How to Backup Activation in W8.1 and O2013 in W8.1 (Beta)

Discussion in 'Windows 8' started by heldigard, Oct 16, 2013.

  1. heldigard

    heldigard MDL Junior Member

    Jan 9, 2010
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    #1 heldigard, Oct 16, 2013
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2013
    Hi Guys, I just find a way to preserve the activation in W8.1 without know the activation key.

    Everybody here know how make a tokens backup in W8.0, but since W8.1 changed a lot of things, restore the tokens is not enought, so you need to enter the original key again.

    Testing things, I found were the key are store, so you need backup this file too:

    C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\RAC\PublishedData\wmi.db

    Then for a complete activation backup in W8.1 you need backup the files:

    C:\Windows\System32\spp\store\2.0\data.dat
    C:\Windows\System32\spp\store\2.0\tokens.dat
    C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\RAC\PublishedData\wmi.db


    And restore when you need restore your activation.
    I only do a few tests, you any confirmation of this is welcome. I will put this method in KMSpico backup and restore next version.

    Better method and explanation for xinso in post #7
     
  2. Puffingmad

    Puffingmad MDL Addicted

    Aug 19, 2012
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    :worthy:

    Good work heldigard

    Hopefully Josh will be able to add this to "Advanced Tokens Manager" as well
     
  3. Enigma256

    Enigma256 MDL Senior Member

    Jan 17, 2011
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    Um, RAC is used for Reliability Analysis. Recording program crashes and the such.

    Furthermore, it seems strange for important activation data to be stored in a place as insecure as %ProgramData% or for it to involve the WMI.

    Are you sure about this?
     
  4. UTDKING

    UTDKING MDL Junior Member

    Oct 26, 2012
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    Great work heldigard

    Hopefully this will help a lot of people & look forward to your next release of KMSpico
    I assume it backup all version of activation i.e. online(genuine) phone

    Hope you can confirm heldigard
    Thanks again for your hard work
     
  5. Enigma256

    Enigma256 MDL Senior Member

    Jan 17, 2011
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    Have you actually tested this?

    As I mentioned earlier, RAC is Reliability Analysis. It's a non-critical part of Windows, and it doesn't make sense for activation data to be stored there, in a WMI database, no less. So I decided to do a quick test of that: I deleted the entire PublishedData directory on my activated test system, and rebooted. The system remained activated, and the system was still fully aware of my product key. There were no errors whatsoever, which is what one would expect from deleting non-critical accumulated reliability data.
     
  6. xinso

    xinso MDL Guru

    Mar 5, 2009
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    #6 xinso, Oct 16, 2013
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2013
    On my end:
    Win 8.1 RTM ProfessionalWMC Retail + Office15_ProPlusVL_MAK (phone activation restoration with no keys)

    [For System in use]

    1. disable network adapter
    2. slmgr /upk
    3. slmgr /cpky
    4. sc stop sppsvc
    5. restore C:\Windows\System32\spp\store\2.0\data.dat and tokens.dat
    6. both activation restored
    7. enable network adapter

    [For System re-installed]

    1. install Windows 8.1 Professional with media center (default eval retail key)
    2. install Office 2013 pro plus (default gvlk key)
    3. disable network adapter
    4. slmgr /upk
    5. slmgr /cpky
    6. sc stop sppsvc
    7. restore C:\Windows\System32\spp\store\2.0\data.dat and tokens.dat
    8. both activation restored (with watermark)
    9. logout and login (watermark gone)
    10. enable network adapter

    Thank you heldigard for inspiration.
     
  7. Enigma256

    Enigma256 MDL Senior Member

    Jan 17, 2011
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    #7 Enigma256, Oct 16, 2013
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2013
    And what controls did you use in your experiment? Did you disconnect from the network to prevent automatic network activation? My quick test earlier in the thread was with the network disconnected for that reason. Would you have gotten the same result if you had simply rebooted the computer for step 6? I believe that it was merely coincidence that your system was reactivated after you copied the RAC data. It simply makes no sense for that data is used to generate the pretty graph in the Reliability Monitor to have anything to do with product activation.

