Genuine applications for Windows Vista

Windows Genuine Advantage: An Overview and Screenshot Gallery I've found Microsoft's recent forays into customer relations with Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) to be somewhat amusing. I mean, after all, Microsoft is a huge company just brimming with really smart people. How could they do something so silly? If you're not up on the WGA saga, here's a recap. Microsoft announced its Genuine Advantage software initiative in March 2006. It's designed as part of the company's wider assault on software piracy (another infamous part of this fight, Product Activation, won fame and fortune for Microsoft when XP was released in late 2001). The Genuine Advantage initiative is comprised of three parts: Education (customers should understand the risks of pirated software), Engineering (Microsoft's ongoing investment in anti-counterfeiting technologies and product features), and Enforcement (Microsoft is helping law enforcement agencies go after the world's worst software pirates). WGA is a component of the Engineering part of that unholy triumvirate. It's a bit of software that gets installed on Windows XP (it's part of Windows Vista right out of the gate, naturally) and is comprised of two components. The first, dubbed WGA Validation, determines whether the version of Windows on which its running is legitimate. The second component, WGA Notifications, displays annoying alerts on pirated Windows copies and provides a way for the user to pay for a legitimate copy of Windows. Aside from basic trust issues--Apple, for example, does not burden users with Product Activation or any similar anti-piracy technologies in its Mac OS X operating system--Microsoft made two major mistakes with WGA. The first was to silently post a beta version of the tool to Windows Update as a Critical Update, thus ensuring that it was quietly and underhandedly installed on hundreds of millions of customers' PCs: I mean, seriously. Is Microsoft honestly making guinea pigs out of its entire user base? The second mistake was that WGA Notifications was also "phoning home" information to Microsoft on a regular basis. That's right: Not only was the software secretly installed on your PC, but it then regularly contacted Microsoft servers and provided them with data about the instances of pirated and nonpirated software out there. Customers and security experts reacted with alarm, as well they should: Microsoft had literally shipped spyware to its customers. Microsoft, meanwhile, reacted as they often do when something like this happens: They made as if nothing serious had happened and acted shocked that anyone could think otherwise. So much for the Glasnost of the consent decree. After a few days of freaking out customers, Microsoft finally changed WGA in mid-June 2006 so that it wouldn't phone home every single time a PC rebooted, which is how frequently it had been doing so. Now, WGA will still send back piracy data to Microsoft the first time it tests a system, and then it will only sporadically phone home after that. The company also released a set of instructions for disabling or removing the "pilot" version of WGA though Microsoft contends that the final version of the software, due soon, will not support these activities. After the dust had settled, sort of, I was still sort of curious what WGA looked like on a system that was suspected of being pirated. This week, I got my wish: A copy of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, installed in a virtual machine, came up with various WGA alerts after I installed a bunch of updates from Windows Update. Screenshots of this machine can be found below. You're probably wondering how it is that I'm running a pirated copy of Windows. It's a legitimate question. We're all friends here, right? Truthfully, I can only imagine what triggered these alerts. The software was installed to a VM a long time ago and archived on my server. I no doubt used a copy of XP MCE 2005 that I had received as part of my MSDN subscription. If the WGA alerts are to be believed, it's possible that Microsoft thinks I've installed this software on too many machines, though that seems unlikely to me. I can't really say. Anyway, that's what it looks like to be a suspected pirate. Like many people who will see these alerts, I don't believe I did anything wrong. I'm sure that's going to be a common refrain in this new era of untrusting software and companies. Ah well. Update: Microsoft investigates my WGA issues As you might imagine, I don't generally have to buy Microsoft software. The company supplies me with an MSDN subscription, which provides me with virtually all of the Windows, Office, and server software I'll ever need, and of course I get various beta disks and other software fairly regularly otherwise. I do purchase non-Microsoft software as required, which explains why I use Adobe PhotoShop Elements and not the hugely expensive CS version. I have no problem paying for software I'm actually going to use: I regularly purchase applications and utilities online as well. When it comes to Microsoft's operating systems, I like to keep versions of each in Virtual PC-compatible virtual hard disks (VHDs) for testing purposes. For XP, for example, I have virtual machine (VM) copies of XP Home Edition N, XP Pro with SP2, XP Media Center Edition 2005 with UR2, and a version with XP Lite installed. (I also have numerous other VHDs, including some for various Linux, Windows Server, and Vista versions.) Starting with Windows Vista build 5456 (the first post-Beta 2 build), I was able to move to Windows Vista full time on all my machines for the first time. There was just one major issue: IE 7 is incompatible with the Web site I use every day to post articles to WinInfo. So I had to figure out a way to post articles, preferably from within Vista. My main machine dual boots between XP and Vista, but it's a pain to reboot just to post an article or two. So I decided the best thing to do would be to use one of the XP-based VHDs I had and post the articles using IE 6 from within a virtual machine. I grabbed the smallest one, which happened to be Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, and installed it on the PC. After installing it, I let the machine grab all of the available Automatic Updates (and was surprised, incidentally, by how many there were). After a few reboots, it was good to go, with one problem: The WGA warnings described earlier in this article. I actually found it kind of humorous, and figured people would be interested in seeing what it looked like, so I took some screenshots and fired up Microsoft Word to write the article above. After originally posting this article, I was contacted by Microsoft. The company was interested in figuring out why I was seeing WGA notifications and asked if I'd be interested in working with them to figure it out. Absolutely, I said. What could go wrong? Microsoft sent me a WGA diagnostic tool, which generates a text file with the results, which include, among other things, the final three portions of the five-part Product ID used to install Windows. I sent this file to Microsoft and awaited the results. Their preliminary findings were surprising. The key I had used to install Windows was a known pirated key, and required a modified version of winlogon.exe. This surprised me, naturally, since I don't pirate software, especially Microsoft OS software that I have several legitimate copies of around the house. I talked to Microsoft lead Windows product manager Greg Sullivan about this last week, and like a liar suddenly caught in a never-ending series of bogus excuses, I started fumbling around trying to figure out how I had ended up with such a thing on my system. You know, I said, I did actually buy a copy of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 in late 2005 from an online retailer to see what the experience would be like. You may recall that XP MCE 2005 is now available for purchase thanks to a loophole in the product's licensing terms. To get around the legal requirements, retailers simply have to sell you some kind of computer hardware along with the software; mine came with a USB cable that I promptly threw away. Sensing a way to give me an out, Sullivan agreed that that was probably how it happened: They've had issues with copies of Windows being purchased online being pirated. And sure enough, the software I got came in a simple little case with no documentation or other identification. The thing is, I can't imagine I would have installed that software in a virtual machine. It seems like such a waste, since the Product Key for that version could only be activated once, while the versions I get from MSDN can be activated multiple times. But I'm honestly not sure. The end result, of course, is that, a) I was literally running pirated software, and b) Microsoft's WGA software worked as it should. I'm not particularly happy with either of those points. But I do give Microsoft credit for trying to discover whether a bizarre little bug in WGA was causing my issues, and they were honestly concerned about getting this right. For my part, I'm left a bit disconcerted. On a happy side note, I was able to download a utility online that lets you change the Product Key associated with a running copy of Windows. (I'm sure that's perfectly legal, ahem.) I changed the VM's Product Key to my legitimate MSDN key, rebooted, and all is now well. However, I ended up switching out the XP MCE 2005 VM for a Windows 2000 VM, because it's smaller (and thus boots up and goes to sleep more quickly) and the version of IE 6 included with Windows 2000 can save Web passwords. All's well that ends well, I guess. Is there a moral to this story? I'm not sure. Sullivan noted that if this kind of thing can happen to me, then it could probably happen to anyone. I suppose that's true. But I'm reminded of science fiction writer and computer industry analyst Jerry Pournelle, who has often written about making mistakes so that his readers won't have to. I wish I could claim that sort of foresight. But the truth is, I just made a mistake. If we learn something from that mistake, fantastic, but I wasn't trying to set up a life lesson for anyone, let alone myself. Screenshots I'm experimenting with a new way to view screenshots. Please try my screenshot gallery, or click the pictures below to see individual images.

