TR's take on the 'Genuine Advantage' - updated 28/6/2007.

When Microsoft launched WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) - around October 2006 - I'd been averaging a phone call a day from customers who'd bought an 'under-the-counter' copy of Windows XP or Office from a car boot sale or computer fair, to upgrade a PC they bought from us. At the time, I posted this advice in an attempt to reduce these calls...

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Late 2006: Microsoft have recently introduced their 'Genuine Advantage' On-Line authentication service which is designed to collect information on any unlicensed Microsoft products you may be running on your PC.

Once you have downloaded this update, you MAY see a message that says 'you are running an illegal copy of Microsoft XXXXXX'. This is because the license keys that these widely circulated discs use are well known to Microsoft, and they are now making a concerted effort to get people to upgrade to legitimate versions directly. I think I read somewhere that updating to genuine XP Professional via their site will cost you £90.

However, It might be that you already have an Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) Windows license sticker on the side of your system unit, but if you used a Retail version of XP to re-load along with a dodgy Retail key (as it wouldn't accept your legitimate OEM key) you will still get the illegal message.

If your machine has a Genuine Microsoft XP OEM sticker attached to the side of the case, you have every right to use XP on the machine. The previous owner cannot transfer it to his new PC, it has to stay with the motherboard with which it was first sold. If the motherboard dies, then strictly speaking, you need a new license. I'm sure Microsoft have some exceptions to this rule, but generally that's it : you acquire the OEM license with the box.

In Summary: you can have a legitimate OEM sticker on your PC, but Microsoft's WGA system could still call you a thief simply because things aren't setup correctly.

My advice is this:

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a) If you have a genuine OEM sticker for the product on the side of your system unit (nearly all ex-corporate units we sell do) for say Windows XP, you can use a piece of software called Windows Key Finder Final to check the licence code on the sticker matches the installed key. If it doesn't match you can then change it using Keyfinder - it works with 95/98/ME/XP (original version). For XP SP1 & SP2 you could also try using SYSPREP (details below).
You should then be able to download updates... If you still can't, then it maybe someone else is already using YOUR key. At this point start complaining loudly to Microsoft, or the maker of your box, or both.

If it won't accept your key it might be you have a Retail version of XP installed and your key is for an OEM version - or vice-versa. Some manufacturers will send you an OEM recovery CD which you can use to reload - have your serial number, model number & license key to hand when you call them.

It's possible to make an XP OEM CD become a Retail XP CD - and vice versa - but it's quite a complicated procedure. You need to rip the XP CD to a folder on your hard drive and edit the setupp.ini file in the i386 directory (See Winkeyfinder.com's help files for full details). You can even make a Retail disc that will accept OEM keys - useful for upgrading 98/ME etc.

SYSPREP: Another trick, which might just help, is to run the SYSPREP utility found in the \support\tools\deploy.cab file on the Windows XP CDROM. This will reset the machine to the state it was delivered from the factory. It will also generate a new hardware-hash. When you restart the machine, you will be presented with the 'Microsoft Out of the Box experience' startup sequence. You will be asked to; agree to the EULA; input your XP OEM key; & finally activate your copy of Windows.
It should definitely help if you are deploying multiple PCs and need a standard software build before activation. It seems to work after running Autopatcher, too (August FULL 2006 version is fine, newer verions interfere with SYSPREP). I haven't tried it on a system that's already been activated though!

If you need to re-activate Windows for any reason this can be done either over the Internet or Via Microsoft's call centre. If they won't give you a re-activation key, it's possible to buy software on eBay for around £1 that will break the activation mechanism for you - just search for 'WGA removal'. (be very careful about downloading a 'WGA-fix' from a warez site - whilst researching this subject I've seen at least one patch with a BACKDOOR-TROJAN attached! - which will do a LOT more damage than the problem you're trying to fix)

If you break the activation mechanism you won't be able to download any new security updates from Microsoft's server, though.

