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So Windows 8 9200.16384.120725-1247


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Ok so apparently this is the final build! We will know more in around 8 hours.

Just can't wait to see all the disappointed pirates :D Windows 8 sure looks like one tough OS to crack.

Windows 8 preinstalled licenses, AKA OA2.2 and OA3.0

Latest news and summary. (20/06/2012) ***Will be updated if there are more news / changes.***

Preinstalled licenses of Windows 8 Sever will not use OA3.0. They will get OA2.2.

This is just an updated SLIC, probably the marker only (just we had at windows 7).

The reason for it is that OA2.2 can be activated offline against the SLIC in the BIOS.

OA3.0 will be a online activation method ONLY.

This was done to support offline servers.

OA3.0 will be for pre-installed client SKU's only.

How OA3.0 works:

The OEMs have two platform servers.

One is a OA3.0 key server and one a OA3.0 reporting server.

The OEMs have a master image of windows 8 that has a master key installed.

The purpose of this key is only one thing: To make w8 to be a pre-licensed version. (SLP channel)

The key is more like the old XP pre-licensed key. This key is NOT OEM specific, however, it is edition specific.

Anyway this key does not activate. It is only installed to determine the kind of licensing (SLP).

Those keys are generic.

Manufacturing process:

-The system is built. Manufacturing of complete systems.

-The system is brought online (online doesn't mean internet, just local network) and the OA3Tool is run (Either in WinPE or Full OS) and it requests a key from the key server, this generates a FULL MSDM table as output it contains the unique key for the particular system.

- A firmware specific tool is then run (could be in WinPE or DOS or whatever they wrote the flash tools for) which takes the MSDM table file and injects its key into the firmware, to NVRAM, ROMHOLE, or to wherever it is specified by the UEFI or BIOS.

The flash tool also checks to make sure that if a MSDM table does already exist, it fails.

The OEM can invalidate and delete a MSDM table with the tool, however, they have to report then this invalidation to M$ via the reporting server and then they can delete the MSDM table and over-write.

- The OS will be installed.

- Once that is complete and all testing is complete (no more hardware changes) then the OEMs can run the OA3Tool again.

This run of the OA3Tool generates the 128 bit hardware hash and reports that ALONG with the product key to the reporting server as CBR, the computer Build Report.

The tool has the ability to generate the hardware hash when there is NO network connectivity. This has been updated and wasn't possible before.

The reporting server then reports it (CBR) to M$ which sends an acknowledgement that it has received the Key+Hash. Once it has been received, then the CBR is removed from the PC.

If any hardware is changed except for external USB devices, and internal expansion cards (PCIe, PCI, SATA) then the OEM has to re-report to M$ a new hardware hash with the key or activation will fail.

Finally the OAtool is ran the last time again to lock the MSDM table to prevent any changes ever.

Then the OEMs ship the hardware to the customer.

The customer turns on the machine and goes through OOBE using the Master OA3 key which is valid for the key check but will not activate by itself.

Within 4 hours of OOBE finishing the system will automatically attempt to activate by seeing the OA3 Master Key, then reads the MSDM table for the key AND generates a NEW hardware hash and sends both to MS, the M$ servers then check to match up the hardware hash and key and if it matches (does not have to be an exact match, there is slop in there, it isn?t known what can be different) then the system is activated.

The essential requirements for OA3.0 are:

- The smBIOS UUID MUST be non-zero

- There has to be at least ONE MAC address in the system

If the above aren't there OA3 won't work and will fail.

The OEMIDs in the RSDT/XSDT tables don't matter at all. They did matter at older revisions of OA3, though (had to match those of the MSDMTable).

They no longer check those as part of OA3 only the MSDM table matters. There are no certificates or anything like that either. If you change enough hardware to require reactivation it will fail and you'll have to use the key on the machine.

OEM's pay for OS licenses based on number reported - number invalidated.

Source: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/34580-Windows-8-preinstalled-licenses-AKA-OA2-2-and-OA3-0

So pirates have 3 choices. Run a Sever client as a desktop one, or create a Frankenstein build with a beta's files (one had the ability to rearm 1000x).. Or wait and pay :D

Let the fun commence!

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I don't quite follow your post but I highly doubt pirates will be stopped. As much as I dislike those who don't pay for software they are quite resilient.

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At $40 for an upgrade people have no real excuse to pirate it, Microsoft are doing everything they can to encourage people to buy it legally. But I'd guess it will be cracked eventually, most Windows activation usually is. And besides this only about OEM activation certiifcates, I'd imagine bypassing the activation mechanism on a retail install may be a bit easier.

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I don't quite follow your post but I highly doubt pirates will be stopped. As much as I dislike those who don't pay for software they are quite resilient.

Well nope they wont be stopped but it will slow them down a fair bit, i don't think activation would be as simple as it is today with loaders and such. A cracked activation file that has to be kept uptodate ever time MS release a patch will likely be needed in short term.

Going to be interesting seeing the work around people come up with, but for me the entertainment will be in seeing all the QQ about not having a working activation method on day #1.

At $40 for an upgrade people have no real excuse to pirate it, Microsoft are doing everything they can to encourage people to buy it legally. But I'd guess it will be cracked eventually, most Windows activation usually is. And besides this only about OEM activation certiifcates, I'd imagine bypassing the activation mechanism on a retail install may be a bit easier.

