Ms - your security and activation servers --BIG flaw here on Cheap W11 Licenses

jimbo45 · Mar 20, 2024

Hi folks

I tried one of those cheap windows things ( €17 for W11 pro) --- which I was suspicious of -- I'm I think on the whole reasonable --I respect people's intellectual property rights ("on the whole") -- who'se never got a cheap ticket for an event without questioning it's provenence etc. We aren't all St, Theresa !!.

Anyway the package told me to run a .cmd file to "activate windows" -- not listing for obvious reasons

but the result was even with strong Windows defender and othe A/V chcks -- not a single "malware" problem detected -- and Windows activated -- not sure waht it was doing -- but found out eventually this whole system was based in N.Korea -- so those hackers are "Dangerously good".

I've sent the details to M/S but it seems they just don't care currently -- the reply I got was just for a minor reduction on a subscription to OFFICE/365 of around a paltry 2%. At that rediculous offer I'D THINK I'd support the N.Koreans hacker group.

Anyway here's the console pic -- not giving the command for obvious reasons.
l
Other than the MODS here please don't PM me for more details -- I'm happy to give the mods details of this or even peope like the "City of London Police" fraud squad -- but since nobody is getting "scammed of any money" other than Ms who a lot don't have sympathy for anyway I doubt if people care -- but intellectual copyright should always be respected at whatever cost.

cheers
jimbo

bobkn · Mar 20, 2024

Kim Jong Un sends his regards.

I've purchased a cheap Win 11 key in the past. A key was all I received, in an all-text email. (The MS servers accepted the key. Maybe it'll be blacklisted, someday.)

BamaInArk · Mar 20, 2024

There are plenty of "grey market" keys available to not have to take a risk with the ones that require some sort of activation code. With that said you can run Win10 and Win11 fully except for a few minor cosmetic restrictions so it's not like Microsoft is missing out much but not paying the full retail or even OEM price for a key.

hsehestedt · Mar 20, 2024

Jimbo, take a closer look at that .CMD file. It does nothing more than run standard Windows commands. It has nothing to do with N. Korea, unless you have a modified version of that file.

I not advocating the use of that file, but felt it important to dispel any FUD surrounding that project.

Try3 · Mar 20, 2024

You did not say whether or not Settings, System, Activation agreed that your installation has been activated.

Denis

jimbo45 · Mar 20, 2024

Try3 said:
You did not say whether or not Settings, System, Activation agreed that your installation has been activated.

Denis

Here you are

Cheers
Jimbo

jimbo45 · Mar 20, 2024

hsehestedt said:
Jimbo, take a closer look at that .CMD file. It does nothing more than run standard Windows commands. It has nothing to do with N. Korea, unless you have a modified version of that file.

I not advocating the use of that file, but felt it important to dispel any FUD surrounding that project.

I've got those commands

Absolutely not true -- there'some really sophisticated stuff in that "activation stuff" -- and remember I'm comming from a Linux background so cmdline stuff isn't a problem for me.

One hint though they use a lot from "AIO".

Cheers
jimbo

hsehestedt · Mar 20, 2024

jimbo45 said:
I've got those commands

Absolutely not true -- there'some really sophisticated stuff in that "activation stuff" -- and remember I'm comming from a Linux background so cmdline stuff isn't a problem for me.

One hint though they use a lot from "AIO".

Cheers
jimbo

Okay, clearly we have different scripts.

antspants · Mar 20, 2024

bobkn said:
Kim Jong Un sends his regards.

I've purchased a cheap Win 11 key in the past. A key was all I received, in an all-text email. (The MS servers accepted the key. Maybe it'll be blacklisted, someday.)

Happens a lot.

ThrashZone · Mar 20, 2024

Hi,
I've never used that type that needed cmd scripts for activation

All the cheap around the same price I get emailed a normal key to use hell MS doesn't even give you a activation key just the MS account dance bs.

Some say to use the generic pro key then use switch key if you need to inplace upgrade from home version but that isn't much of a chore.
godeal24 is one techpowerup hosts sells for windows/ office

This site uses a different one which I've never used this sites offering before
I did make an account but the price was more than godeal24 for 11 pro and office 2021 pro+ so I didn't use them.

