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Will Windows 8.1 "Expire" If Kept Offline?


NoelC

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I have to ask what happens to people with in-home businesses who do not have access to internet at all? I live near the country side I occasionally do some work with people who run there own small business out of there home and they ether don't have internet access or they have to go with dial-up or satellite. So their systems may never hit the internet at all. My theory is some "good guy" at MS programmed some kind of safeguard or way to permanently activate (via telephone ect) the system so it won't go bad.

 

Now in NoelC's case I can maybe see blocking the ports (that may be responsible for validation status) and not installing update may cause the system to think its not a valid system and require reactivation. Just another theory/thought

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I wouldn't sleep too well if I had a Vista (or later? :unsure:) OS.

 

Just for the record/YI:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/130578-vista-activation/

http://reboot.pro/topic/7288-you-cannot-leave-for-six-months/

 

BTW it is entirely possible that the good MS guys have changed their approach to it, stopping issuing periodically (for whatever reason) a reactivation trigger, so the aboev may be not only limited to Vista but also to a period in the past.

 

jaclaz

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Here's hoping you're wrong, but yes, that's the worry I have.  I wouldn't put it past the Microsoft of post-2009 to have put in something that would require occasional mothership calls once the system is activated online.  It's pretty clear they considered Win 8 the first "cloud-integrated" system.

 

There's of course telephone activation for the guy without any Internet, where he could call and punch in a huge string of numbers and have a computer voice read a big set back to punch in.  It's possible the ongoing activation scenario is different after doing that, vs. having actually contacted Microsoft online, but I doubt it.  I always keep watch for activity implying it's trying to check its license.

 

I'm still seeing Win 8.1 try to contact Akamai quite regularly, but using port 80 (not encrypted).  For example, last night.  I suspect this is some component trying to self-update, but so far I've not located the setting to stop it. 

 

# Seen overnight:

# Blocked

23.1.117.231:80         # 27 times - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
23.13.70.176:80         # 55 times - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (System)
23.14.84.155:80         # 84 times - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
23.14.84.161:80         # 84 times - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
23.15.5.199:80          # 2 times - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
23.15.5.213:80          # 2 times - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
23.39.131.234:80        # 3 times - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
23.62.165.99:80         # 1 time - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (System)
23.72.246.188:80        # 7 times - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (System)
23.73.5.231:80          # 3 times - Akamai, Cambridge: Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)

104.16.63.69:80         # 3 times - Cloudflare/Amazon San Francisco: OS - Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
104.16.64.69:80         # 3 times - Cloudflare/Amazon San Francisco: OS - Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
104.16.65.69:80         # 3 times - Cloudflare/Amazon San Francisco: OS - Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
104.16.66.69:80         # 3 times - Cloudflare/Amazon San Francisco: OS - Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)
104.16.67.69:80         # 3 times - Cloudflare/Amazon San Francisco: OS - Host Process for Windows Services (NoelC)

# Allowed (Certificate Revocation List retrievals)

178.255.83.2:80         # crl.comodoca.com, London: OS - Host Process for Windows Services (*)
93.184.215.200:80       # mscrl.microsoft.com Edgecast/Azure Wichita: OS - Host Process for Windows Services (*)

 

I actually have my Win 10 test system quieted down at this point better than my host 8.1 system.  That's due to it having had more scrutiny and specific tools (like O&O ShutUp10) developed for it.

 

-Noel

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There are things that can cause an activated OS to enter into Notification mode. When this happens, Windows usually is still actually activated. This behaviour is caused by certain system files being changed or corrupted, as indicated by a File Mismatch reported by MGADiag, among other things. Any reports of Windows becoming de-activated with MGADiag (or the relevant info for 8.1, 10) can't be automatically judged as being something nefarious happening with Windows or Microsoft.

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I'm not sure whether - or even how - to take that comment seriously.

 

Win8 is not Win10. If you have a normal variant (non-KMS, etc.), why should it require reactivation all of the sudden?

 

And in the unlikely case it does, it's not like it's going to boot into "Choose boot action: [1] Update to Win10 [2] Format all drives (default: [1], booting in 3 seconds)". You could just take corrective actions from within Windows.

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That's where you're wrong.  Microsoft considered Windows 8 a "cloud-integrated" OS as well.  Windows 10 isn't anything new, it's just 8.2.

