Has a valid key slipped through?

[gamehead200]

And if you haven't noticed, there was a key in the gold copy of XP and SP1, but it wasn't valid... This one IS... But as Jazkal said, it's for the retail version of XP!

[Denney]

It must be known because on the original Windows XP CD, there is key that starts with "JJWKH".

Edit: Didn't read gamehead's post first.

Edit2: Seems to me just to be a simple stuff up. If I'm correct, and it is a retail key, doesn't it mean you'll have to activate it within 30 days? If so, then I don't think Microsoft have much to worry about.

[XL-DJK]

Seems to me just to be a simple stuff up. If I'm correct, and it is a retail key, doesn't it mean you'll have to activate it within 30 days? If so, then I don't think Microsoft have much to worry about.

my test didn't come up with anything about having to activate my XP.........

[gamehead200]

XL-DJK95355, I just sent an e-mail to Paul Thurrott and I received a quick reply... He will start looking into it now... I also gave him the URL to this thread!

[XL-DJK]

good stuff, thanks, gamehead

[RichTJ99]

Hey guys,  integrate SP2 into a copy of your WinXP CD, and then look at the unattend.txt file in the i386 folder, see a product key at the bottom?  If so, post the first 5 digits here, I want to see if there's a bug here:

Mine starts with :

CD87T

Does yours?

If it's different, I suggest we test them on a virtual machine and post our results, see if the cd keys work

Those of you with AUTHENTIC CD KEYS, see if it's the same as the CD Key you used, I know MINE isn't

Mine starts with CD87T too

[Synapse]

going too google and putting "CD87T" will return lots of results and the rest of the key... so yea....

[gabriel_buc]

Does anyone know the blacklist for SP2 ????

The Windows XP SP1 installation will fail on computers with the following product IDs:
• XXXXX-640-0000356-23XXX
• XXXXX-640-2001765-23XXX

Note: The above list is taken from M$'s official webpage

What about SP2 ??? Any idea ???

EDIT: After searching a bit on Google I found this SP2 blacklist on a german forum

XXXXX-640-0000356-23XXX
XXXXX-640-2001765-23XXX
XXXXX-640-643718x-23XXX
XXXXX-641-309376x-23XXX
XXXXX-642-064580x-23XXX
XXXXX-642-464364x-23XXX
XXXXX-643-334701x-23XXX
XXXXX-644-081772x-23XXX
XXXXX-644-451265x-23XXX
XXXXX-644-874896x-23XXX
XXXXX-644-933704x-23XXX
XXXXX-644-962396x-23XXX
XXXXX-645-833254x-23XXX
XXXXX-645-994962x-23XXX
XXXXX-646-031843x-23XXX
XXXXX-646-104081x-23XXX
XXXXX-646-105103x-23XXX
XXXXX-647-318838x-23XXX
XXXXX-647-592029x-23XXX
XXXXX-647-677834x-23XXX
XXXXX-648-301691x-23XXX
XXXXX-648-819992x-23XXX
XXXXX-649-106765x-23XXX
XXXXX-649-941392x-23XXX
XXXXX-650-292312x-23XXX

Pretty long one

Can anyone confirm it ?

[gabriel_buc]

The key in the unattended.txt file seems to be VALID. It belongs to the following PID: XXXXX-012-9869442-XXXXX.

So the questions remains: why M$ left that key in that file ??????

[gabriel_buc]

That is something we already knew.

[prathapml]

I haven't noticed this thing yet, gotta check up on this - the moment I get home.

I do know, that MS has PUBLICLY put up on its site, (somewhere in the evaluation or deployment/technet section, I'm don't have that good a memory so I've no no idea what I'd search for to turn it up, either) a set of keys each, for home and pro retail editions. They clearly say that these keys are for the sake of testing, and for organisations which are preparing to deploy Windows XP - the machine on which you use these keys, should be offline (not used for anything other than pre-deployment). These keys are explicitly offered to the IT resources people with the understanding that a machine using these keys shouldn't be used for real work/play/anything. They moreover also say that these are valid but non-activable keys (so that you can test/play around with it) - and won't be blocked in the future in the way the other pirate keys were. Those keys basically exist for the purpose that we are allowed to use it (*IF* you have WXP legally) when we test out windows deployments for a few days, on a stand-alone machine, and the keys are neither activable, nor can you access WindowsUpdate with it.

EDIT:

Saw those keys when I opened up the SP2 update (266 MB) using winrar. Go into the folder structure "i386\ip" and "i386\ic". Both have slightly different unattend.txt files, and both give different keys (usable with pro and home edition respectively, I think). I haven't yet checked whether these are the same keys as the "testing-only" keys I mentioned above.

Hoping this helps to make the matter clearer........

Edited August 13, 2004 by prathapml

[prathapml]

As for that SP2 keys (VLK) blacklist [posted by gabriel above], yes those are the ones.

You might also like to know, that there's *NO* PIDs blocked for retail/OEM, so all those people who illegally used generated keys are happy. (bad for MS commercially )

My post above has been edited just now...

Also, a note to the ones concerned about legality of this (probably warez???). Since this doesn't exactly discuss cracking... etc. (we've all along been telling you to use only licensed copies of your OS) - it may not come under that classification.

@all-

And we'd like to keep it that way (i.e., no warez-related posts).

[gamehead200]

Makes sense... And we ALL went crazy...

[sleepnmojo]

I remember finding this when I made my first xp cd. I wouldn't use the key though. When SP1 came out, it was one of the blacklisted keys.

So use it if you don't plan on updating, and don't if you do.

[Ropera]

HOME (retail)

My original CD has this key: VMWTT

My original Unattend.txt has this one: JJWKH

After slipstreaming the key in the Unattend migrates to the bottom of the file and chages to: RH6M6

PRO (retail)

My original CD has this key: QMRJH

My original Unattend.txt has this one: JJWKH (SAME AS HOME)

After slipstreaming the key in the Unattend migrates to the bottom of the file and chages to: CD87T