Many users – and I included myself – almost knew by heart the activation key for Windows XP“FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8”. With it it was possible to install a valid and official copy of the operating system that Microsoft launched in October 2001, but until now it was not known where that key had come from. Now we know.
what has happened. Dave W. Pullmer is a famous engineer and developer who worked his entire career at Microsoft and who, in addition to being in charge of the task manager or ZIP folders, had another task: working on the first version of the Windows Product Activation (WPA) system. Precisely that allowed him to know from the inside what happened with that activation key, and He told that story on Twitter.
It was not stolen, but leaked. As Plummer explains, no one hacked Microsoft or its systems to obtain it, nor did they manage to steal it. There was actually a mistake on the part of the development team, and a “disastrous leak” occurred.
There were no social networks, but it didn’t matter. That leak ended up going viral and millions of users found out about the trick almost immediately, something surprising considering that conventional social networks did not yet exist. There was no need: a warez (pirated software) group called “devilsOwn” released the key five weeks before the launch of Windows XP, and the key was published on IRC, online forums, Usenet groups, warez websites and especially P2P applications such as eDonkey or KaZaA.
How activation keys were calculated. The WPA system generated a key that was based on each user’s hardware: “the identifiers of the CPU, RAM and other components” were taken into account, and were sent to Microsoft along with that activation key to be validated. If errors or suspicious keys were detected, that installation was labeled as pirated.
Master key. But FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 was a valid volume license key that became part of the “white list” that the key validation system had. If that key was used, the servers assumed that it was an enterprise volume license, and that “there is no need to call home.” Thus, when installing Windows XP, users simply had to answer “Yes” when asked if they had an activation key, they entered the famous key and thus avoided checking it. It was like having a master key.
You could even update XP. When using this activation key, the operating system started fully functional and without activating small user warning mechanisms such as watermarks or a 30-day countdown. It was even possible to overcome the controls that were applied to receive updates. Although Microsoft detected and banned activation key, new illegitimate patches and “cracks” appeared who managed to make this activation mechanism persist for years.
Now you couldn’t use it. As Plummer explains, you could technically still use it on old Windows XP installation disks if you could find one, but Microsoft’s own servers that handled the validation process were disabled years ago. And even if it wasn’t, the key ended up being part of the blacklist of prohibited activation keys, meaning you couldn’t use it to validate a legitimate copy of Windows XP.
Image | Internet Archive
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