Tuesday 20 March 2007

System Builder Tips: Windows Vista - The so called Activation Workaround?

All one has to do is search for Vista Activation Workaround.

There are tons of people out there claiming to have a process to work around the Windows Vista Activation process to extend the "trial" period of the OS 120 days to indefinitely.

Alex over at the Windows Genuine Advantage blog basically debunks the workarounds based on the rearm and skiprearm commands.

He then explains the reasoning behind the supposed loophole in activation as a tool for us System Builders to make sure our clients receive a machine that has the full 30 day pre-activation period for the OS.

He even provides a command: slmgr -dlv to verify the activation count down timer has not changed after running the above workarounds!

Okay, so has anyone really tested the so called workarounds? That is, use the above command to verify the count down timers, or to actually run a machine utilizing the rearm & skiprearm commands?

Time will tell.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

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