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Windows Genuine Advantage Servers Out

Posted by kdawson on from the single-point-of-disadvantage dept.

krewemaynard writes to let us know that Microsoft has been having major problems with its WGA servers since at least Friday evening. Quoting Ars: "Users of both Windows XP and Windows Vista were writing to say that they could not validate their installations using WGA, and one user even said that his installation was invalidated by the service... The Microsoft WGA Forums are full of problem reports, and Microsoft WGA Program Manager Phil Liu has acknowledged that there is a problem, and that MS is investigating." Update: 07/25 22:10 GMT by KD :Microsoft has identified and fixed the problem and posted instructions for anyone whose system mistakenly failed a WGA check. (The link posted earlier was to a 2006 article.)

18 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. HaHa by jo42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    > "However, the sense we get from Phil Liu is that Microsoft is pretty much in the dark right now."

    Nothing new here. Move along.

  2. WGA sucks by The+Bungi · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I like and use Microsoft software, especially the development tools and servers, and I've (almost) always considered they are worth the money. But WGA is the most stupid thing Microsoft has ever done. I could understand product activation to a certain extent - it's really no different than most commercial software protection schemes in most respects. But WGA needs to be killed off. WGA is a hell of a lot closer to treating customers like criminals than WPA ever was.

    Personally I've never had problems with WPA or WGA, but this incident pisses me off just thinking about how pissed off I would be if that would ever happen to me. Microsoft needs to understand that there are limits to how much bullshit people can take, even among people who appreciate some of their software.

    On the other hand it's not like I'd switch to Linux anyway. Ubuntu completely screwed up my X configuration after an apt-get upgrade that took two hours (6.x to 7.4) and I just shut the thing down. I need to move my FreeNAS to a better box anyway so that's what I'll probably do after wiping it. If I had a dime for every time I've typed su vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf I'd get me an iPhone or something.

    Lack of choices suck too.

    1. Re:WGA sucks by jeevesbond · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It will work out of the box and you won't have to spend hours recompiling the kernel etc. to get it to work

      Are you just horribly mis-informed, joking, trolling or shilling? The missus and I have been using GNU+Linux on our laptops, desktops and servers (2 laptops, 2 desktops, 1 home server and one dedicated web server) and have never compiled the Linux kernel. The only times I've ever bothered compiling anything is if I want cutting-edge, not-even-released-yet software, and what's wrong with that?

      Funny, I was starting to think that there would be a single day on Slashdot without an anti-Microsoft story.

      Here's a deal for you: when there is a single day where Microsoft don't cock things up, shill standards organsations or act as an abusive monopoly then there will be a single day on Slashdot without an anti-Microsoft story.

      --
      I'm going to transform myself into a mighty hawk. Either that or I'll just go and work at Dixons, haven't decided yet.
    2. Re:WGA sucks by GPL+Apostate · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Apple ran their 'cloners' out of business not that long ago.

      Earlier, they sued anybody with a similar GUI out of business (except Microsoft. They essentially 'created' Microsoft's market for them by running all GUI-on-x86 competitors out of the market for Microsoft)

      Earlier yet, they sued anybody with a machine similar to the Apple II.

      Apple has a long history of 'Innovation by Litigation.'

      --
      Microsoft says legacy (serial/parallel) ports are bad. They don't obfuscate the hardware enough.
    3. Re:WGA sucks by BlueParrot · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ubuntu completely screwed up my X configuration after an apt-get upgrade that took two hours (6.x to 7.4) and I just shut the thing down.


      So let me see here.

      a) You didn't read the upgrade instructions but simply assumed Ubuntu = Debian and tried to manually switch versions using apt-get.
      b) Even on Debian upgrading between versions is done using dist-upgrade rather than upgrade.
      c) You got lazy and interrupted the process halfway through
      d) The only problem you had was that you had to reconfigure X

      Now, let us hypothetically assume that Windows had a package manager that let you upgrade from XP to Vista over the net. Let us further assume that instead of following the instructions for how to use it, you run a low-level tool with incorrect command line parameters to do it the way you would have done it on a completely different system. Let us finally assume you interrupted the thing halfway through. How much do you want to bet that fixing your display settings would be the only problem you would experience as a consequence?

      In a word: PEBKAC
  3. Liability by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Too bad they are not liable for any costs/lost revenue by their customers that are caused by this.

    Too bad it doesn't happen more often, and piss off more people.

