Have I just found the motherload in the Windows 7 DVD?

[mrk]

I cloned my retail Pro DVDs to ISO images and was just browsing the directories as I intended to remove ei.cfg so that I could use the image on other machines around the house with their own keys and in the ..\sources\product.ini file I found something curious listed....

The sku SKUID=PRODUCT_STARTER,PRODUCT_HOME_BASIC,PRODUCT_HOME_PREMIUM,PRODUCT_PROFESSIONAL,PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE,PRODUCT_ULTIMATE,PRODUCT_STARTER_N,PRODUCT_HOME_BASIC_N,PRODUCT_PROFESSIONAL_N,PRODUCT_HOME_PREMIUM_N,PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_N,PRODUCT_ULTIMATE_N,PRODUCT_STARTER_E,PRODUCT_HOME_BASIC_E,PRODUCT_PROFESSIONAL_E,PRODUCT_HOME_PREMIUM_E,PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_E,PRODUCT_ULTIMATE_E [CMI] NAMESPACE=URN:SCHEMAS-MICROSOFT-COM:UNATTEND USEVISTARTMKEYS=TRUE USEWS08KEYS=TRUE CLIENTSERVERSPLIT=TRUE ANSWERFILEFORMAT=1 HOMEBASICN=MD83G-^^^^^-^^^^^-^^^^^-^^^^^ [B].....^^^^^^^^[/B] [BUILDINFO] STAGED=HOMEBASIC,HOMEPREMIUM,PROFESSIONAL,ULTIMATE [/QUOTE] WHERE[B] .....^^^^^^^^[/B] CONTINUES ON WITH A WHOLE BIG LIST OF ALL WIN7 VARIATIONS ALONG WITH PRODUCT KEYS. HAS ANYONE ELSE GOT THIS? EDIT* FALSE ALARM, THEY ARE JUST DEFAULT KEYS THAT WON'T ACTIVATE :P was not found

 

[Ross1234]

Lol fail thread.

 

[mrk]

Lol, shush.

 

[zetec452]

Lol fail thread.

Nice try OP.

 

[Ross1234]

On another note, does microsoft have some sort of database of keys? How do they check your key when you type it in? Does it just follow some sort of alogrithm?

 

[zetec452]

IIRC there is an algorithm for the key in which is validated against their systems.

 

[HungryHippos]

IIRC there is an algorithm for the key in which is validated against their systems.

The setup app knows when you enter a wrong key so it must be able to validate the key even when not connected to the net, then I would assume they keep a database of valid keys that is checked when you attempt to activate online.