Spring sell going on atm 36.60 for 11 pro and 2021 pro+ hehe

GoDeal24 Introduces Spring Sale—Fresh Low Prices on Genuine Software

GoDeal24 announces the 2024 Spring Sale. Spring-clean your IT setup with genuine software at fresh low prices. Get Genuine Windows 11 Pro at just $13.55. The most powerful productivity suite, Office 2021 Professional Plus, can be had at just $26.75. Better yet, pair the two for $36.59 and save...

www.techpowerup.com

Django · Mar 20, 2024

is it forbidden here to talk abt. activation scripts or its ok?

antspants · Mar 20, 2024

Django said:
is it forbidden here to talk abt. activation scripts or its ok?

It is forbidden if you're trying to avoid paying for your license.

Terms and rules

You must agree to these terms and rules before using the site.

www.elevenforum.com

jimbo45 · Mar 21, 2024

Django said:
is it forbidden here to talk abt. activation scripts or its ok?

I believe the point here is to make people aware that some of these "Cheap licenses" might be using or supplying pirate /unofficial copies of other people's (in this case M/s) intellectual copyright / property. Nothing wrong with using cheap products but the provenance must be reliable -- and I very much doubt any product like this that requires you to run a "stand alone" activation process outside M/s's standard activation procedures IMO is either illegal or certainly extremely dubious.

Cheers
jimbo

pparks1 · Mar 21, 2024

I just kinda wish that Microsoft would just make licenses for these OS's more affordable for people. I'm sure the OEM's don't pay much at all for a license, so why should consumers pay $149 or $199 for a retail version of the license.

Years ago, we had technet and for a pretty small price, people would get an absolute boatload of licenses for products across the board. Lots of people were more than happy to pay this price for what they got. I somewhat expected Microsoft to offer a subscription bundle that included a whole bunch of licenses for personal use....but other than Office 365....we haven't seen this yet.

hsehestedt · Mar 21, 2024

pparks1 said:
I just kinda wish that Microsoft would just make licenses for these OS's more affordable for people

I find myself having mixed feeling on the topic.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My views may be tainted because I worked for Microsoft for over a decade.

In my view, Microsoft absolutely deserves to get paid for Windows. Let's face it, the ongoing development and maintenance of Windows requires a lot of smart, well-paid people, and they are not doing this for charity. But some things that I have often wished that they would do:

1) Create a multi-pack at a big discount like Macrium does, or even Microsoft themselves with Microsoft 365 Family Pack.

2) Do something like Amazon does with the Kindle: If you allow an advertisement on the sign in page, you get a discount. You don't get the discount if you want the ad free experience.

3) They offer steep discounts to OEMs selling systems with Windows. How about a program where the makers of Motherboards can sell them with a license to Windows at a nice discount?

But here is where the mixed feelings come into play:

A game can easily cost north of $60 these days. Some really simple pieces of software might be $30, $40, or more. When I consider everything that goes into a massive work like Windows, even at full retail price, it still seems like a fair deal to me, especially when you consider that you can transfer that retail license to another machine if you retire the machine the license was originally on. Also, there has not been any charge for upgrades in many, many years. It used to be that upgrades always cost something, but now you can upgrade for free.

So, it still seems like a very good value for the money to me.

jimbo45 · Mar 21, 2024

hsehestedt said:
I find myself having mixed feeling on the topic.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My views may be tainted because I worked for Microsoft for over a decade.

In my view, Microsoft absolutely deserves to get paid for Windows. Let's face it, the ongoing development and maintenance of Windows requires a lot of smart, well-paid people, and they are not doing this for charity. But some things that I have often wished that they would do:

1) Create a multi-pack at a big discount like Macrium does, or even Microsoft themselves with Microsoft 365 Family Pack.

2) Do something like Amazon does with the Kindle: If you allow an advertisement on the sign in page, you get a discount. You don't get the discount if you want the ad free experience.

3) They offer steep discounts to OEMs selling systems with Windows. How about a program where the makers of Motherboards can sell them with a license to Windows at a nice discount?

But here is where the mixed feelings come into play:

A game can easily cost north of $60 these days. Some really simple pieces of software might be $30, $40, or more. When I consider everything that goes into a massive work like Windows, even at full retail price, it still seems like a fair deal to me, especially when you consider that you can transfer that retail license to another machine if you retire the machine the license was originally on. Also, there has not been any charge for upgrades in many, many years. It used to be that upgrades always cost something, but now you can upgrade for free.

