Legendary Microsoft developer reveals the true story behind the most famous product activation key of all time — infamous Windows XP 'FCKGW' licensing key was actually 'a disastrous leak'

The legendary Microsoft developer behind Task Manager, ZIP folders, and Windows Product Activation (WPA) has revealed the true story behind FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8. Some of you oldsters out there might be familiar with this code, but even if not, it is probably recognizable as some kind of software key. This garbled alphanumeric string actually represents the first valid Windows XP volume licensing key that fell into the hands of software pirates. Now, Dave W. Plummer has taken to X to confirm it was “a disastrous leak,” rather than a clever hack.

Plummer knows quite a lot about WPA, which debuted alongside Windows XP in 2001, as he played a key role in its early development during his time at Microsoft. Specifically, the seasoned Windows software engineer worked on how WPA generated hardware IDs and validated product keys. This system represented a big change compared to how prior Windows keys worked.

Due to its cunning mating of software and hardware IDs, WPA would have been a significant barrier to illegitimate copying and redistribution of Windows XP. Except for one thing… As Plummer reveals in his post, this infamous license key was leaked, famously by the warez group ‘devils0wn’, five weeks before the official release of this seminal version of Windows.

“FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 was whitelisted in XP's activation logic”

“WPA worked by generating a hardware ID from your CPU, RAM, and other components, then sending it to Microsoft alongside your product key for validation. A mismatched or suspicious key would flag the install as pirated,” explains Plummer on X. “But as a legitimate VLK, FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 was whitelisted in XP's activation logic—it told the system, ‘This is corporate volume licensing; no need to phone home.’ During installation, users selected the ‘Yes, I have a product key’ option, entered the code, and WPA simply... skipped the activation prompt.” Oops.

Microsoft must have decided that providing trusted big customers a VLK key and special media was ‘fine,’ but perhaps it hadn’t weighed the risks properly. As indicated above, the infamous key became common l33t knowledge - even before Windows XP hit retail. Moreover, warez groups got their hands on the ‘special media’ ahead of public release, too. "The FCKGW key was a valid volume licensing key, so all you needed was special volume media to go with it. Eventually, they were bundled and put online by pirates," he explains.

Retro enthusiasts can still use this infamous key to get XP running on an old system or VM. It will furnish you with a machine without any 30-day timer or activation watermarks. However, Plummer warns that FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 was blacklisted years ago. VLKs were removed in SP2 and later. Those interested in XP shenanigans might also want one of the later versions, like SP3, for its stability and driver support.

In 2001, it would have taken most web surfers a full day to download Windows XP

At the time of the key and install media leak, broadband was still in its early adoption phase, with only about 1-in-5 households using this new-fangled always-on connection to the internet.

With a 56K modem, it would theoretically take you a full 24 hours to download the 455.1MB warez release of 'pre-activated' XP, before you could burn it to a CD. Enthusiasts would be more likely to have ADSL, though, and with a modest 512K line, the Windows XP VLK install ISO image could be yours in about two hours.

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