@ carfal The thing with it is is that I didn't know if a loader actually works on your system and if it does under what mode. I have it set to the default which is the same as the default within my application. With it being a standalone workaround theres not much I can do to solve the issue without building a UI... How it works is rather simple, it's got a custom menu setup to load bootwin and all bootwin is is the original bootmgr. So FD-ISR loads what it thinks is the Windows boot manager when in fact it's loading GRUB and it's then GRUB that chainloads Windows. You could press and hold "R" right after the FD-ISR screen (you should see "_" towards the top left real quick) and try the alternative, older and forceful modes. By the way FD-ISR seems to sometimes corrupt tables which are used by the system. I mean for example... * Install loader & restart * Install FD-ISR & restart * Install loader & restart (yes again) * Activation will fail to work, restart 2x Outcome? Windows is activated but if you check via Everest the OEMID's are jacked up and you may have an "unknown" table which it's managed to mess up. The reason I think is simply because it's not Vista, that plus you can use bootsect.exe as long as it's the Vista version (which you need to apply to even install FD-ISR). @ Carl Latest change is one I have talked about as to why not add it, I'm not sure if you read that post but I will say it here too. Loaders are not the only thing to activate Windows by means of SLIC. There are drivers for example that can emulate a SLIC and if/when people start using them in auto-activating DVD's the automatic decision function of a loader application can be wrong. Next up is how do people then upgrade to a new version of a loader without having the application scan over the drive for any loader files which it may not then find (stealth loader in my case). And that could break activation as another author may not have used the exact certificate which this other application is then saying it wants to install. That's the reason I haven't yet added the feature although spoke about it for a while now. It's just not universally friendly and reliable come upgrade/switch loader time.
@carfal: Thanks, I figured that was the issue. I am glad it works well for you! @tuvi123: Thank you as well for the support! @LQQL: Thank you, I am very glad to know the new version is working well! @ShareAll: Thank you too for your support! @dAKTa: I know what the issue is, I was trying to cut down the size of the help file by removing some old images that were in there and some of the doubles. Without the help file, my app is only ~1MB...so as you can see the help documentation takes up more room than anything. I will update the link to O7A on the OP shortly to take care of the problem. I dont need to release a "b" version (ex: v1.2.6b) because nothing I have to do will modify the hash of the Open 7 Activator.exe file... Thank you for catching that! I will post a note under the link so you will know if it has been changed. @Daz: Yes, I understand that that could happen - the user could have a loader installed and my program will see the SLIC from the loader and think it is a BIOS mod... But what I have done in this release is just an "rough draft" of sorts (that is not to say the code is rough or anything) for what I want O7A to do on load. It will be refined to work better...and remember, the settings that O7A sets on load is just a suggestion of what settings the user should when activating their PC. Nothing is locked in and the user can change any of the settings that O7A has automatically set for them. I just went ahead and did it because it is only checking a check-box (the "Install Key and Cert only" check box) or selecting a "SLIC/Certificate" and/or "Product Key" from their respective combo boxes... It is not forcing anything on the user, or removing controls from the form like omdhar's does (which is dumb IMHO as you limit the user, and if something is being detected wrong, there is nothing you can do about it because options are disabed or removed completely). In O7A, the user can still un-check the check boxes, or change combo boxes and other settings, and do what they need to do. I wont add something that forces the user to then only install the key and cert if SLIC is detected because that would be a sh!tty way to do things. I just wanted it so when O7A starts up, it automatically selects the options that *should* work for the user that ran the program in most cases. Nothing will be forced upon the user, and the user is free to change things and un-check or switch things from what O7A set them to during load. I am going to improve upon it also: I am going to make it so it looks at the SLIC loaded up in memory and grabs the vendor (ex. HP). Then O7A will extract the certificate from tokens.dat and compare the vendor from the SLIC loaded in memory to the vendor of the certificate to ensure they match. If both SLIC and a certificate are already present in Windows and they match, O7A will just select the "Install Product Key only" option... If they dont match and there is already SLIC 2.1 present, O7A will automatically select the "Install Key and Cert only" option as well as the corresponding SLIC/Cert in it's combo box that matches the vendor of SLIC loaded up in memory. The user can always disregard the suggested settings though and install whatever they want to...nothing is forced on the user. I know that switches will work fine, but I personally don't like to use switches unless it is for an option that will seldomly be used, or for running the program as a command-line app in an auto-activation setup...and for my own personal reasons, you will never see my version of O7A with silent switches for an auto-activation setup (for making auto-activating Windows DVDs). Besides, if all of our loader programs did the exact same thing then it would be a pretty boring place, right? Hehe... I just like to try different ideas out. If people are having problems with what I have done in v1.2.6 then I can always get rid of it... I just think that when I get the time to do it, I can make it into a really great feature
HotCarl your O7A has become very popular! you did a proffestional job with this project! and I like your idea to extract the cert and see if it match the SLIC.. O7A v1.2.6 works perfectly for me on my Mac, and on all of my desktop machines. really great job! some bugs and suggestions: 1) when I click on the Help button, it opens' a window, but there is nothing in it. 2) I checked " install key and cert only", I intentionally chose to install cert that does not match my Emulated SLIC, than I click on the "Install" buttom, but O7A still report that my Windows is activated... I guess that it does not install the cert at all. because it show Acert cert whn in fact I chose to install Founder cert. 3) remove the old Lenovo key, all Lenovo computers comes with the updated key. the old key will be blacklisted by WAT, also there is reports that the old key is already does not work and give some "not genuine" messages to some users, or by WE. 4) remove the "Exit" button (it is also not in the appropriate place) instead add a regular "X" buttom and the top right corner. 5) the install SLIC into bootmgr option should be the last option and not the first, because it's risky and does not work for a lot of people.
