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- Skates, on 10/12/2007, -8/+83Bypass Vista Activation with Paradox OEM BIOS Emulation Toolkit v1.0
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/03/04/bypass-vista-activation-with-paradox-oem-bios-emulation-toolkit-v10/
Something that actually works... - Avalontor, on 10/12/2007, -5/+71Now that is funny.
- calvmari, on 10/12/2007, -2/+47Well you have to admit, if it pumps out a random number, and it's tried by a large enough audience, then there is at least a *chance* that someone got it to work.
- flag564, on 10/12/2007, -3/+42Too funny!
The Keygen was a total fraud, and a bunch of flunkies lied about it working for them. And on top of that, certain tech blog sites ran breathless headlines about Vista being "hacked"!
All of them look like total tools. - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -5/+41Yeah I wonder how many script kiddies all went running out to try it once they heard about it...
- YourTechSupport, on 10/12/2007, -2/+37I'm surprised by this outcome. Even more surprised by people claiming it worked a few times.
Good Troll. I give it a 9/10. Losing a point for admitting it and not waiting to be called on it. - nizzy1115, on 10/12/2007, -3/+26did anyone actually expect this to work?
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20But how long until they fix that though?
- mc7winkie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18And how long until people realize to use the reply button? The world may never know. But me and Mr. Owl will be eatin' our tootsie pops in the mean time.
- phase, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15You could even make permanent modifications to the BIOS to trick windows into thinking you're on an OEM machine.
- AReallyGoodName, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15@flashmasta
Well yes it 'could' create a valid key. But there is 36^25 chances of choosing a specific key.
Given that there might be 1,000,000,000 valid keys available and that a computer might search a 1,000,000,000 in a reasonable amount of time, the odds are around 10^18/36^25.
36^25 / 10^18 = 8.08281277 × 10^20 (used google)
So the chances of the zNet guy telling the truth are apporximatly 1/8.08281277 × 10^20.
In other words anyone who said this worked is full of *****. - FlashMasta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14It is real. It's a really crappy way of doing things because it is just randomly creating potential keys and testing them one by one. You might get lucky and find a good key in 30 minutes or spend a lifetime trying and never find one.
- nickerbocker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12You can brute force anything if you had the time. It may take 20 - 30 years to do it but you could do it.
- BuGz213, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12works like a charm...
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12actually, it would be "cracker" not hacker
- jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -12/+19Not even an keygen will get me to install Vista
- xptweakerntn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7and to think all those people dugg it without even trying it...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Unless, of course, in the first trillion combinations tried, there is a valid key found. That's the thing with brute force. The possibility exists that it could be one of the first combinations tried...
- dacheetah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I was a hoax, so he's not even a script kiddie. Well, at least we don't have enough evidence to call him a script kiddie based on this event only. I have no idea how good this person is at actual cracking, or "script kiddie"ing, all we know is that he released a fake brute force vista keygen.
- nepawoods, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@flashmasta
"Obviously no one has ever won the lottery with the 20 million-to-one odds. Actually, people do it every single day. Just because the odds of your plane crashing due to lightning hitting it twice seems impossible that doesn't mean it won't happen. If you had to hit every single non-working key in order to find the working key, then yeah it'll never happen. The problem with your argument is that it is entirely possible that I could start the program and hit a valid key immediately whereas it is also possible for me to start the program and die of old age before it finds a working key. Improbable != impossible."
We're not talking 20 million to one odds here. Improbable != impossible, but for many things, the difference is negligible. Cosmic radiation could flip bits in my computer and turn XP into Vista (minus the bugs, no less). It's possible, but it's improbable. - Ramble, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Well, it ain't a hoax, but there are about 9x10^33 different possible combinations, so it'll probably take a while to find a valid key.
- Nocturnal, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11It really isn't always about money. Most people who do this stuff do it just to spite the companies. Most companies say "Our technology is hacker-proof" which basically is an open invitation to hackers/crackers/whoever around the globe to try and break the system.
- TonyCubed, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9He isn't a hacker, he is a script kiddie.
- grumpyrain, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Wow, anyone taken in on this clearly lacks an understanding of statistics.
Assuming a potential alphabet of [A-Z][0-9] and a 25 character limit, the number of potential combinations is
36^25 = 8.0828127746476406064313960045654e+38
That is a bloody large number. Now lets assume your data centre you just happen to have lying around can check 1 trillian combinations per second. Congratulations, you should be able to exhaustively crack it by brute force in a little over 25.6 million years!
Of course it was a hoax. The only way to crack it is to break the encryption, that is, you need to find out some way to eliminate a significant number of candidate keys. - dacheetah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I'd give slightly better odds than that...
For a start, windows codes do not use O or 0, since they are so easily confused. (Or at least of the several dozen legal codes I've seen, and dozens more illegal codes for XP, I've never seen a single O or 0)
That means our base pool is ont 34^25 = 1.93630125 x10^38
I'd also suggest that there may be a larger valid pool as well, they'll need to make sure they have sufficient keys so that they can easily differentiate between the 37 difference standard licences (Home [basic|premium][standard|oem|academic], etc...), as well as the fact that there will be bad (blacklisted, or otherwise broken) keys, I'd say they'd have at least 5,000,000,000 (not a big difference in the long run).
So I'd say the overall chance is closer to 2.58224282 x10 ^-29.
(or 1 in 258,224,282,000,000,000,000,000,000,000)
But unlike the lottery, you can generate these at a much higher rate than you could afford to buy lottery tickets.
