Oh, come on. I have all that stuff. There's still no reason to connect a Windows machine to the 'net.