Got Windows Vista? Check out my Windows Vista Activity Center for a cool front-end to all of the Windows Vista/Longhorn-related content I've created! Updated! This article has been significantly updated since it was first published. Check out the next section, Microsoft investigates my WGA issues, for a resolution of my bizarre WGA experience. Screenshots Check out my new screenshot gallery.

Public Overview

Deploying a new operating system is a balancing act. On one side of the scale are the benefits of the new operating system. On the other side are the costs to deploy the new operating system. When you compare the two, deployment complexities seemingly make it hard to quickly realize the benefits of the new operating system because of a variety of challenges:

• Time, cost, and effort required to deploy a new operating system
• Compatibility issues between applications and the new operating system
• Ambiguous and error-prone deployment processes that increase costs
• Lack of best practices for deploying desktop operating systems
• Lack of a comprehensive suite of deployment tools

Windows Vista tips the scale by providing the confidence to deploy the new operating system and taking advantage of its cost-saving features. Windows Vista is easier to deploy, manage, and support — from small businesses to large enterprises with thousands of computers. Windows Vista significantly lowers the cost and reduces the time required to deploy and migrate by introducing new imaging technologies and the tools to take advantage of them. To mitigate the top deployment barriers of application compatibility and migration, Windows Vista includes design enhancements and improved tools that help you migrate users to the new platform.

This article describes these and other new deployment features that youll experience in Windows Vista. It describes the design changes in Windows Vista that specifically address deployment. Then, it describes the enhanced deployment tools in Windows Vista. Last, it describes the deployment scenarios that Windows Vista supports.

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Windows Vista Design Improvements

A typical cause of high deployment complexity and costs is the number of images that you must manage. Adding new hardware, language packs, updates, and drivers usually requires creating a new disk image. Updating multiple images and testing each of them when a critical fix appears is costly and time-consuming. Therefore, one of Microsofts major goals in Windows Vista is to significantly reduce the number of images you must maintain and help you maintain those images more easily. To achieve this goal, Microsoft modularized Windows Vista to make customization and deployment easier, based the installation of Windows Vista on the file-based disk imaging format called Windows Imaging Format (WIM), and made significant other deployment enhancements to the core operating system. The following sections describe these improvements in detail.