In addition to the above, I've recently been told that the biggest OEM's - for at least the last 12 months - now get 'Gold-OEM' versions of XP from Microsoft, and the originals of these CDs stay in a safe at Dell,IBM etc.. So, if you try to re-install XP from a regular OEM XP disc - because a virus trashed your hard drive or you replaced a failed drive - when you come to enter your genuine XP OEM serial number, it isn't accepted as genuine. In this case you either have to try and get a rebuild CD from your PC manufacturer or break the activation mechanism. You don't have another choice: this seems blatantly unfair, given that your OEM license supposedly lives with the machine it was supplied with - until the motherboard dies - you shouldn't be asked to pay for Windows twice! Also, it seems a bit coincidental that the PCs sold in the last year or so would be the ones most likely to be able to run Vista. Upgrade anyone...?

If your PC included an XP restore CD, you should use that - and then upgrade to Service Pack 2. Then apply all the recent security patches - either from Microsoft or Autopatcher.com (no longer available, as of 29/8/2007, RIP)

If you've got a recent PC from one of the big manufacturers - and it's running fine - i'd recommend making a backup snapshot of your hard drive to CD/DVD using Norton Ghost 2003 or Acronis True Image, so if disaster strikes you can easily restore your system.

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b) If you suspect that your 'Car-boot/Computer show' copy of XP is likely to be illegitimate - because it only cost you a fiver! - then you should perhaps think about turning off auto updates

(My Computer->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services->Automatic Updates->Disable & Stop Service),

and possibly download & use some of the great & free 3rd-party products out there to help keep you secure; ie Firefox-Zonealarm-AVG antivirus-Spybot search & destroy (All of which can be downloaded FREE here).

You can download a WGA removal tool here - if you already have WGA installed it might block you downloading it, if so burn it onto a CD using another machine, then run it on the WGA 'infected' system. Also your ISP might stop you emailing it to a friend via a POP account (they might consider it a virus?), if so try using a webmail account instead - but not Hotmail.

Seriously though, if you depend on your machine: go legit! If you're using file-sharing (uTorrent, Limewire etc), eBay, PayPal or doing on-line banking with an unpatched copy of XP SP1 you're just asking to get hacked - personally, I wouldn't connect a PC running XP SP1 to the Internet! Investing £50 in a genuine copy of XP Home SP2 could seem like quite a modest investment compared to getting your bank account emptied! If you're going to buy Genuine XP then we'd personally recommend ebuyer.com - when I last checked (28/6/2007) XP home was still available at Ebuyer for £52, However, it's surely only a matter of time before you can't buy XP any more. And if your machine won't run Vista ... you're stuffed. If you absolutley don't want to purchase XP or get hacked, then you should consider step 'C'.

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c) Switch to Linux - It's FREE.
Ubuntu is an easy-to-use LIVE distribution that can be downloaded here. The .iso file you download needs to be burnt to a CD as an Image - in Nero you select 'Burn From Image File'. You can boot from the CD while you evaluate it & install to your hard drive for better performance. It comes with the Firefox web-browser, Open Office 2, Photo editing & CD playing/ripping/writing software, as standard. If you have a broadband router with ethernet, it will work like a dream. USB modems can be hit and miss though.

If you go down this route you'll probably never encounter viruses or spyware ever again!

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Installation of the Microsoft 'Genuine Advantage Update' is supposed to be optional - you have to consent to installation. Although they are quite tricky about it - when your updates are ready for installation you will see 'Normal' and 'Custom' radio-buttons, always choose 'Custom' as it lets YOU select which updates to apply.

If you install the WGA tool, then expect it to gather up your IP address , MAC address and details of Microsoft Products installed on your PC. Your IP address & MAC address are enough for a law-enforcement agency to identify the PC you used. It currently 'phones-home' each day, although I believe they may soon change that to once a fortnight. If you want to carry on receiving regular Microsoft updates then you really only have one choice. The current WGA EULA states that MS may share information with other software vendors & that WGA isn't designed to be uninstalled. So be careful what you download!

If you are running a pirated version of XP & have already installed the WGA tool, then expect to see a 'nag' screen each time you start up along with a bubble dialog letting you know you are 'illegal'. Microsoft have stated that, for now at least, they will allow you to continue downloading 'critical security updates', as long as automatic updates are turned on.