LabRat 891The 2nd image actually addresses that. It even references the purposely vague paper on XP's activation, before XP hit official retail channels.

No worries though, the headline and body of most articles about this aren't terribly specific about that fact. (which, is probably why that image is there)

I still don't get it, is it that this really really really really looks like a legit activation?

The article is framed like this is an alternative to whatever official activation still exists or doesn't exist but this is still completely illegal and thus "useless" **wink wink** for any professional environment.

Some 20years late, but good work..

trsttteI still don't get it, is it that this really really really really looks like a legit activation?

The article is framed like this is an alternative to whatever official activation still exists or doesn't exist but this is still completely illegal and thus "useless" **wink wink** for any professional environment.

It's an alternative to 'online' activators (which seem to have utilized msft's own servers, in part), and an alternative to 'hacks / cracks' that otherwise alter Windows in some manner.
The way I read the description of the tool, it's effectively a self-contained activation server. The tool does all the 'work' locally, and using 100% 'stock' Windows XP components.

Which, for 'legacy, but critical applications' is actually really useful: It means you can activate WinXP on an entirely air-gapped PC from first boot, using 'official' media/image(s).

The whole 'legality' part, is (mostly) moot. (Not only would most 'for profit' applications have already had a license...)
Take a look at what Archive.org 'gets away with' archiving. At least w/ Archive.org (so far) we've won the right to preservation.
Windows XP is solidly abandonware; I don't think msft even offers paid extended support for it any longer. Meaning, they have 0 monetization, and 0 method(s) for sales to customers.

Now, if someone used this 'activator' as part of an "Independent Party's own monetization of Windows XP" (a msft intellectual property), *that* might garner some bad legal attention from msft.
(Example: Someone re-packaging all the SPs, all the updates, all the 3rd party and 'community updates', rolling-in this Activator and trying to sell said package.
My example given is more or less what 'Microsoft and Friends' (successfully) accused and prosecuted those sourcing and selling OEM Recovery media, on.)

LabRat 891Be wary.
If it's often-used, modern SSDs w/o TRIM will die much faster than on NVMe-patched Win7 or newer. How fast exactly, I don't know. But I'm not sacrificing a QLC drive to find out the 'worst case scenario'
(Note: I have seen some workarounds/unofficial patches that supposedly address TRIM)

My old PC still runs on XP, with an Intel X25-M G2 inside. It's an early MLC SSD from 2010, and at the time it came out, Intel actually had trouble convincing enterprise customers that MLC is a technology that can be relied upon. Intel had the Toolbox utility that had to be run occasionally and it sent TRIM commands for all unused blocks to the SSD. That's what newer Windows still do from time to time, but just to complement the TRIM that occurs immediately after file deletion.
I don't remember if other SSD makers had similar utilities available, I just suppose they all did, and they might be still usable on newer SSDs.

Also you mention NVMe-patched Win 7 but Win 7 knows the basics about SSDs right out of the box, including how to do the TRIM. No NVMe patches are necessary.

john_[noob mode on] How about removing the SSD every 3-6 months connecting it on a Win7/10/11 system and letting it there for a day to do it's TRIM?[/noob mode still on!]

Would a day be enough, though? If you do that, you'd probably have to trigger the "defragmentation" procedure in newer Windows. Windows would do what I described above, that is, send TRIM commands for all unused blocks to the SSD. Although Microsoft never clearly explained what their maintenance/defrag operation actually does and what it doesn't do.

Ferrum MasterYe, but Garbage colletion still did the job. So the TRIM feature was just a different flavor of the same. Maybe I missed something and GA is not present anymore. Older SATA drives had it, and no stress with XP or early Linux stuff. @W1zzard could you help with this one?

The TRIM operation is/was sometimes impossible on RAID arrays. That's why I'm sure even the newest SSDs can do GC in some form.

But TRIM is far more advanced than GC, not just "a different flavor of the same". It can only be performed by an operating system that has knowledge of the file system structure.

That’s the main reason why I gave up on x58.. terrible ssd raid support..

Ferrum MasterIs it legal?

This is a good question. There are some fair-use aspects going on given the retired and not at all supported status of the software.

lexluthermiesterThis is a good question. There are some fair-use aspects going on given the retired and not at all supported status of the software.

Tool itself should be legal as long as it contains no Microsoft code, even though doing this procedure with an illicit product key is definitely not, but equally unlikely they will do anything about it. Microsoft still hasn't - and likely can't - patch the HWID-based Genuine Ticket vulnerability in their current activation system, as every system which has activated itself by upgrading from Windows 7 during their official free campaign, and ever since really (this never stopped working and they never retired the Windows 7 upgrade free offer even today) intentionally used that opening. All it took was someone creating a tool for HWID ticket generation, and you see where I'm going with this. And yes, it works on all editions... even those which were not supported by that upgrade offer.

Instead of pursuing WGA for end-users aggressively like they used to, their lax approach focuses on getting people to spend money in services which are integrated into Windows nowadays, such as the display of sponsored content in the lock screen, Store purchases, Microsoft 365, OneDrive and Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, etc. - while keeping tabs on businesses which need to have their software licensing audited. Given that they have their OEM licensing fees pretty much guaranteed from pre-built brand name systems, it is likely more profitable than selling a single Windows license to that individual regardless of the edition, and overall? I'd say it worked.

Ensuring that businesses have their licenses up to date is where they really make money - no one wants to fail an audit and get in a legal battle with Microsoft, if they do so it's more than likely they will try to settle and pay whatever Microsoft asks for it before it turns into a legal problem: it has happened in my country, back in 2017, an university in Rio de Janeiro lost a legal battle against Microsoft over pirated copies of Windows 98 and Office 95 was forced to auction its main building in Ipanema (in Portuguese, use a translator) to settle a debt to the tune of 42 million Brazilian reais, in one of the biggest copyright infringement cases I'm aware of in Brazil.

