Users are experiencing lost functionality

Jan 24, 2007 13:38 GMT  ·  By

The Ultimate Crack for Windows Vista is a new workaround designed to circumvent the activation process of the operating system. The method delivered by the Ultimate Crack is similar to that of the Time Crack or 2099 Crack; however, unlike the 2009 activation workaround, the Ultimate Crack will only work with Windows Vista Ultimate edition.

With the consumer availability of Vista just five days away, Microsoft has still to deliver on a former promise to tackle the 2099 Crack. At the start of 2007, the Windows Genuine Advantage team revealed that an update to the WGA toll is under development and that it will address the operating systems activated via the 2099 Crack.

The Ultimate Crack is a combination of a download and user hack. It involves modifying the pkeyconfig.xrm-ms and tokens.dat files. Following a successful bypass of the Vista Ultimate activation process, the operating system will remain active for 180 days. Coincidentally enough, 180 days is the time period that copies of Windows Vista activated via a KMS server deliver before having to contact the Key Management Service (KMS) server and reactivate.

Additionally, there are reports that activating Windows Vista Ultimate edition via the Ultimate Crack will kill Media Center. The explanation is that, due to the changes applied to the tokens.dat file that is related to the version of Vista in use, Vista Ultimate is actually regressed in the activation circumvention process to Vista Enterprise.