    Personally it doesnt effect me either way :)

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  4. "Fight club scenario?" by ivoras · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A friend of mine was immediately reminded of the Fight Club movie - how they tried to blow up all the banks at the end so nobody would owe anybody anything. Imagine if some digital vigilante wiped out Microsoft's database of keys, maybe like an inside job... all installs everywhere would simply be invalidated in an instant :) Now *that* would be a strong and immediate demonstration of both how the whole "activation" thing and DRM are wrong.

    Man can dream...

    --
    -- Sig down
    1. Re:"Fight club scenario?" by marcello_dl · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But I guess they already know WGA and DRM are wrong... for the consumer. Remember this outage cost much more to the consumer than they cost to them, at least until people begin considering the painless alternatives.

      --
      ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
    2. Re:"Fight club scenario?" by Bearhouse · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Do you mean 'wrong' as in 'immoral', or 'wrong' as in 'does not work'?

      Personally, I think it's both.

      Like many people here, (I imagine), I change hardware frequently, and am also cursed with being my neighbours', friends', childrens' software and hardware support. So I get this 'activation' bs regularly. Have you ever tried fixing a system that was delivered with a 'recovery' CD, that tries to access some (corrupt) partition etc...of course, no 'original' installation CDs

      How long before you cut your losses and install from one of your 'corp.' CDs, or - if it's not in the family - download some streamlined thing from isohunt? Believe me, its 10x quicker than going the ms way. Shit, it's not even as if they or I did not BUY the software in the first place... Anybody want a load of VALID ms serials - you can have 'em...

      The real problem is that 'activation' punishes the honest user, whilst doing little or nothing to stop the pirates... /end rant.

  5. The bigger problem for Microsoft... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    is that they're calling the people that sell their software thieves. They are biting the hands that feed them. One of our customers bought a copy at Fry's, and when they called Microsoft about the problem, Microsoft accused Fry's of selling pirated software. Accusing the people that make money for you is a good way to kill a business.

  6. The whole concept if flawed by puck01 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This whole concept of authentication and WGA is flawed. It adds too many points of failure that in the end hurts legitimate users. Why should we be punished for MS's piracy problems.

    For me it started with XP. Since I can no longer interchange parts in and out of my computer without worrying about setting off the authentication, I've worked hard to get my myself and my family off Windows. I'm the computer dork in the family and if I can't trouble shoot stuff without worrying about this kind of stuff it sort of kills the fun in building your own machines.

    I'm not surprised this is happening and I won't be surprised when this stuff continues to happen in the future. Please get rid of these awful 'features' Microsoft

  7. Project Mayhem by no_pets · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Data Retention committee of Project Mayhem is working on this - but you didn't hear that from me.

    --
    "A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds
    1. Re:Project Mayhem by WPIDalamar · · Score: 4, Funny

      There is no project mayhem.

  8. Phil Liu has workaround already by Torodung · · Score: 4, Informative
    Phil Liu details a workaround here, third post down.

    Please go to www.microsoft.com/genuine and click VALIDATE WINDOWS to resolve this issue immediately.

    Additionally, I know you all are looking for an explanation/root-cause. I will get that ASAP. We are aware it is a server-side issue - the cause is unknown at this current time. Best of luck to all you Vista users.

    --
    Toro
  9. Sysadmins! Go to work! by erroneus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Turn on all the machines! Log in! Get those machines invalidated as quickly as possible.

  10. Proof the piracy has the 'genuine advantage' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I never install copy protected software, since I feel that it validates my right to use the software that I have paid for.
    If i was buying the software on a lease/maintenance agreement, things might be different, but Windows is VERY expensive, and rather poor quality. I know of no other server OS that needs frequent reboots to correct weird slowdowns, and strange resource leaks.
    I am just glad that I switched to Linux when Microsoft went down the product activation route with Windows XP. They cleary think that their customers are criminals, and i'm sure most of their customers have a similar opinion of Microsoft for delivering substandard products and exercising criminally monopolistic practices.
    Good ridance Microsoft. I don't miss you.

  11. National Security Risk by SeaFox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Isn't it interesting that the government doesn't consider systems like WGA a threat to national security?

    The dangers of software monoculture are well known, now combine that with an authentication system the government has no control over. Once the entire Windows desktop marketshare (+90% of all desktops) is using a Windows OS featuring WGA, what's to stop criminals and terrorists from capturing the datacenters that house these servers and holding a major factor in world finance hostage?

  12. WGA can disable your running system? by tji · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I didn't realize WGA did periodic (constant?) checks on the system validity. I thought it was just a one-time check at installation (like entering the product ID on Win2K). That's hilarious that you can pay MS hundreds of dollar for the software, only to have it crippled when they screw up and accuse you of being a thief.

    Why do people use that crap?