Yep its cheap as hell i'm unsure if i will be able to upgrade my Windows 7 Pro though via the online upgrade. I got the code from my old college teacher. Not sure if its a OEM key or Retail/Voltume licence key.

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Yep its cheap as hell i'm unsure if i will be able to upgrade my Windows 7 Pro though via the online upgrade. I got the code from my old college teacher. Not sure if its a OEM key or Retail/Voltume licence key.

It could potentially be an MSDN academic key? I'm unsure as to whether those will be eligible for the upgrade or not, do you not have any old PC's with a serial code for an older version of Windows on them?

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At $40 for the Windows 8 Pro upgrade it's not worth the hassle of trying to crack the activation, unless you're a hardcore pirate and refuse to pay for software out of principle.

With Windows 8 being the controversial version it is many of the professional pirates will stick to Windows 7 and older though I reckon.

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Umm not sure, i do have other keys (ones on the side of other PC's, i have 1 Vista key err /shudder, and a 7 HP key on the notebook.) The main pc with the w7pro from teacher was custom built by myself from totaly separate unused new parts.

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At $40 for an upgrade people have no real excuse to pirate it, Microsoft are doing everything they can to encourage people to buy it legally. But I'd guess it will be cracked eventually, most Windows activation usually is. And besides this only about OEM activation certiifcates, I'd imagine bypassing the activation mechanism on a retail install may be a bit easier.

The $40 upgrade is only temporary until early 2013.
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with the low price point of the upgrade and the performance increase i can still imagine a lot of folks will switch and piracy MIGHT be lower however, anymore folks just don't like to pay anything regardless of price.

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Umm not sure, i do have other keys (ones on the side of other PC's, i have 1 Vista key err /shudder, and a 7 HP key on the notebook.) The main pc with the w7pro from teacher was custom built by myself from totaly separate unused new parts.

Those keys are eligible for the upgrade, it doesn't have to be a retail copy :)

On 7/26/2012 at 5:40 PM, Anthonyd said:

The $40 upgrade is only temporary until early 2013.

Sure, but that gives people about 4 months to decide whether they want to buy or not.

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Why is the build number now in the 9xxx-ies?

There might be last minute changes/additions to the code that bumped the number up? That's the only thing that comes to mind actually, so who knows? It is a pretty big jump though so maybe it's something good? heh.

Even if the $40 upgrade price is temporary I also beleive the new System Builder/OEM versions will also be cheaper compared to Windows 7 prices. We'll know in time but if the OEM for say, Pro 64bit is like $90-$120 I still think it's worth it IMO.

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There might be last minute changes/additions to the code that bumped the number up? That's the only thing that comes to mind actually, so who knows? It is a pretty big jump though so maybe it's something good? heh.

Even if the $40 upgrade price is temporary I also beleive the new System Builder/OEM versions will also be cheaper compared to Windows 7 prices. We'll know in time but if the OEM for say, Pro 64bit is like $90-$120 I still think it's worth it IMO.

8888 was artificial bump anyway, so they didn't really have to do a 9200 unless that was always the plan. (****, "what matters is our plan" just echoed in my mind after I typed the post :| )

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When I google the 9200 build number, it brings up a lot of foreign sites talking about the initial windows 9 build, not windows 8

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8888 was artificial bump anyway, so they didn't really have to do a 9200 unless that was always the plan. (****, "what matters is our plan" just echoed in my mind after I typed the post :| )

Doing a artificial bump from say, 85xx to 8888 is one thing, that's fine because it's still part of the 8xxx range and it's been done before but when they go from 8xxx to 9xxx, as in the first major number goes up one, it often means something and not just an artificial bump.

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When I google the 9200 build number, it brings up a lot of foreign sites talking about the initial windows 9 build, not windows 8

http://bbs.pcbeta.co...079690-1-1.html

213507kjhcjq1zrzjohcxo.jpg

Also http://winunleaked.info/threads/145-Windows-8-RTM/page81

One of the admin wrote. "It's legit dude, I can see the build on \\winbuilds\release\win8_rtm\9200.16384.120725-1247\"

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At $40 for an upgrade people have no real excuse to pirate it, Microsoft are doing everything they can to encourage people to buy it legally. But I'd guess it will be cracked eventually, most Windows activation usually is. And besides this only about OEM activation certiifcates, I'd imagine bypassing the activation mechanism on a retail install may be a bit easier.

In a world where people pirate $0.99 mobile apps, believe me a $40 OS will be pirated....a lot
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In a world where people pirate $0.99 mobile apps, believe me a $40 OS will be pirated....a lot

Normally for a Windows release I would agree, but for this one... I know a few people who do pirate and they arn't the slightest bit interested in getting "Windows Millenium Edition Part 2" as it's been dubbed. There is just no bazinga for this release like there was for XP, Vista and 7.

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Normally for a Windows release I would agree, but for this one... I know a few people who do pirate and they arn't the slightest bit interested in getting "Windows Millenium Edition Part 2" as it's been dubbed. There is just no bazinga for this release like there was for XP, Vista and 7.

After using Windows 8 consumer preview and release preview for months, i lost interest in windows8 and i started to hate the UI changes plus metro and want back to Windows 7. I dont think i will be upgrade to the win8 on release and might skip it like what i did with vista

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One of the admin wrote. "It's legit dude, I can see the build on \\winbuilds\release\win8_rtm\9200.16384.120725-1247\"

Yea the Admin is canouna :laugh:

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