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?
Doesn't an email address defeat the purpose of being an anonymous coward?
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.
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!
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.
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:
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.