Major M$ W7 Mess Up - All Serials In Download!

[jamin100]

I brought and paid for Windows 7 Professional today from http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/

After i paid, i got redirected to an application download from digital river.

This downloaded a small app onto my desktop which i Ran. This in turn downloaded 3 files from M$

Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x86.exe
Setup1.box
Setup2.box

When you run the exe it extracts all the setup files to a folder called ExpandedSetup.

OK, so i burned the folder to a dvd attempted to install it in vmware. BUT the product key I was given from M$ didnt work. So long story short spent about an hour on the phone to M$ being passed around to different people when i got fed up.

Ended up looking in the folder at what was there. In the ExpandedSetup folder there is a folder called sources and in there a file called Product.ini.

Open that file and it lists ALL the serial numbers for all the possible versions of W7 including VLK's and Datacenter editions.

I attach a screenshot showing the list, obviously not all the keys!

I then got W7 to install with one of the keys provided in that list!

 

[GoCubsGo]

Whoa that is bad. I wonder if they're issued already to others or if you just hit the mother load of free serials.

 

[richard.mac]

weird. that would be pretty cool if they work!

btw its "bought" when you buy something e.g. I brought beer that I bought to the party

 

[jamin100]

weird. that would be pretty cool if they work!

btw its "bought" when you buy something e.g. I brought beer that I bought to the party

lol,

well the serial number from that list has just activated w7 pro for me

 

[atari1356]

What does that mean if someone tries using the same serial as you've used? Since it's tied to your computer now through windows activation, I suppose the same one won't work for anybody else.

That could be a really serious problem if those same serials are being sold in boxed copies and shipped out to people... if the serial printed with the package won't work because someone already activated it.

Going by the list you took a screenshot of though... it looks like it's one serial for each version of Windows 7?

 

[samcraig]

isn't it possible that all those serials are attached to the disk you got specifically. It's far cheaper to manufacture one version of a disk and then based on the serial # - unlock the features for that version rather than having several different versions.

It's interesting that you were able to exploit all the serial #'s and they werent encrypted or anything.

But like I said - it's entirely possible that each disc has it's own unique file like your .ini with all the serials exclusive to that disc and that disc only.

The only way to find out for sure is to find another person with W7 and look at their ini...

 

[ZachsMacDaddy]

I won't post it here either, but I did a search on Google for "Windows 7 Product.ini" and the entire list is published on other forums too.

I wonder if MS will blacklist them now like they did with some of the original XP VLK keys that were leaked/shared way too much.

This was a really stupid idea. Don't they KNOW that people will look around on the disc to see what they can find???

 

[wesrk]

This is not new, I know from at least earlier this year. These are apparently the serial numbers Win7 uses if you don't supply one during installation, good for 30 days until activation or something like that.

 

[VenusianSky]

This is not new, I know from at least earlier this year. These are apparently the serial numbers Win7 uses if you don't supply one during installation, good for 30 days until activation or something like that.

Yes, Windows Vista and 7 installs a "trial" key. I don't know if that is what these are for sure, but I would assume so. Microsoft does keep track of activations associated with every key. MAK (Multiple activation keys) are good for 50 activations. All other keys are only good for one activation, except the family packs which I assume are good for three activations but I don't know for sure. If you transfer the OS to a different computer, you have to call Microsoft to have them remove the activation.

OP: You could have installed Windows 7 without typing in any key. It would do the same thing (30 day trial).