the cert doesnt get over written. if you already had the cert that matches the slic table installed windows will only recongnize the one that matches....
@ Carl Of course, I was just interested in how you would use it and then expand on that For myself with having pre-activation support and stuff planned such as the stealth loader installer I picked to avoid the feature but with reason. As I'm sure you're aware having pre-activation while good for individual people to use on their personal ISO's it becomes an issue when that ISO is then uploaded to places like BitTorrent with these modifications already installed. Of course if the loader on one of these pre-made ISO's doesn't work in one of the modes then the users going to look around for an activation solution that does work for them and thats then when the problem shows up... Via the current method I first uninstall *any* loader found on the system before I install my own and then I will install the loader regardless of if the system has SLIC 2.1 already. Why I do it that way is simple though, the loaders SLIC should override the BIOS's SLIC just like it does for people who have had a retail pre-activated Vista and then upgraded to Windows 7. Now via the checkbox selection without the user being aware of what was already on the ISO it's going to install just the certificate & serial (or just the serial) which will have a failed activation result which installing the loader wouldn't have had (unless they needed to switch the loaders mode of course ). It's good to offer something different though and I can see where your coming from with it, I just don't want to have to remind people again and again that applications don't have to have exactly the same features to be good so while you do have this feature it's not one I'm going to personally work on but I will add other features. So it's not to say it's a bad feature, it is a good feature but I want to put my time into other things (this message going to others really, people who may haunt me saying I *have to* add something lol). As always though keep up the work bud, it's good to see a solid version of the open source project which has expanded so much and props to you for doing it with the college/uni work keeping you busy
@Daz: Thank you very much for the compliments. You are (and have) done a great job yourself... Remember, you were the first basically to provide a loader program that does not use any scripts, in order to provide the best compatibility possible with different setups...and your program is excellent. I have used it many times with great success I just wanted to try to do something a little different...and since my program provides no silent activation support (again, for my own reasons...I know that there are different views on it, but that is what I decided to do...and there is nothing wrong with adding that support if you want to, like Daz did ), I at least wanted to make the program a little "smarter". Now, it is not there yet...so don't go testing it quite yet and seeing if it will find the SLIC you have loaded in memory (or loaded via a loader or BIOS mod) and determine the correct vendor and Certificate to install... The auto-settings are just recommended settings at this point until I add the necessary code. I just added preliminary support with v1.2.6 to detect the BIOS "vendor" and set the Certificate/SLIC accordingly. Then it checks for the presence of SLIC 2.1 and sets the "Install Key and Cert only" check box if SLIC is detected. In the next version of the program, I will have the program determine the vendor of the SLIC tables loaded in memory (if SLIC is present), then I will have it either (a) parse tokens.dat and determine the vendor of the Certificate that is installed and if one is installed and the vendor of the Cert matches the vendor of the SLIC, then O7A will check the "Install Product Key only" check box while loading - so when the user clicks [Install] the program will install just the key (the newest key for the user's edition of Windows that matches the SLIC vendor will be installed if one exists)...; or (b) if O7A finds SLIC and determines the vendor, it will automatically set the "SLIC/Certificate" combo box to match the vendor of SLIC (and the "Product Key" combo box if a matching key exists), then O7A will check the "Install Key and Cert only" check box - so when the user clicks [Install] the program will install the matching certificate and key... ...so as you can see this is in store for the next version of O7A. With my time constraints it is difficult to get everything done I want to, but I wanted to release v1.2.6 so people can see the direction that O7A is heading in...and give them something a little newer to play with. @tuvi: Thank you for the suggestions, I will evaluate them and see what I can do. As far as the placement of the "Insert SLIC into bootmgr" option, I can move that to the bottom if people would rather see it there. As far as: "1) when I click on the Help button, it opens' a window, but there is nothing in it." that is strange...can you open the "Help.htm" file in your web browser? If you can, then it is an issue with my program loading the help file (which would be a first). If you cant open the "Help.htm" file in a web browser then it is an issue with the help file on non-english systems (as if I recall correctly, you have a Hebrew system correct?), and I will have to look into that further to see what I can do to fix it...
HotCarl fotget about "1", my mistake, the help files and O7A were not in the same directory.. I thought that I can run your program as standalone EXE and the help and keys will be there.
