Windows 7 RTM Ultimate Cracked: Offline Activation With OEM Master Key
Approximately in a week after Windows 7 RTM was released to major OEM (original equipment manufacturers), hackers have found an innovative method to crack and activate pirated copies of the operating system. Based on a Windows 7 Ultimate OEM DVD ISO leaked on a Chinese forum, the hackers have identified the OEM-SLP (System Locked Preinstall) product key and the OEM certificate for Windows 7 RTM Ultimate. The necessary data to permanently activate Windows 7 RTM Ultimate was grabbed via boot.wim file existing on the leaked DVD ISO.
It is indeed amazing how Windows 7 RTM pirates have cracked and managed the process of OEM instant offline activation, which is capable to pass Windows Genuine Advantage validation.
First, there was discovered that Windows 7 Ultimate uses the same digitally signed OEM certificate, as Windows Vista. Beginning from this key information, the successful hacking of Windows 7 Ultimate RTM required only the correct combination of OEM-SLP (System Locked Preinstall) product key and the OEM certificate key, as it is explained in detail on My Digital Life blog:
“As OEM certificate is digitally signed by Microsoft with its own Private Key with OEM Public Key and OEMID (part of SLIC table in BIOS). The combination of correct Private Key, Public Key with OEMID will pass SLP validation as valid Microsoft license. Meanwhile, Windows Marker is signed by OEM itself based on OEMID and OEMTableID (both belongs to SLIC) using the private key that matches the public key. Thus, the same OEM cert can be used for many different SLICs, as long as OEMID remains the same.”
The Windows 7 Ultimate OEM-SLP product key appears to be a master OEM-SLP product key for Windows 7 Ultimate, therefore it can be used for the activation of a wide range of OEM, like Lenovo, HP, Dell and more.
In case of Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Home Basic, and Windows 7 Starter the OEM-SLP keys have not yet found, and as a consequence, they cannot be activated by hackers. But the corresponding pirated copies could also appear soon on peer-to-peer websites, before the official date of Windows 7 General Availability, October 22.
Microsoft has confirmed the cracking attempts of Windows 7 Ultimate RTM as being successful, but in the same time users are strongly advised not to download pirated copies from unofficial sources, because they could contain malware or various viruses which will put computers and hard drive data in a permanent danger.
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October 11th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
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