Modularization
Windows Vista is the first Microsoft Windows operating system built with stronger principles of modular engineering design. Modularization doesn't just mean that users can choose which optional features to install in the image. This approach also provides a selective capability to customize Windows Vista, enabling the following benefits:

• You can more easily add device drivers, service packs, updates, and languages to Windows Vista.
• "You can more easily customize certain optional Windows Vista component to your specific requirements.
• Microsoft can service an individual component without breaking the whole operating system.
• You can reduce testing while deploying a new operating system.

Additionally, Windows Vista is language-agnostic. Languages, including English, are optional components and can be added separately from the operating system itself. You don't need a separate image for each language, thus reducing the number of images a global organization needs to maintain and resulting in millions of dollars of annual savings.

Windows Imaging Format
Windows Vista is distributed in WIM, the new hardware-independent image-file format. This means that an organization needs only one image addressing the different hardware configurations within the company. This format has the following advantages:

• It enables you to store multiple images in one file.
• Microsoft can ship a single worldwide binary to its customers (one each for 32-bit and 64-bit architectures).
• This format reduces file sizes significantly by using a compressed file format and single-instance storage techniques (the image file contains one physical copy of a file for each instance of it in the image file, which significantly reduces the size of image files that contain multiple images).
• You can service the image offline, including adding and deleting optional components, updates, and drivers, without fundamentally creating a new image.
• You can mount images as folders, making it easier to update files within images, using interfaces as common as Windows Explorer.

These advantages dramatically reduce the number of images you need to maintain.

Other Improvements
The following list describes additional deployment improvements in Windows Vista:

• XML-based answer files. The new Windows Vista Setup exclusively uses XML-based unattended-setup answer files to enable remote and unattended installations. The goal is to have a single unattended-setup answer file format for the entire deployment process rather than the current usage of multiple files (unattend.txt, winbom.ini, sysprep.inf). With XML, you gain the ability to automate increasing portions of the desktop engineering and deployment process. The component settings are exposed in a consistent method, allowing tools such as Windows System Image Manager to create, manipulate, and validate complete unattended-setup answer files. This has the potential to make installations faster, more manageable, and less error-prone.
• Script-based installations. Windows Vista includes extensive support for using the command line and scripting to enable remote, automated, and repeatable deployment scenarios. For example, ImageX, Migration and Windows System Image Manager are completely scriptable.
• Installation performance and reliability. Windows Vista is designed for a faster installation experience than previous versions of Windows. The Windows Vista upgrade experience uses a new image-based operating system setup, making it easier and much more reliable while providing the familiar upgrade experience for users. Upgrading to Windows Vista is essentially a clean installation followed by the migration of user settings, documents, and applications from the old version of Windows.
• File and registry redirection. Many organizations would like to move their desktop environments to be fully managed. Providing a locked-down (for example, User Account Control for Windows Vista) environment, is very important to achieve this goal. However, many of the older applications break in this protected user mode because they write to restricted areas such as registries and the Windows directory. Windows Vista enables these applications to run in a protected user environment by redirecting the writes to a virtual store, thus "tricking" the applications into thinking they are still running with full administrative privileges. The capability provides huge benefits in application compatibility and in achieving goals for well managed desktop environments.

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Tools and Technologies

In addition to core enhancements, Windows Vista provides new deployment tools and technologies that make deployment easier and less costly. In fact, the core enhancements in Windows Vista make these new tools possible. These improved tools apply to every phase of the deployment. In the Planning phase, Windows Vista provides improved tools that help you inventory, test, migrate data and user state. In the Engineering phase, Windows Vista provides tools that make developing and customizing disk images more of a science and less of a trial-and-error approach as it was in the past. Lastly, in the Implementation phase, Windows Vista provides flexible support for a variety of deployment scenarios, including remote installation and in-place upgrades. The following sections describe the Windows Vista impact on these deployment phases in greater detail.

Planning
New inventory and migration tools simplify the first step of deployment—planning. One of the biggest challenges any organization faces when deploying a new desktop operating system is to migrate installed applications without breaking them. Application migration and compatibility issues can significantly slow or even stall an upgrade to a new environment, preventing a company from reaping the benefits of the new operating system. Windows Vista includes an improved Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit and Microsoft Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) to better support the planning process.

Application Compatibility Toolkit
The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT 5.0) is a lifecycle management tool for medium and large businesses and Enterprises that assists in identifying and managing overall application/device/computer portfolio, reducing the cost and time involved in resolving application compatibility issues, and helping you quickly deploy Windows Vista and Windows Updates.

ACT includes a set of compatibility evaluators and tools that can be run down level (Windows 2000 and higher) to test for known compatibility issues in Windows Vista.

The Evaluators in ACT 5.0 include:

• Inventory Collector Gathers data on a computer regarding applications, devices (device manager), and system information.
• User Account Control Evaluator Detects which applications may have issues with running as Standard User on Vista
• Windows Vista Evaluator Checks for Deprecations, GINA, Session 0 and Internet Explorer 7 known issues.

To complement the evaluators and inventory, ACT 5.0 also includes a set of tools to help developers and testers manage their application compatibility issues.