There is a small, but real chance that someone will find a working key of some sort. - Canute, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6By your calculation, you can get EVERY Vista key in 25.6 million years, and you only need one, right?
So to get that number more correct you should divide it by the number of vista keys available.
- mobilehavoc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I find it ironic that with all the anti-Microsoft sentiment out there, people get very excited about there being a way for them to use Microsoft's newest OS on their systems. Actions speak louder than words.
- AReallyGoodName, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@rabidstrike
When the odds of a single computer finding any one of the valid keys in a years worth of computing time is about 1 in 10^20 (1 followed by twenty 0's), a distributed network of millions of computers won't help much.
In fact it still falls into the realm of improbability with even a trillion computers. - AReallyGoodName, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Actually it gets worse for the zdNet guy.
The writer at zdNet said he found 2 valid keys using this keygen.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=296
"I can confirm that the scheme works. I've had the script running on Windows Vista Ultimate inside Virtual PC 2007 and already netted two product keys"
The chances of him telling the truth are therefore (36^25 / 10^9)^2
= 1/6.53318624 × 10^59 (using google)
Note those odds already include the fact that there are multiple valid keys. - Tourney3p0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Learn math.
- grumpyrain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"So to get that number more correct you should divide it by the number of vista keys available. "
That is exactly right.
I can't imagine them bothering with more than 10 billion keys though given the worlds population (6.6 billion).
So
36^25 / 10^9 = 808,281,277,464,764,060,643,139,600,456 misses for every hit when averaged out. Even a 99.99% confidence interval concludes it is impossible to calculate it in a reasonable time on consumer hardware. But keep trying, let us know how you go. ;)
And that is also assuming they have all 10 billion keys active. They may only have a billion out until SP1 or something. - vampiregabe, on 10/12/2007, -8/+11LOL. Right so because you don't like the price of something, you should just steal it.
Ok.
By that logic you should start stealing everything: Clothes. Food. Cars. Games. Books.
Hell, you probably think stealing sex is okay also, except thats now called date rape.
You cannot justify theft, no matter how you spin it. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4But Timerstop keeps it from ticking down any of the minutes that make up those 30 days. Meaning, unlimited use without activation.
- ZombyWoof78, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@areallygoodname
You made my brain hurt - teaBagger, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I think it is real (though improbable) but the guy is suffering from a Microsoft driven sphincter clench...
He sphincter is telling him to run like Brave Sir Robin.... - dacheetah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"We didn't get any Shakespear, but we did get a King, uh, Steven King, the Tommyknockers, in Dutch, but you have to expect this sort of thing, it is after all chaos theory we are dealing with" (Roughly quoted from the Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie skit "What can you do with a large, but finite number of monkeys")
- l0g0ut, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4the thing you guys forgot is, there could be billions of key that could match microsoft keys, not just one key. your calculation only works if you're trying to find ONE correct key.
this is not a hoax. this is just a guy trying to save his ass from getting sued. - jepizacar, on 08/24/2008, -0/+1nice resource....
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http://jeniya.info - verifex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Did anyone actually read the code he wrote? It was just a random number generator. I did find it very hard to believe that this would actually work. He just added a couple lines of random number-letter generating code. I can't believe the bloggers and media out there didn't have an actual programmer analyze the crack before putting out a story about it. It only takes about 5-10 to find the section of code he changed. It was just a different VBS file that he changed after all.
- cquinnd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2 neoporcupine, the flaw in your argument is that these are the same people who are also claiming no rise in adoption of Vista by the majority of businesses either; since those businesses have other alternatives to consider.
- cquinnd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1One question I have not seen asked in all this debate and review, is this a linear attack or a random one?
If it is a random one, then the arguments about the time it is possible to take to generate what seems like a valid key can be taken more into consideration (especially if MS bothered to log the keys they have actually distributed so far; and flag any that fall into the "valid" range, but have otherwise not been sent out to any customers).
If it is a linear attack (starting at 0 for each key and working up) then the people finding a "valid keys" or two are also probably finding the same keys over and over again. Which is also going to trigger some flags when activated. - dagooh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For the first time it pays off to be lazy and not try stuff the minute it beaks the news.
Now off to not try the paradox crack even if it probably works. - FlashMasta, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6Obviously no one has ever won the lottery with the 20 million-to-one odds. Actually, people do it every single day. Just because the odds of your plane crashing due to lightning hitting it twice seems impossible that doesn't mean it won't happen. If you had to hit every single non-working key in order to find the working key, then yeah it'll never happen. The problem with your argument is that it is entirely possible that I could start the program and hit a valid key immediately whereas it is also possible for me to start the program and die of old age before it finds a working key. Improbable != impossible.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3you could do it fairly easily if you bring in distributed computing. something similar to SETI with a p2p framework. possibly piggybacking on the ed2k network. pirates all over the world could then participate
- Alfarin, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Fact> There are more than 1 serial out there; I counted at least 20 copies of Vista (various service levels) in a single Staples, multiply 20 by amount of Staples, BestBuy, RadioShack, FutureShop, The Source, etc. etc. etc. around the world, and you get the approximate number you need to divide your ridiculously large number by; which will get you your real probability.
Fact> It is a proof of concept, and people may get lucky. Just because you didn't get lucky and get one, doesn't mean it is "impossible". Improbable, yes, impossible, no. - Quadcore, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Didnt I tell you? Hah!
- FlashMasta, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Mark Twain
- dugem1, on 01/20/2008, -1/+1That's great find
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