 

In any case, from BOTH Win 8.1 and 10 so far I've seen a couple of network connection attempts that look suspiciously like attempts to verify activation.  These occurred out of the blue, and also at the start of a Windows Update operation.  The addresses were:

 

157.56.77.138:443       # Microsoft, Redmond
157.56.77.139:443       # Microsoft, Redmond

 

Or these could just be blocked telemetry.  Time will tell.

 

-Noel

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I wouldn't sleep too well if I had a Vista (or later? :unsure:) OS.

 

Just for the record/YI:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/130578-vista-activation/

http://reboot.pro/topic/7288-you-cannot-leave-for-six-months/

 

BTW it is entirely possible that the good MS guys have changed their approach to it, stopping issuing periodically (for whatever reason) a reactivation trigger, so the aboev may be not only limited to Vista but also to a period in the past.

 

jaclaz

Thanks for heads up.

I completely closed Windows 7 on VM (no internet access). OEM activated and "cleaned" with DWS Lite

I will report back in may '16. :yes:

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BTW, maybe you should apply 3080149, as it does the following:

 

Reduces the network connections on a Windows system that doesn't participate in the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).

 

Though, not sure why it should try to connect anywhere at all if CEIP is disabled. :)

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  • 1 month later...

On another thread, you were hinting at being unsure whether this was a good long term strategy.  What started giving you doubts?  Sounds like you're churning along fine.

 

On Windows 8.0, I'll be frozen in time involuntarily.  I wonder if Defender updates will stop.

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I'm just thinking long-term, and not under the misconception that keeping an older system running forever is a viable option.  I like to plan ahead rather than wait for something to force me into a path as an emergency.  The beginning of January is a traditional time to look ahead.

 

1.  Hardware that runs the older systems will ultimately fail.  It may not be possible to resurrect the preferred older system on newer hardware, or the newer hardware may simply come with the latest system.

 

2.  Microsoft will strive to make it less and less pleasant or viable to run older systems.  They've already started on that path with the GWX nagware and many updates designed to "ease the upgrade experience into Windows 10".  That could even culminate with them simply disallowing older systems to run by revoking the license, citing them being a "security threat to the community" or some BS like that.

 

3.  Sooner or later, something new may be invented that is a "must have", and it will only work on the latest system.  Right now, as far as I've been able to tell, there's literally nothing from the App Store that I need or want, but that could potentially change.  Will it be true in 2020?  And, I can run the development tools I need on Win 8.1.  But what if, for example, Microsoft were to release a new version of Visual Studio that only works on Windows 10?

 

4.  It may be that someone in my business (software engineering) will ultimately want to sell products into the "Windows 10 and newer only" market.

 

I'm presently doing "wait and see" on my business systems, and you're right, I'm working just fine right now.  I have Win 8.1 purring along like a well oiled machine, never failing, never giving away the farm.  I run Win 10 in a virtual machine, so I can quite easily develop and test for it.  I have Win 7 purring along on a small business server, since it just works for months on end with minimal TCO.

 

When "wait and see" changes to "got to upgrade for xxxx reason" I just want to be ready with a strategy that doesn't risk my livelihood based on "let's try this and see if it works".

 

-Noel

Edited by NoelC
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I'm just thinking long-term, and not under the misconception that keeping an older system running forever is a viable option.  I like to plan ahead rather than wait for something to force me into a path as an emergency.  The beginning of January is a traditional time to look ahead.

......

 

Microsoft will strive to make it less and less pleasant or viable to run older systems.  They've already started on that path with the GWX nagware and many updates designed to "ease the upgrade experience into Windows 10".  That could even culminate with them simply disallowing older systems to run by revoking the license, citing them being a "security threat to the community" or some BS like that.

-Noel

 

I'm like that about a lot of stuff.  I have a basic migration path for Windows that I plan to follow until 2023 (when I'll be 53 ... lol)  A lot of forum posters say, "Why plan that far ahead?"  I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow".  And it's likewise for me, but I still like to at least have a road map.  Sure, it may go out of date, but at least I have a basic plan in place.

 

I really worry about the possibility that Microsoft will cripple or disable features on old operating systems or even revoke licenses of old OS releases.  In the latter case, should such a thing ever happen, I would entertain becoming part of a class action lawsuit to receive back monies paid for such products.

 

Good talking to you Noel.

:)

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  • 5 weeks later...

Just to share my "server" Win 7 ultimate with no more windows update running.

 

It's a busy server with lot of things running on it 24*24 including my visualized Linux router, minecraft server, 3 teamspeak servers, apache with many virtual hosts including my public small company web site...

 

UrhmfuU.png

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