• Standard User Analyzer For customers using the User Account Control feature, this tool provides a way for testers to further test their applications to determine what will fail as standard user on Vista.
• Internet Explorer 7 Test Tool Provides a way for testers to further test intranet web applications to understand issues and determine which of their web applications will not work with IE 7.
• Setup Analysis Tool Analyzes setup programs and detects issues such as WRP, installing of 32 bit kernel mode drivers, or 16 bit components and flags these issues.
• Compatibility Administrator Tool to shim applications so they will work on a new operating system (no code changes required)

Online Compatibility Exchange
The online compatibility exchange will feed a webservice that is available through either ACT 5.0 or the Windows Vista Upgrade Adviser. The Exchange is a place where ISVs, IT Professionals and Microsoft can exchange information on compatibility issues.

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment
This assessment and inventory tool designed to quickly assess an organizations’ current PCs readiness for Windows Vista upgrades network-wide with a single networked PC. It is designed to remotely connect to PCs on a network, assess their hardware and device compatibility with Windows Vista, and automatically create a comprehensive report with assessment results and upgrade recommendations for each PC.

UserStateMigration Tool
Windows Vista is focused on making sure settings and data migrate well from earlier versions of Windows. For example, users who have their environments configured exactly the way they want can transition to the new environment with very little loss of productivity, because Windows Vista is designed to migrate their settings and data seamlessly.Windows Vista combines and improves both the USMT and the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to provide a unified upgrade migration framework. Providing a common framework reduces the cost of designing for migration and upgrade scenarios and increases the reliability of migrations and upgrades. The improved USMT provides the following capabilities:

• Includes better heuristics for identifying user state data
• Migrates user state data (documents and settings)
• Saves users state data to a server and restores it to the desktop after installation
• Upgrades users state data and applications in place
• Increases automation of the deployment process by better scripting and using XML technologies

Engineering
The design improvements in Windows Vista enable enhanced engineering tools. For example, Windows Vista support for the WIM image format makes the ImageX disk-imaging tool possible. Modularization of Windows Vista makes the improved Windows System Image Manager a reality. The following sections describe these new tools.

ImageX
When most information technology (IT) professionals think about desktop deployment, disk imaging quickly comes to mind. Any IT professional who has worked with image-based deployments knows the challenges. The biggest challenge, of course, is the necessity to maintain numerous images over time. Other challenges include the complexity of the tools and techniques needed to build and deploy disk images.

Windows Vista adds new capabilities that improve the disk-imaging experience. These include the following:

• Offline image editing. You can update and edit an offline image without creating a new image for distribution.
• Creation of a desktop image. You can take an image of an existing personal computer for distribution or for backup. You can save the image to a distribution share, from which users can install the gold image, or you can push the image out to the desktop.
• Scripting support in image creation. You can use scripting tools to create and edit images.
• Hardware extraction layer (HAL) independence. Retail versions of Windows Vista are HAL-independent.

The Windows Vista tool you use to work with WIM disk images is ImageX. You use ImageX to create and manage WIM image files. In fact, you can store multiple images in a single image file. You can mount WIM image files as folders, enabling you to edit images offline. ImageX is an easy-to-use command-line utility that you run from a command prompt as well as from Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE).

Windows System Image Manager
Windows System Image Manager is a tool for customizing and automating the installation of Windows Vista. Windows Vista significantly improves Windows System Image Manager, which enables easy customization of Windows Vista for deployment. These improvements include the following:

• Script Windows System Image Manager from the command line.

• Add, modify, or delete optional components such as languages, service packs, updates, and device drivers within an existing image using an unattend file.

• Create and edit XML-based unattended-configuration files for automation of installation.

The result of the improved Windows System Image Manager is that desktop images are easier and faster to engineer than previous versions of Windows. Windows System Image Manager provides more flexibility for adding device drivers and components. It lets you easily automate the installation of Windows Vista by using the unattended-setup answer file, which is now based on XML.

Implementing
After building a disk image by using the new deployment features of Windows Vista, you deploy the disk image by using removable media or a network boot from the desktop. The new Windows Vista image-based Setup is faster and more reliable than earlier versions of Windows. Windows Vista provides tools for migrating a user's data and settings at the time of installation. The following list describes the deployment tools and capabilities that Windows Vista is designed to provide:

• Multiple boot options. You can boot from the network (Pre-Boot eXecution Environment — PXE boot), CD, DVD, hard disk, or RAM disk.

• Secure remote deployment. You can remotely install the new desktop.

• Windows Deployment Services (WDS). WDS is the next version of Microsoft Remote Installation Services (RIS). WDS provides for the storage, management, and deployment of images. It uses the PXE boot process to install the operating system, including bare-metal installations.

• In-place upgrade. You can upgrade the user's personal computer in place and migrate data, applications, and settings. This is done by using clean installation of the operating system with existing data stored locally or remotely in a network share.

• Add critical updates during install. You can add critical updates to the standard image at the time of the installation by using the image-based setup.

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Deployment Best Practices

The best technologies and the best tools are not enough to ensure a good deployment result. This also requires investments in best practices and guidance in order to standardize and produce repeatable and scalable deployment solutions. Microsoft will be providing an enhanced version of the Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator (known as BDD) with Windows Vista to take advantage of the new technologies and tools.

