Not long after the Pwnage jailbreaking Tool was released for iPhone owners using Macs, the Windows version of the hacking software emerged. Dubbed WinPwn, it offers support for both 1.1.4 and 2.0, custom Image, custom payload and support for iPhone 3G. The tool can be used to jailbreak / unlock iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod touch.

Since the pwnage tool for Windows users is in beta, it's still quite buggy, and presents users with a certain degree of risk, such as ending up with reset iPhones and lost data. The WinPwn page is full of warnings and red-marked annotations, some of which go a bit like this:

NOTE: "Support for WinXP and Vista 32/64bit. Note Windows 2003/2008 server (Yes SERVER) are not supported. Neither is Windows 95 or Windows 3.11."

According to the developers, as an iPhone / iPod touch owner, you should also note that:

- You MUST do a full uninstall of WinPwn before installing the new version;
- Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes ( Currently 7.7);
- WinPwn uses 300MB of ram at peak due to the ipsw being extracted in memory;
- You must first click browse and load an IPSW to use WinPwn (I thought this was clear);
- For 2.0 only the *5A347_Restore.ipsw files are valid. The 345 image will not work;
- If you see Failed to load image catalog/payload catalog, this is fine and won't cause problems;
- If you already have service with AT&T, do not activate or install Youtube Fix.

The guys at iClarified have a "WinPwn how to" for 2G handsets. Having had some trouble with the pwnage tool themselves, they weren't very impressed with WinPwn's performance on Vista. XP is a go, according to them. "If you have XP, this tutorial will work flawlessly," it is noted on the site. "However, reports are coming in that it does not work wonders on Vista. Winpwn has been updated to 2.0.0.2, hopefully that should fix a lot of the issues."

For the time being, missing features include the ability to unlock a baseband receiver, while the tool requires at least V. 1.1.4 firmware on your 2G iPhone or iPod touch. iPhone OS 2.0 is supported, according to everyone who's given it a go, on both iPhone 3G and iPod touch.

Softpedia doesn't condone jailbreaking / unlocking your iPhone / iPod touch or any other device. Using hacks may render your device unusable or may considerably reduce the quality of your experience using the respective, hacked device. If you choose to download and install the PwnageTool, you do it at your own risk.