To prevent people from willingly staying in outdated versions, they've been aggressively retiring software repositories for legacy versions of Windows, making it impossible to update or maintain them even if you install them somehow. This becomes an especially difficult problem to manage for localized versions of Windows, I've been trying to set up a PT-BR language VM of Windows NT Workstation 4.0 for nostalgia reasons, but getting the updates, hotfixes and tools for this OS has been practically impossible. I recently found a blog someone made in 2015 and uploaded most of the stuff that I need to find (such as the now-elusive offline installer of Internet Explorer 6) onto 4shared, which mostly defunct locker site at this point... I think I'll cave in, make the account and download the stuff while I still can. Even in English, it is not very easy to find all of the updates and improvements that these ancient versions of Windows need to be fully functional and operational.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Windows Update servers for Windows Vista and 7 were shutdown soon, btw. I would use that WSUS Offline Update tool and keep a copy handy for the future. Windows XP's is already mostly non-functional, you have to install all root certificate updates, newer versions of the update engine and also use Microsoft Update instead of the plain Windows Update... and it's still hit or miss, last I tried a couple of years ago.

Nice, waiting for a Win 11 one.

DavenAn offline trip down memory lane PC build would be fun. If you can find the parts.

Any old build with a modern cheap SSD would be a good experience.

I use IDE to SD & CF card adapters.

But the real trip down is with IDE and SATA HDD's

MSDOS RetroI use IDE to SD & CF card adapters.

But the real trip down is with IDE and SATA HDD's

IDE to CF I get, the CompactFlash is just a primitive form of IDE/parallel ATA SSD, but I haven't used a single IDE to SD converter that didn't perform horribly, to the point Windows 2000 wasn't usable on them.

Only problem, who's still using XP in 2023?

Seen this article on ARS. The phone activation method is still working in the US. You can get the new code numbers by text message to your phone. Save the new code for future use.

RadeonProVegaOnly problem, who's still using XP in 2023?

I mean. It wasn't very long ago people were actually quite cross with me for saying Windows 7, which is literally 14 years old and discontinued for over 3 full years is obsolete... I wouldn't be surprised if some people are still desperately clinging to Windows XP no matter what, even if things largely no longer work on their computers.

RadeonProVegaOnly problem, who's still using XP in 2023?

I have 2 retro PC's that still run XP. Still have one that runs Windows 3.11 for workgroups and one with Windows 98SE

Yep...an XP PC that is offline only, and a W7 PC that is still online but rarely used.
I don't run modern software on these and everything works great. :)

Are there many people still using XP nowadays???

me getting flashback when it tried to defrag my ssd . I stopt it emediatly

zlobbyNice, waiting for a Win 11 one.

Already exists and is stupid easy to utilize.

FS-nuclear bombAre there many people still using XP nowadays???

Lots of people who want to run XP on a retro PC, sure.

Eskimonsterme getting flashback when it tried to defrag my ssd . I stopt it emediatly

Lol yes, that was the worst thing people could do.

Useful for an XP VM for sure. Those things don't need internet access, usually and getting rid of the Activation nags without risking anything is a bonus.

Do I use an XP VM? No. But I know people who use XP on standalone offline hardware (manufacturing and PoS devices) and retro gaming is still a thing that modern OSes still don't get 100% right.

FS-nuclear bombAre there many people still using XP nowadays???

Yep, if you ask the question in Armenia, apparently. Honestly I'm not sure if those statistics are accurate, Armenia appears to be a peculiar case even considering the rest of the former USSR and other neighbouring countries.

trsttteThe article is framed like this is an alternative to whatever official activation still exists or doesn't exist but this is still completely illegal and thus "useless" **wink wink** for any professional environment.

That's not necessarily true. Individuals and businesses may have old retail or volume licenses that are still valid. Some have been used, but deactivated because the motherboard was replaced, or everything moved to a VM. Some have never been used. And people like me may buy a license from resellers such as KeysFan - that is, if we find one that still sells ancient stuff.

with no need for nefarious software cracks or convoluted workarounds.

Well if it's not an official MS Activation server then it is a crack or hack and they can't say it is not as that statement would be truly disingenuous on their part to claim that it is not

Ferrum MasterIs it legal?

Ok, having researched this further, the answer is a bit complex but can be defined and not to the liking of microsoft.
As a preface, the below information applies only in the USA. Other nations of the world have their own laws and it would be up to the people of those nations to research those laws for themselves.

First, as long as you have a legitimate copy of the OS, you have the right to self-activate. While some would argue that the DMCA prohibits tampering to circumvent product protection schemes, those same people in general fail to mention and/or recognize a persons right to use the product they legitimately own a copy of in ways not defined or intended by the copyright/patent holder, which is a statutory and protected right(can not be nullified by contract). Therefore, with or without microsoft's blessing, individual citizens have the FULL right to modify the software to fit the needs of their personal use. This same ideal does NOT apply to businesses, corporations or other legal entities not defined as individual citizens.

Second, reverse engineering is PERFECTLY legal in all situations and contexts. However, distribution of the knowledge gained from such activities can be actionable in a court of law. Therefore, the research that has gone into cracking the activation scheme for XP(or any other software) is legal and not actionable in a court of law.

Third, the distribution of said information can be iffy and a tool like that described in the article above can be unlawfully in certain situations. As XP is a fully retired product line and microsoft has publicly stated they will not longer market(sell) or support it going forward, they have very limited rights to how the general public uses said product, including various self-activation methods to render the product actually usable.

Finally, any one single person wishing to use the method described in the above article can do so without worry of legal prosecution as that is simply not within microsoft's purview or authority and never will be.