Supplementing the Windows Vista deployment technologies with BDD best practices will enable customers to confidently deploy the new desktops. For more information on BDD, visit the Desktop Deployment Center.

New Computer Installation	1. You modify the Windows Vista image to have the necessary drivers and optional components by using the desktop engineering tools. 2. You install this image on a test computer, add additional applications required by the business (such as Microsoft Office applications), and save the image onto a network share or removable media (such as a DVD or CD). 3. The user can use the media to install Windows Vista or press F12 to enable a network boot. 4. The user is asked personalization questions, such as which language to use, and installation continues automatically.
Upgrade Computer Installation	1. You modify the Windows Vista image to have the necessary drivers and optional components by using the desktop engineering tools. 2. You install this image on a test computer, add additional applications required by the business (such as Office applications), and save the image onto a network share or removable media (such as a DVD or CD). 3. The user uses a CD or DVD to install Windows Vista locally. 4. The user is not asked any questions. Windows Vista Setup completes the installation by upgrading the user's data, settings, and applications to the new Windows Vista desktop. In most cases, the old data is moved to the side in the local hard-drive and a new Windows Vista image is cleanly installed. The user data and settings are then put back onto the new Windows Vista desktop.
Computer-to-Computer Deployment	• In a corporate scenario, the steps are the same as for an upgrade, with the exception that Windows Vista Setup gathers the data from the old computer and the new installation is done on the new computer. The installation is unattended. • In an end-user scenario, the user can install Windows Vista on a new system and then Windows Vista Setup migrates data and settings directly from the old computer to the new computer.

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Summary

Windows Vista deployment improvements address the complexity and cost of desktop deployment by significantly reducing the number of images you must build and maintain. In addition, Windows Vista provides you the ability to service images easier, including adding updates and device drivers to them offline — without creating a new image.

Windows Vista also provides new and improved tools for deployment, including the Application Compatibility Toolkit and USMT. The WIM image file format Windows Vista uses enables Microsoft to provide the new ImageX disk imaging tool.

In contrast to earlier versions of Windows, Windows Vista provides a complete deployment story, through the Planning and Engineering phases to the Implementing phase. Table 1 summarizes the improved deployment features in Windows Vista and describes the tools that enable them.

Table 1. Improved Deployment Features in Windows Vista
	Planning	Engineering	Implementing
Features	• Application inventory • Application analysis and testing • Application compatibility mitigation • Migration testing • Migration scripts	• Build desktop image from components • Customize image • Add drivers, languages, applications • Capture image	• Install image onto desktops • Migration and upgrade • Remote deployments
Tools	• Application Compatibility Toolkit • USMT	• ImageX • Windows System Image Manager • Sysprep	• USMT • WDS • Image-based setup

Finally, to enable a smooth deployment process, Microsoft will provide updated guidance in the form of the Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator. All these enhancements will make Windows Vista the easiest and most economical version of Windows operating system ever to deploy.

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For More Information

See the following for more information about deploying Windows Vista:

• Windows Vista vision

• Windows Vista Center for Developers

• Windows Vista Logo program for Partners

• Windows for IHVs

• Windows desktop deployment

Benefits of Genuine Windows:

* Capabilities You Expect
Genuine Windows has the capabilities that help you enjoy a rich and complete computer experience. With Windows Vista™, there are features that are only available to customers running a genuine copy. These include Windows Aero™, which offers a rich visual interface and innovative ways to help navigate your desktop, and Windows ReadyBoost™, which can help speed up your computer using easy-to-find USB 2.0 memory devices.
* Confidence and Peace of Mind
Genuine Windows is supported by Microsoft or a trusted partner and helps protect against the risks of counterfeit software.
* Ongoing Improvements
Genuine Windows provides access to future updates and enhancements from Microsoft including Windows Update and the full functionality of Windows Defender– helping ensure your computer experience is up to date and more secure.

In addition to the benefits enjoyed by all genuine Windows users, genuine Windows can provide the following benefits for enterprise customers:

* Enable protection and management of customer-specific keys through new and enhanced management tools and services.
* Ease software asset/license management efforts through trusted license store and public APIs.
* Reduce the risk of running tampered software in the managed environment.
* Enhance management control on corporate IT assets for better compliance.

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Advantages of WGA

In addition to having the confidence that you are using a copy of Windows that is licensed and fully supported by Microsoft or a trusted reseller partner, genuine Windows customers can take advantage of:

* Downloads from the Microsoft Download Center.
* The latest updates for Windows from Windows Update.
* Special offers, including downloads, special promotions, and discounts. For more information, see Windows Genuine Advantage Special Offers.

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WGA for Windows Vista

Built on the experiences of WGA for Windows XP, Microsoft was able to integrate the WGA experience into Windows Vista. New technology makes piracy harder and helps protect customers from the risks of counterfeit software while protecting Windows Vista from tampering, counterfeiting, and other abuses. It changes how Windows Vista validates as genuine, activates, and behaves when tampered with or hacked.

Activation is a process by which Microsoft determines whether or not a product key is being properly used based upon the software license associated with it. Users are required to complete activation within the first 30 days of using Windows Vista. Completing the activation process allows a user continued access to regular Windows Vista functionality while ensuring that their product key is not being misused. Learn more about activation in Windows Vista.

