To WGA Hell (and Back)!

Yep, WGA sucks. I nerver understood why I am the enforcer of a Microsoft problem. Microsoft needs to get rid of WGA.

You installed a unreleased patch and it hosed your system. It was not a patch that was published, it wasn't one you have to call MS up for, it was completely and utterly unreleased.

Of course, if it had reformatted your hard drive, you wouldn't have said anything.

Umm, maybe you should Ghost image your hard drive now and then.

@Sam -- Re-read the article. It wasn't the patch that hosed his system, it was WGA that did the hosing. Without WGA getting in the way, his system would have (likely) booted just fine. Furthermore, the patch *was given to him by MS devs*, it wasn't just some random piece of crackware.

@John -- Ghosting sure sounds like a good idea to me...

As the gentleman mentioned in an earlier post - you installed an unreleased patch, ummm errr, uhuh.

You seem to know just enough to make yourself dangerous to a PC - please step away from the workstation sir I'm about to install a Linux distro.

By chance, are you a Manager that codes too?

Gowan,

Some points of clarification:

1. The hotfix originated with the Microsoft dev team responsible for the affected area - specifically, the core team that handles driver integration, the driver store, etc.

2. The hotfix was provided to me in order to test a possible fix to a problem I had identified in an earlier blog entry. In other words, I was working with Microsoft, out of courtesy to their dev team, in an effort to test a patch that I would then recommend to my readers who were experiencing this particular problem (corruption of the driver store).

3. The affected system also happened to be one of my primary developer workstations. Since the problem had become chronic in recent weeks (it was nearly impossible to work with Plug & Play devices) I was naturally eager to see if their "fix" would resolve it. And while I had backups of everything on the box, the thought of having to restore the configuration was unpleasant at best. I don't use Ghost.

4. The reason the hotfix failed is that the Microsoft developer who produced it screwed-up when he forgot to sign it properly. It was my effort to work around the screw-up, using the steps recommended *by* the hotfix installer itself, that landed me in WGA "purgatory."

5. Had I any inkling that my attempts to implement the hotfix, per the instructions provided, would trigger WGA I would not have proceeded. However, the fact that two seemingly unrelated events - installing a hotfix and then modifying a boot parameter - did in fact trigger a false WGA response, and a severe one at that, simply proves my overall point for the post: That WGA is unpredictable and can be triggered randomly through the wrong combinations of otherwise valid actions.

Sitting here at my Mac, reading this story makes me feel like I'm reading National Geographic magazine. These issues sound so foreign to me. Sorry guys.

You are in desperate need of an efffective backup strategy - I never (and I mean never) modify my windows system without first taking a clone of my system hard drive from which I can 'boot and resume' - surely your experience is the same as mine - nothing finer than the satisfaction of clean recovery

Ok, can't there be any discussion of Windows without some smug Apple user addng their completely irrelevant comments? Keep out of windows discussions! All 6 of you!

Hey Dustin,

Don't worry - you will never have to install "patches" or "hotfixes" to your Mac. (And don't worry about what those big words mean...)

When Apple needs to "patch" or "hotfix" your Mac, they will let you know by making you simply buy a NEW Mac.
And a new OS.
And all new applications.

Isn't that easy!

David,

Actually, my backup strategy is quite rudimentary ... one might even say "old school" (I simply don't trust any utility that stores my data in a non-pristine, non-native format):

1. Maintain all current work in progress within just a few, nested folder structures on my local hard disk. Vista makes this even easier thanks to its emphasis on the Users folder structure.

2. Regularly (twice or more a day) manually or batch copy/xcopy these folders to a set of redundant portable media devices (lately, a pair of WD USB drives).

3. Keep ISO images of my entire software stack (Windows, Office, Visual Studio, SQL Server) stored alongside my backup data. That way I can re-create at least a rudimentary system on new hardware within a few hours of a catastrophic failure.

The above items never leave my person, and since all of the storage formats are "generic" I know I can always access them in an emergency. So far, I've never had this strategy fail me (which is more than I can say for some of the more "sophisticated" techniques I've attempted to employ over the years).

RCK

Randall,

Sorry to hear about the WGA disaster. Many of us now need a Giant Stuffed Unicorn as well. I've come up with a very probable sequence of events as to why the WGA servers went down.

Secret worldwide Windows Update issued via Automatic Updates (caught on my machine with a tool I wrote):

http://cubicspot.blogspot.com/2007/08/windows-update-updating-without.html

Followed by an overzealous Intrusion Detection System ruleset:

http://cubicspot.blogspot.com/2007/08/most-coincidental-event.html

(And you should feel proud. You make more updated backups than I do. Actually, you have the best backup policy I've seen in a long time. I used to use XCOPY but now I just use a Subversion repository - which I use more often than I did with XCOPY).

Remember Ubuntu's BUG #1 - "Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace. This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix."
We must use software for human beings not software which makes us feel like thieves whenver we use it whether genuine or counterfeit
People all ovr the world counterfeit software not because they don't want to buy software but because they can't afford the exorbitant prices M$ charges for its software by abusing its position.

