.Kompressor Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Vista WGA problems confirmedFebruary 26th, 2007 Posted by Ed Bott @ 1:34 pm Categories: Windows Vista, WGA This morning I reported on Vista activation and validation problems I've been hearing and reading about in the last few weeks. This afternoon I have a firsthand report. When I installed a beta version of Acclaim's 9Dragons role-playing game (protected, apparently, by nProtect's GameGuard anti-cheating software), Vista dropped a bomb on me. A time bomb, that is. The software convinced the Windows Software Licensing service that the operating system was being tampered with, deactivating the system and starting a 72-hour countdown to "reduced functionality mode." I'm baffled that this Windows error message doesn't actually mention Windows. It just says "your license" and "your software." How am I supposed to know which license and which software. And in the left-hand-meet-right-hand department, where's Windows Defender in all this? I'm installing a piece of software that is tampering with my operating system, according to the Windows Software Licensing module. So why is Windows Defender looking the other way while this dastardly deed is being done? Why doesn't it detect and block this software? In this case, closing the game and restarting the computer allowed me to reactivate over the Internet, but other people haven't been so lucky, based on reports filed at Microsoft's Vista Validation Issues forum. For the record, I think Acclaim deserves a share of the blame for this problem. This problem has been known for a month, maybe much longer. When I installed the 9Dragons software today, it auto-updated itself to the latest version. Supposedly, nProtect has had a patch available for some time, so why doesn't Acclaim include it? Still, shifting the blame around is cold comfort to a Windows user who downloads and installs a perfectly innocent-looking program only to discover that they've actually pulled the pin on a grenade that will go off in 72 hours unless it's disarmed. So far, it looks like most of these problems respond to simple treatment: uninstall the game or program and reactivate, by phone if necessary. Still, it's a hassle to deal with, and nontechnical users are likely to be thoroughly confused. I was fortunate enough not to reach "reduced functionality mode." Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has an excellent image gallery showing exactly what that looks like. (Hint: not fun.) I'm still waiting for a response from Microsoft. source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=221&tag=nl.e539 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToneKnee Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 I did a "trial" of Windows Vista only to find out that the 72hour timer was activated for no apparent reason. Not sure what triggered it, but it was after a clean install. So I tried the Business version, and the same happened again. It's all fine for a few hours, then it goes nuts. By the way, no, I didn't try and crack Windows Vista or anything like that, I just wanted to play with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1759 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Problems with WGA? Nooooo... :whistle: I know MS means well, but they can't seem to ever secure the OS, nor make things as simple and seemless as they could be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inplode Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 /shrug /rollseyes /vista > them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiG- Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 source:http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=221&tag=nl.e539 its Hardly Vista's fault, the pillock tries to install a game thats BETA, not even made for Vista and he complains that it spazzes windows.. im sure the game developers need to learn how to code! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Kompressor Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 I don't know about you guys but I've been using vista for over a month now...and I can't help but think this OS was not finished. There's things that could've been better refined... anyway that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiG- Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 I don't know about you guys but I've been using vista for over a month now...and I can't help but think this OS was not finished. There's things that could've been better refined... anyway that's just me. Same with XP when that came out, it sucked too. remember ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nautiqueskier Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 its Hardly Vista's fault, the pillock tries to install a game thats BETA, not even made for Vista and he complains that it spazzes windows.. im sure the game developers need to learn how to code! Um... under no circumstances should a game be able to interfere with Windows Vista's licensing system. I don't care if the game was Beta, Alpha, or pre-alpha, it just shouldn't be possible. Windows should at least be secure enough to prevent tampering of its own licensing system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeneo13 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aero Ultimate Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Um... under no circumstances should a game be able to interfere with Windows Vista's licensing system. I don't care if the game was Beta, Alpha, or pre-alpha, it just shouldn't be possible. Windows should at least be secure enough to prevent tampering of its own licensing system. Exactly. Installing some software should not suddenly void your license :pinch: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shibby Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 I can't see why a game with an anti cheat copy device thingy, would even have any need to check with Windows if it's legal. I think the problem lays with microsoft here. This should not happen, if this game has caused this problem, just think if you had some nasty worm or program that exploits these little problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper101 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Since When does ZDnet start confirming stuff? Anyway its his fault for trying to install BETA stuff on Windows Vista. Just goes to show no one reads the EULA (Beta). It says you accept full responsablity if anything goes wrong with your computer whilst using this software (Or something like that) so really he can't complain or anything like that for his mistake can he :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aero Ultimate Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Anyway its his fault for trying to install BETA stuff on Windows Vista. Just goes to show no one reads the EULA (Beta).It says you accept full responsablity if anything goes wrong with your computer whilst using this software (Or something like that) so really he can't complain or anything like that for his mistake can he :p That's bs. Please show me the part of the Eula where it says that you agree to having your activation revoked when installing the wrong software :pinch: Anyway, I see a new type of malware coming, whose sole purpose it is to tick off the "software protection", just to get the activation revoked. If this can already be done so easily by just installing a program that doesn't even try to harm anything, just imagine what a program that tries to be harmful can do! :blink: This "software protection" crap is a security hole as big as a barn door! :pinch: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batfink Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Yet another reason to wait for SP1 before I move all my XP box's to Vista. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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