So, it still seems like a very good value for the money to me.

I agree -- but where I think Ms have lost the plot a bit is that there are plenty of hobbyists around who like to test things etc -- why not have something like a "Developer's license" that allows say 5 or 6 Windows licenses - at a cheap price -- with restrictions that they can't be moved too many times -- otherwise you get the old "Technet" thing -- brilliant for those of us who had it - but not good for M/s.

M/s benefit hugely by "amateurs" testing things on all sorts of hardware --it's 100% impossible to test a complex O/S like Windows on every conceivable bit of hardware out there -- the fact that Windows on the whole DOES run on almost any piece of kit thrown at it must surely say something to all those "Nay Sayers".

I'm happy with Linux -- but I don't do gaming and really don't have any totally new hardware so that's me -- but I can see and appreciate the whole Windows eco-system problems. In spite of it all it just WORKS - usually-- apart from my main beef --networking is generally hit and miss.

Cheers
jimbo

pparks1 · Mar 21, 2024

hsehestedt said:
FULL DISCLOSURE: My views may be tainted because I worked for Microsoft for over a decade.

In my view, Microsoft absolutely deserves to get paid for Windows. Let's face it, the ongoing development and maintenance of Windows requires a lot of smart, well-paid people, and they are not doing this for charity.

I agree wholeheartedly with you. I too have worked for almost 20 years for software companies. I'm not into piracy. I feel there is a lot of great open source software available and when those tools are not sufficient and a closed source application is a better fit, I'm willing to pay for it. If I'm not willing to pay for it, I don't use it.

I'm not saying that Microsoft should give away Windows, but when a single license for Windows 11 Pro is $199 and technet used to be like $149/$199 for a bucket full of licenses for tons of products, I feel there could be a solid middle ground.

hsehestedt said:
But here is where the mixed feelings come into play:

A game can easily cost north of $60 these days. Some really simple pieces of software might be $30, $40, or more. When I consider everything that goes into a massive work like Windows, even at full retail price, it still seems like a fair deal to me, especially when you consider that you can transfer that retail license to another machine if you retire the machine the license was originally on. Also, there has not been any charge for upgrades in many, many years. It used to be that upgrades always cost something, but now you can upgrade for free.

So, it still seems like a very good value for the money to me.

Totally understand this viewpoint. I'm a supporter and user of Office 365. I think it's a tremendous value and absolutely worth the yearly cost. For me, it's an absolutely no-brainer.

But obviously i have encountered many who absolutely despise paying for a subscription....and I honestly feel it's because they end up paying way more in the long run than they used to pay when they pirated the software, or procured a crazy cheap non-legit license.

jimbo45 · Mar 21, 2024

@pparks1

I can't disagree with that viewpoint at all. (And "Confiteor Mea culpa" - I've used Windows at times when I have had a problem with a piece of hardware that Linux didn't want to know about -- debugging / analysing the windows driver enabled me to fix the Linux thing)-- although these days Linux is pretty good at almost every new piece of hardware now --but without those early Windows developers !!! Who knows.

Cheers
jimbo

RJARRRPCGP · Mar 21, 2024

pparks1 said:
I'm not saying that Microsoft should give away Windows, but when a single license for Windows 11 Pro is $199

Well, I happily payed for Pro in 2021, IIRC. It was for 2-hundy or near there. I got 10 Home in 2019, in the days where they said that Windows 10 was going to be the latest, LOL.

(But I didn't use the license until January 3, 2020, (or January 4th?) because I wanted to wait until a new build, which was my first Ryzen build, at the time, where a Ryzen 3 3200G with 16 GB of DDR4 SDRAM, was so exciting, along with my XFX Radeon RX 580 8 GB)

Guess it was excellent timing, because it was the year that Microsoft ended Windows 7 support.

MisterEd · Mar 22, 2024

If you look for a place to buy Windows 10 or 11 most of the hits you will get seem to be un-official sources because their prices are much lower that the list prices. Where would you even find an official source? If you were to find an official source I wonder how many people here would be willing to pay the list price?

I found the following at the PCWorld web site:
Windows 10 Home $49.99
Windows 10 Pro $59.99
Windows 11 Home $59.99
Windows 11 Pro $79.99

Is this an official source? If not, how is it any different than the other discount sources?