Validation is a process that allows you to verify that your copy of Windows is genuine. Microsoft will ask you to validate Windows when requesting a genuine Windows download from the Microsoft Download Center or Windows Update and to validate Office when requesting a genuine Office download. Learn more about validation in Windows Vista.
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WGA for Windows XP

The WGA program for Windows XP was launched July 2005 to provide an improved experience for consumers using genuine Windows XP and to help Microsoft address software piracy. The WGA program consists of two major components, WGA Validation and WGA Notifications. Validation helps determine whether the copy of Windows XP installed on a computer is genuine and licensed. WGA Notifications reminds users who fail validation that they are not running genuine Windows XP and directs them to resources to learn more about the benefits of using genuine Windows XP software.

You will be prompted to validate your copy of Windows if you request a genuine Windows download from the Microsoft Download Center. The validation process is easy, only takes a few moments to run, and once completed, allows you to access genuine Windows downloads more quickly in the future. Learn more about validation.

Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications is a program that helps Microsoft fight software piracy and helps you validate that the copy of Microsoft Windows XP installed on your computer is genuine and properly licensed. If your copy is not genuine, WGA Notifications will provide periodic reminders to help you take the appropriate action. It's part of Microsoft's commitment to fight software counterfeiting and help you avoid problems before they happen. Learn more about WGA Notifications.

For more information about WGA for Windows XP, visit the Genuine Microsoft Software FAQ.
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More Questions About WGA

You can find some answers to common questions about WGA on this page. More information is available on the pages linked from the WGA for Windows Vista and WGA for Windows XP sections above. You can find answers to many additional questions by visiting the Genuine Microsoft Software FAQ.
How can I tell if my copy of Windows is genuine?

To help you verify that you are using genuine Windows, Microsoft offers two quick and easy online processes called activation and validation. Activation is a feature of both Windows XP and Windows Vista that allows Microsoft to help protect your 25-character product key (located on the Certificate of Authenticity and the proof of license label) against possible unauthorized activation and validation attempts. Activation is required within the first 30 days of using a new copy of Windows. Validation is also a feature of both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Validation is run from time to time, typically when you download an update or enhancement from Microsoft, takes only a few moments, and helps confirm that your system is activated and your license has not been compromised.
Will I be asked to provide personal information?

Microsoft values your privacy, and we do not use any information collected with WGA to identify you or contact you. We will not ask you for personal information, such as your name or email address. For more information about the genuine Windows privacy policy, see the Privacy Statement.
What if there’s a problem?

If there is a problem with your validation, you will be given simple options to fix it. For example, Microsoft can help you by offering:

* A detailed description of the cause of the problem. For example, you may have accidentally received a product key that was reported as lost or stolen by its original owner. Or sometimes, during a repair or reinstall, an invalid product key is used if the original product key is not readily available.
* A replacement key or replacement copy of Windows. If you are a victim of software counterfeiting, you may qualify for a complimentary replacement copy.

How can I help?

Educate yourself about software piracy and learn how to protect yourself. When you purchase a new computer or bring your computer in for repair, be sure to ask for genuine Windows. If you believe you’ve been a victim of software counterfeiting, report it. By reporting counterfeiting you may qualify for a complimentary replacement copy of the software and the information can be used to help protect others.
Where can I find more information?

See the Genuine Windows FAQ for more information about Windows Genuine Advantage, Windows validation, and more. If you’d like to learn about support options, you can contact Microsoft for further assistance.

What is WGA Notifications?

Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications is a program that helps Microsoft fight software piracy and helps you validate that the copy of Microsoft Windows XP installed on your computer is genuine and properly licensed.

By confirming that your copy of Windows XP is genuine, you can take advantage of all the capabilities, support, and continuous improvements—as well as the peace of mind—that come with using genuine Windows. If your copy is not genuine, WGA Notifications will provide periodic reminders to help you take the appropriate action. It's part of Microsoft's commitment to fight software counterfeiting and help you avoid problems before they happen.

Launched in July of 2005, the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program was designed to deliver additional benefits to fully licensed customers of Windows, help protect honest businesses from counterfeiters, and help Microsoft better protect its intellectual property and combat Windows piracy. WGA is one of many programs Microsoft uses to address the problem of software piracy.

In June of 2006, Microsoft expanded Windows Genuine Advantage to include a service called WGA Notifications. WGA Notifications was created to alert people using a non-genuine copy of Windows that they might be victims of software piracy and to help them resolve the issue.
WGA and data collection

None of the information collected by WGA will be used by Microsoft to personally identify or contact you. To help you validate your software, the WGA tools must collect a certain amount of configuration information from your computer. The data collected includes:

* Computer make and model.
* Version information for the operating system and software using Genuine Advantage.
* Region and language setting.
* A unique number assigned to your computer by the tools (Globally Unique Identifier or GUID).
* Product ID and product key.
* BIOS name, revision number, and revision date.
* Volume serial number.

For more information about how this data is collected and used, see the document entitled Technical Market Bulletin on Product Activation in Windows XP found in the Additional Information section of the Microsoft Product Activation page.

In addition to the configuration information above, status information such as the following is also transferred:

* Whether the installation was successful.
* The result of the validation check.