    And thank you, xinso, for confirming.
     
  8. murphy78

    murphy78 MDL DISM Enthusiast

    Nov 18, 2012
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    It probably has handling for 8.0, but the 8.1 install key is blocking it until cleared.
     
  9. xinso

    xinso MDL Guru

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  10. Alphawaves

    Alphawaves Super Moderator/Developer
    Staff Member

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  11. Carlos Detweiller

    Carlos Detweiller Emperor of Ice-Cream

    Dec 21, 2012
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    Is that still under the "phone-activated" assumption? Or might it work for online activations?
     
  12. murphy78

    murphy78 MDL DISM Enthusiast

    Nov 18, 2012
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    #12 murphy78, Oct 16, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    Correct me if I'm wrong, but in 8.0 did you not need to set or clear the product key when you restored the data.dat and tokens.dat?

    It seems like they added another key setting that either needs to be cleared or changed for the 8.1 activation to be legit.
    I've posted this in the MTK thread, but someone sent me a regshot of before/after keys changed during online activation:
    Code:
    Regshot 1.9.0 x64 Unicode
    ----------------------------------
    Values modified: 29
    ----------------------------------
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Registration\ProductId: 
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Registration\ProductId:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Registration\DigitalProductId: 
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Registration\DigitalProductId: 
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Registration\DigitalProductId4:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Registration\DigitalProductId4:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProductId:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProductId:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId: 
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId4:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId4:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tasks\{}\Hash: 
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tasks\{}\Triggers:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tasks\{}\Triggers:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tasks\{}\Hash: 
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\ServiceSessionId:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\ServiceSessionId:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\LicStatusArray:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\LicStatusArray:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\PolicyValuesArray:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\PolicyValuesArray:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\actionlist:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\actionlist:
    HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\ProductOptions\ProductPolicy:
    HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\ProductOptions\ProductPolicy:
    HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions\ProductPolicy:
    HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions\ProductPolicy:
    HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions\ProductPolicy:
     
  13. kelorgo

    kelorgo MDL Addicted

    Oct 29, 2012
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    In my opinion, there is nothing new in this thread. It's been known for weeks and posted several times already that:
    1) phone-activated activation can be restored by just restoring tokens.dat and data.dat, but online activation can not
    2) if the product key is first cleared with slmgr/cpky, then there is no need to reenter the product key when restoring *.dat files (this has been the case since Windows 8.0)
     
  14. Josh Cell

    Josh Cell MDL Developer

    Jan 8, 2011
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    Not worked for the Online activated Windows 8.1 data / tokens.dat backup on a new restore on the same system...

    The wmi.db seems to be useless to be backed-up, since the same can be restored only with that two files (for the Phone Activation).

    We still need to discover a way to restore an online activated backup on the same machine. :(
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  15. warlordll

    warlordll MDL Member

    Apr 25, 2011
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    ive been using this method for past few weeks on RTM ive used the spp folder backup and then having to go into command prompt admin to the the slmgr -upk /-ipk to keep mine activated.

    1. Tested ways i tried was reinstall win 8 to get the back up of the spp folder.

    2. Then another install of win 8.1 RTM using the old key.

    3. Then doing all the command prompt stuff and if that didnt work i was using the slui 4 command to be bale to do the phone activation bit (ofc i got the install key while i was on win 8 at the time)

    What i found to work every time was the copying over the spp folder while in safe mode (dont forget to take ownership of spp folder as well), then doing the slmgr -upk to remove the key and -ipk to add my legit one. Had no choice to do this way coz i was at max doing the normal way unless i phoned up.
     
  16. warlordll

    warlordll MDL Member

    Apr 25, 2011
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    As i said in the post before this to get this method to work i had to use my legit key + the spp folder and if that failed i phoned up and got the confirmation code.