In reply to Dustin - Apple often apply fixes to OS X. To date I have never had a problem. In fact the only app running under OS X that gives me any kind of aggro is MS Office.
In response to Mack - don't be so defensive. Just because we use a stable operating system doesn't mean that we'd ever mean to be deliberately condescending to those who are forced to use an inferior product ;-)

Randall

What you described is all too familiar to me
The acid test for your backup strategy is what happened to you with WGA - should be as easy as inserting a bootable cd, connecting your latest system clone - and voila - there are several excellent products that support this

I take the same attitude to backing up my unix and linux systems btw - I am a great fan of dd

brilliant. beautiful job, randall.

- rxc

I think some are missing the point talking about backups and images, or blaming randall for installing an unreleased patch.

The point is, Windows users, that you have a mechanism in your OS that is monitoring your computer for actions that its author deems "unapproved". Not "insecure", not "unsafe", not "ill-advised", but "unapproved". I wonder, do you know what actions are "approved" or "unapproved" on your computer? Do you agree with that list? How do you feel about Microsoft deciding what you can do with your machine?

Call me a zealot, accuse me of wearing a tinfoil hat, say whatever else you like if it makes you feel better; but I need no one's approval to do whatever the heck I want with my OS. If this doesn't bother you, then I wonder what things will be like in 50 years when computers are ubiquitous.

But don't listen to me; I'm one of those linux nuts. Uncle Bill knows what's best.

I have to agree with Alan. Ford can't tell me who I can give rides in my car. Microsoft isn't going to tell me what I can do with my computer. If they have a problem with my actions they can take it up with the police or lawyers. I'm not paying for them to police my personal life.

I think boingo was trying to be ironic. Since with Vista, you do have to:

Buy a new OS.
Buy new hardware.
And buy new applications.

This is really sad guys. Thank God nobody uses Windows for mission critical applications.

Everyone was warned about these things coming down the pipe, and everyone still drank the koolaid.

the problem with wga gies even deeper. Lets say you clone your hard drive... And say your primary hard drive fails. So of coirse you replace it then load your cloned system back onto the new drive. You will trigger wga. On vista anyway. It logs the hardware id of your old drive in its database. Your installation will become "pirated" by events outside your control. While I agree that microsoft has a right to protect its intellectual property I feel that it has gotten a bit excessive as of late... Just my opinion though.

Default: If we are down, our customers are thief's!
Awesome customer policy.
The Pot called the Kettle Black. Surprised!

Seriously? In XP you could change a few things (including the disk) before it pwned your face off. Or so I hear, anyway; I'm not brave enough to poke it and see what happens.

For a casual (windows) user like myself, WGA is a simple tradeoff between the desire to play games and the frustration involved in getting there. It's evil and psychotic, but that's just the price you pay.

It's unfortunate but true that actually Microsoft /can/ tell you what you can do with your computer -- at least, as long as you want to use widows on it. Welcome to the wonderful world of vendor lock-in.

For anything mission critical (or, like, even vaugely important), it doesn't seem to me as though it would be a good idea to put yourself at the mercy of such a volatile tool.

Can someone say Ubuntu....

Persoanlly I hope the boyz from Redmond keep it up. That will insure more rapid adoption of alternatives like Linux distro's as well as more resources put into FOSS projects. Go Daddy Bill go !

Gotta love WGA. Just one of the many reasons why I'm not touching Vista with a 20-foot barge pole. XP runs just fine for me and half the time I don't even bother with the Windows Updates, half the time they break more than they fix anyway.
Hell, I only run Windows for games and Winamp anyway, if I didn't play games I'd be a Linux user by now...

Apple and Linux users stay out of Window's discussions? Why?

The point is Windows Genuine Advantage is a problem. It treats the honest user, using their own computer in legal ways as a crook. The disabling the computer because it is an "unapproved" configuration, such as replacing a hard drive, is only legal thanks to bad laws out of Washington that permit disabling software.

Microsoft can continue this practice, but should be made aware of the fact, such as this posting in this blog, that there *ARE* alternative solutions available, and if they continue a practice that alienates customers, they will lose market share that more than makes up for whatever revenue they think they collect from identifying "pirates".

WGA is just the latest twist on the BSA approach.

The more they do this, the more they drive customers away.

Finally, if you must use windows, there are still some copies of XP legitimately for sale.

Gostak:

"...there are still some copies of XP legitimately for sale."

Not for long. Sales will cease in January, 2008, and Microsoft recently put out a press release in which they said they were running out of license keys for XP. Vista is the *only* MS OS still available for licensing and activation (not to mention WGA validation) as of mid-2008. My laptop is not "Vista Ready" so I have begun learning about Ubuntu Linux as a defense measure.

Sad indeed!

Microsoft needs to patch itself out of existance. Down with the evil tyrants.

WGA is what drove me to load OpenSuse and move away from Windows. The side benefit is that my home machine runs faster, loads images from the web faster, only phones home to check whether any patches are available, and gives me complete control over my own PC.

The more people move to the other OS's, the more likely it is that vendors will start coding apps for those OS's.

You people just have it installed wrong!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com/

"...running out of license keys for XP."

How can you run out of numbers? That doesn't pass the smell test.

"I have begun learning about Ubuntu Linux as a defense measure."

You may find your defensive measure a pleasant experience. There will probably be a few glitches in the road, but not worrying about your laptop being shut down should more than make up for it.