As standard procedure, your Internet Protocol (IP) address is temporarily logged when your computer connects to a WGA website or server. These logs are routinely deleted.

We use the information to:

* Help prevent improperly licensed use of the software.
* Improve our software and services.
* Develop aggregate statistics.

Possible causes of WGA validation failure

When a system fails WGA validation, users are frequently surprised and upset.

Often, users have no idea that their copy of Windows is counterfeit. The most common situation is what we call the "repair shop" scenario. In this scenario, a genuine Windows user takes their PC to be repaired. Unbeknownst to the customer, the repair shop installs an unlicensed copy of Windows. The customer has no idea that this happened. In this situation, Microsoft can provide an authorized letter that the customer can print and take back to the repair shop to resolve this issue.

Another very common scenario is someone who buys a new PC from a dishonest business that charges them for genuine software but installs a pirated copy. The user knows they have paid for their copy of Windows, but they are actually running pirated software. When WGA alerts them to the use of counterfeit software, the user might feel confused or think the WGA test is inaccurate when, in fact, they have been taken advantage of by the business from which they acquired the counterfeit copy. Microsoft is working hard to educate customers to insist upon genuine Windows. We are also working with our legal and investigative teams to help identify resellers who deal in counterfeit and pirated Windows, thereby protecting our honest partners.

Additionally, customers who believe they have been victimized by software piracy can submit their counterfeit copy of Windows to Microsoft for evaluation and may be eligible for a complimentary replacement.

While a false positive is possible, it is extremely rare. Across over 200 million WGA validations, we have identified only a handful of false positives. Almost all of these were due to data entry errors that were quickly corrected and only occurred for a short period of time.
WGA and recent lawsuits

At the end of June, two class action lawsuits were filed against WGA. We will use the legal process to respond in detail to the claims made in these suits and are confident that the allegations are without merit.
WGA and spyware concerns

No part of Windows Genuine Advantage is spyware. Broadly speaking, spyware is deceptive software that is installed on a user’s computer without the user’s consent and has some malicious purpose. WGA is installed with the consent of the user and seeks only to notify the user if a proper license for Windows is not in place.
WGA Resources

To learn more about WGA, visit the following sites:
Alex Kochis – Senior Product Manager WGA - Blog
Microsoft Genuine Advantage FAQ
Microsoft Genuine Advantage Privacy Statement
Windows Genuine Advantage Forums (English Only)
About Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications

For Windows Vista, Microsoft is rolling out a new version of its Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy program, complete with a new name: the Windows Software Protection Platform. This time, they mean business.

Technically, it's not a kill switch, but it's arguably a near-death experience for your PC.Let's call it WGA Plus, shall we? The Plus means this software, which is baked into Windows Vista, is even more aggressive about detecting and blocking what it considers software that is running with unauthorized license keys or has been tampered with. And woe be unto you if you get snagged in the WGA - sorry, SPP dragnet while running Vista. If that happens on a premium version of Windows Vista, you'll first lose access to key features, including the Aero interface, ReadyBoost performance enhancements, and Windows Defender antispyware detection. Eventually, if you don't deal with the problem, the measures get more severe and you're kicked into "reduced functionality mode":

Reduced functionality mode in Windows Vista will allow the user to use the browser after the reduced functionality mode has begun. Reduced functionality mode can occur as a result of failed product activation or of that copy being identified as counterfeit or non-genuine. In most cases customers will be able to correct this situation quickly with the options provided. With the tools in place for OEMs, and small to large customers, we expect that most customers should never be affected by having a non-genuine installation.

Microsoft denies that this is a "kill switch" for Windows Vista, even giving it a separate question and answer in its mock interview announcing the program. Technically, they're right, I suppose. Switching a PC into a degraded functionality where all you can do is browse the Internet doesn't kill it; but it's arguably a near-death experience. The accompanying white paper describes the experience in more detail:

By choosing "Access your computer with reduced functionality," the default Web browser will be started and the user will be presented with an option to purchase a new product key. There is no start menu, no desktop icons, and the desktop background is changed to black. The Web browser will fully function and Internet connectivity will not be blocked. After one hour, the system will log the user out without warning. It will not shut down the machine, and the user can log back in. Note: This is different from the Windows XP RFM experience, which limits screen resolution, colors, sounds and other features. [emphasis added]

My head practically exploded when I read this sentence describing the new, improved punishment regimen: "Windows Vista will have a reduced functionality mode but one that is enhanced." Enhanced reduced functionality? Orwell would be proud.

At first glance, this program looks like WGA, repackaged and renamed. So I asked Thomas Lindeman, Microsoft's Senior Product Manager for the Software Protection Platform, to explain what's new. "The Software Protection Platform is a set of technologies we've been working on for several years," he told me. It includes "anti-tampering, anti-reverse engineering, and activation components consisting of . activation servers and a client service running on the PC." With SPP, according to Lindeman, other tools can call the same APIs, making activation and validation technologies available to any Microsoft program, even games like Flight Simulator.

With SPP, life's going to get more difficult for corporate customers using volume license keys (VLKs). Stolen VLKs have been the bane of Microsoft's existence in the XP era, because pirates use them to install copies of Windows and Office that don't have to be activated. Corporations using Vista with VLKs will have to activate them, using either a Multiple Activation Key that allows a limited number of activations, or a Key Management Service running on a Windows domain (which will require periodic reactivation). The new program is called Volume Activation 2.0, and you can read more details in this white paper).

