Windows

Windows 7 M1 Reduced Functionality Mode Just as Vista RTM

The Windows kill switch lives on

By Marius Oiaga, Technology News Editor

16th of June 2008, 13:54 GMT

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Windows 7 Milestone 1 features Reduced Functionality Mode, just like Windows Vista RTM. With the advent of Service Pack 1 for its latest Windows client, Microsoft scraped the anti-piracy mitigation from the operating system, going back to the behavior of Windows XP when dealing with pirated, unactivated or expired copies of the platform. But if you thought that Vista SP1 was the end of Reduced Functionality Mode, think again. The kill switch has survived into Windows 7 Milestone 1 Build 6.1 6519.

Windows 7 M1 brings to the table the same limitations as did Windows Vista RTM. In the

original Vista version which hit the shelves on January 30, 2007, Microsoft introduced Reduced Functionality Mode to deal with copies of the operating system failing to pass the activation or the validation processes. At the same time, the company used RFM to cut access to test-drive editions of Windows Vista, time bombed and set to expire after the trial period ended, independent of the activation or validation status.

This is the case for Windows 7 M1. The first development milestone for the next iteration of Windows, which was shipped to Microsoft's closest partners at the end of 2007, was also time-bombed, and has expired. Passing the expiration date throws the machines running Windows 7 M1 into RFM. Users have access only to the browser and can connect to Microsoft servers in order to activate Windows 7. But of course that M1 Build 6.1 6519 cannot be activated. The operating system is approximately a year and a half from its finalization, according to Steve Ballmer which pointed to the end of 2009 as the deadline for the delivery of Windows 7.

Chances are that just as RFM was cut from Windows Vista SP1, the kill-switch will also not survive in the final versions of Windows 7. Release Candidate versions of Vista SP1 are also set to expire starting with June 30, 2008, but the operating systems will not be thrown into reduced functionality mode. Instead, the kernel was tweaked to stop one hour after the RC development milestones of Vista SP1 have booted, and present users an END_OF_NT_EVALUATION_PERIOD error message.

In contrast, copies of Windows 7 M1 move to reduced functionality mode immediately after the user signs into an account. The reason for this is the expiration of the test-period for Build 6.1 6519. The initial limitations can be hacked easily by allowing Internet Explorer 7 to connect to Microsoft, and then typing "C:" in the address bar. This will open Windows Explorer which will permit users to access "My Computer" in the Windows Explorer window. Here, right click on the system partition while holding the Shift key pressed and open a Command Prompt window. Just type Explorer and hit Enter in order to bring the user interface to life. Still, be advised that Windows 7 M1 will boot unexpectedly at short periods of time, even with this hack, making the now expired copy of Vista's successor unusable.

TAGS:

Windows Vista | Windows 7 | reduced functionality mode | RFM | hack

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