OK I didnt include the help files in the executable because they are so big...and O7A will run without them... So I wanted to make it so that someone could just quickly copy the .exe file to disk if they know what they are doing and just want to activate Windows... The keys.ini file is internal though, so if you copy just O7A's .exe file to a flash drive or something, O7A will automatically re-create the keys.ini file and use it... It is just that the help files are so darn big... (Also, if you copy just O7A's exe file to a read-only disk, if O7A cannot create the "keys.ini" file then it will default to it's internal keys list (which is the same as the list in the "keys.ini" that came with O7A)... ) I am glad it is working correctly. Thank you for trying O7A out!
@DAZ Yes, a while back I was chasing my tail there by trying to activate W7 using your loader. All modes seemed to fail. Unfortunately you dont have the option to install "slic in bootmgr" to test out. Thats OK. Om Dhar's loader did the trick and now HotCarl has "fixed" his loader so that it installs without effecting FD-ISR as well. Neither loaders provide encryption yet but im sure its only a matter of time. I think that if your loader provided the "slic in bootmgr" option it would give users another way to activate their Windows in case the Grldr method doesnt work as in my case. I think i've read in the past that your not fond of this method because of its inherent problems but from what i've been reading about the Grldr method, it too can cause issues with booting when an install goes wrong. Sorry this is just my lame opinion. I respect the decision you made not to include this option and in any event, if people cant activate using the Grldr method, then use another loader that offers the "slic in bootmgr" method as i have done. This is the beauty of different feature offerings. Thankyou for your support with my issue with FD -ISR.
It's funny, the file I have uploaded here is actually the wrong one and iv only just noticed now that I'm on my laptop. In my final version I had just 2 files, bootmgr and bootwin... later on I will send you a PM with a different version if you'd like to try. With the boot manager mod I have never really been a huge fan of it as it kind of requires a specific setup in order to work, it is an option but theres still another activation system I'm working on that should work on all systems with full activation status without modifying or touching any system files I wouldn't hold your breath for an encrypted bootmgr though, see with it being MS's own nobody has the source to work from so no fresh code can be added to support encryption
@DAZ Yes i would like to try the new bootmgr version so please, PM me when your ready Your new activation method sounds like another great innovation from you. Cant wait to try it! The encrypted bootmgr thing isn't really a big deal. I've said before that i've used the bootmgr method with Vista since the beginning of time and MS have yet to block it!
How can grub loader process my own menu.lst Question: I’m looking for an option/way to have my own menu.lst processed by the modified grub loader. Is this possible with O7A (some hidden option or loader option)? Reason for asking: I’m still using the ‘insert slic into bootmgr’ option together with the unmodded 0.4.4 grub loader. This works great except win7 gets unactivated after sleep/hibernates. Sorry for asking if this has already been discussed but you people are so friendly – I’m sure you don’t mind.
@HotCarl and DAZ Just wanted to give a public acknowlegement for all the great effort and support that HotCarl and DAZ have provided in helping me with my FD-ISR problem. HotCarl came through with a new "/noboot" command line switch for his application and DAZ has quietly been working in the background with me to help test a custom bootmgr file that he prepared specially for me and as a result may now work on implimenting the workaround into his own application. So guys you are the best as far as im concerned and a very big THANKYOU to both of you. PS I'll post this on DAZ's forum as well
Posted new version 1.2.7 in OP: *1.2.7: ---Made O7A "smarter" - now when O7A loads up it will try to detect if the user's system already has the required SLIC 2.1. If the user's system has SLIC 2.1, O7A will detect the vendor of the SLIC and set the "SLIC/Certificate" combo box to match the SLIC. O7A will also automatically check the "Install Key and Cert only" check box, since the SLIC 2.1 is already present, we only need to install the matching certificate and a matching product key (if one exists). This way we avoid the unnecessary installation of a loader file. If O7A finds valid SLIC 2.1 but cannot locate a matching certificate internally, O7A will check the "Install Product Key only" check box (and must assume a proper certificate is already installed) so that only a product key will be installed because we do not want to risk installing a mis-matched certificate. The user always has the option to click on the "Advanced Options" and install a custom certificate that matches the vendor of their SLIC 2.1... ;-) ---Also added various other checks into O7A to ensure that the user doesn't do something that harms their activation. So hopefully everything works well. I basically modified things so that if SLIC is present, the "SLIC/Certificate" combo box is set to match the SLIC. If SLIC 2.1 is present then the "Install Key and Certificate only" check box will be selected as well when O7A loads... If no SLIC is present then the BIOS vendor will be used to set the "SLIC/Certificate" combo box, but the "Install Key and Cert only" check box will not be checked. If O7A finds SLIC 2.1 but doesnt have a matching certificate internally, O7A will check the "Install Product Key only" option so only the key will be installed, as we don't want to install the wrong certificate... (and the user always has the option of installing a custom certificate in O7A's advanced options) ...so basically O7A *should* detect the best recommended settings for your Windows/computer on load...