What's most distressing about the SPP announcement is Microsoft's continued insistence that its anti-piracy tools are nearly perfect and that innocent victims never suffer from errors in their code. The press release includes this snippet, for example:

Customers will be able to easily determine the status of their Windows Vista installations. In the System Properties panel of the Windows Vista Control Panel, Windows Vista will display the genuine status of the installed copy of Windows Vista. From there, and from any screen notifying users of a failed validation, a user will be able to obtain more information on why the copy of Windows is not genuine, as well as resources for getting a genuine copy.

See that? Not whether but why the copy of Windows is not genuine. And not resources for getting assistance, but for "getting a genuine copy." In other words, paying Microsoft.

The most chilling part of SPP is its new code to detect tampering. As Lindeman explained to me, "If the Software Protection Platform determines that the core binaries of your system have been hacked with, you will get a notification that operating system has been tampered with. Reinstallation is the remedy." And the clock starts ticking immediately. When an anti-tampering warning first appears, you have three days to reinstall or otherwise fix your copy of Windows Vista or shift into reduced functionality mode.

Microsoft insists that "most customers should never be affected by having a non-genuine installation." That reassurance would be a lot more comforting if there wasn't already a solid base of failures in its current WGA program.

And in the sort of irony that invariably goes hand in hand with hubris, a wave of new problem reports have begun appearing on the official Microsoft WGA Validation Problems forum from corporate customers reporting that legitimate VLKs for Windows XP are suddenly being blocked. Read more details in this follow-up post.

Windows Vista has new Reduced Functionality Mode

By Ken Fisher Published: October 04, 2006 - 09:12AM CT

Windows Vista will ship with anti-piracy technology that will lock down the OS if it has not been activated within 30 days of first use, Microsoft announced today. If the OS is not activated, Windows will switch to a reduced functionality mode that will cripple the OS. This is but one of many planned features of Microsoft's new Software Protection Platform (SPP), shared by both Windows Vista and the forthcoming Longhorn Server, due sometime late next year (at the earliest).

Anti-piracy at installation

As with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Longhorn Server will both feature newly revamped versions of what we've come to know as Windows Product Activation (WPA). After installation, users will have 30 days to "activate" Windows, by which Microsoft means that users will have to provide a product key to fully unlock the OS. If a user fails to supply a valid key in that timeframe, Windows Vista will respond with a new set of options:

• Reduced Functionality Mode: this allows minimal use of the OS until it is validated. Microsoft has not disclosed full technical details, but they have indicated that the web browser (presumably IE) will work for about an hour before interrupting the session and forcing you to log off. Additional limitations are described below.
• Buy a key online: hop online, buy a new key, and you're done.
• Phone in for activation: instructions on how to activate over the phone rather than the Internet.
• Enter your key: Oops, it was under the coffee table book the whole time.

Notably, Microsoft is adamant that these technologies "cannot and will not turn off your computer."

Reduced functionality mode will also disable Aero, the new Windows Vista interface, and any "Premium" or "Ultimate" features of the OS will be completely locked down. Additionally, users will only be able to obtain security updates marked as "critical." Other downloads and updates will not be available.

This anti-piracy mode will also disable other installed applications such as Office, making it impossible for a user to edit documents. Users can view documents by using the web browser, but Microsoft has essentially designed the system to prevent "read/write" access. The general approach is quite clear: reduce the computer to a web browsing station and make it inconvenient to be a pirate. Microsoft has not taken the extra step and simply disabled the computer entirely, apparently in an effort to court users trapped by counterfeiters. It also has ostensible public relations benefits stemming back to the days of the WGA phone-home scandal.

Keeping an eye on things

Unlike Windows XP, Vista will monitor the activation status of the computer even after the initial 30-day period. If the technology later decides that a key is no longer valid, through either a software update or via some other means, it will give the user another 30-day period to rectify the situation. This is where Windows Genuine Advantage comes in. WGA will not throw the machine into full reduced-functionality mode if activation has been completed once. Instead it will disable Aero, ReadyBoost, and Windows Defender, and it will display a persistent notice in the lower right-hand corner of the desktop that reads: "This copy of Windows is not genuine."

WGA is intended to monitor systems for evidence of tampering post-activation. In our estimation, this is in large part because Windows Anytime Upgrade will allow users to add new features to the OS on the fly, Microsoft is keen to protect this feature by watching for post-activation hacks on the system, and the OS will reportedly perform occasional internal checks on itself to search for evidence of tampering.

Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft’s Genuine Software Initiative, made it clear that Microsoft intends to use this technology in additional Microsoft products at a later time. Hartje cited a Business Software Alliance report on piracy which claims that there were losses of $35 billion across the software industry due to piracy.

As we have reported before, Microsoft's primary concern at this point is stopping both casual piracy and counterfeiters. I know from conversations with people inside the company that there are conflicting approaches to how to deal with this problem, but no one is under the illusion that that SPP, WPA, or WGA is going to completely eliminate piracy. The company is interested in continuing to build tools that make it difficult and inconvenience to be a pirate, however.