Neo-Desktop/WindowsXPKg: Keygen for Windows XP (opens in new tab)

The creation of a keygen, which doesn't require any modifications to the original software, is mainly for the challenge of doing so, and now that XP is out of support, historical/archival purposes.

jeroenhd3y ago· 2 in thread

This can't possibly work, there's not a single line of code in there that plays those sweet mod tunes that every good keygen plays when you start it.

All kidding aside, this looks like a fork or reimplementation for the tool that got popular recently, based on a blog post from a few years back.

IntelMiner3y ago

I've been setting up a WinXP PC for old games (Command & Conquers, etc) and re-discovered the "Fighting 4 FUN" multi-keygens (hundreds of EA games in a single 100KB-ish keygen)

The music is delightful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE2uyF4PzNI

ztgasdf3y ago

Classic. I think the latest multikeygen had 214 games? It's the largest one in the my collection. Fun fact, the older iterations of the keygen had different music![0]

[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwWB4TbGUCo

userbinator3y ago· 2 in thread

The private key was small but I suppose it was considered adequate at the time of release; it was cracked a long time ago (late 2009 was when I first learned of it) and an earlier keygen exists. Stuff like this tends to remain private/hard-to-discover, but I'm not surprised to see it publicised now.

Here's some more details:

https://sabah.forumotion.com/t333-all-you-need-to-know-about...

The key phrase is at the end: "Therefore, the complexity of computing the private key k is O(2^31)"

miles3y ago

That forum post is an uncredited reprint of the years-earlier MSKey Readme[1], a brief history of which I've outlined in the first footnote on this blog post[2].

[1] https://bbs.kanxue.com/thread-10032.htm

[2] https://tinyapps.org/blog/202304230700_xp_wpa.html

technion3y ago

It's so odd to me that people are trying to RE an executable here. Like if I cracked a crypto system just for community credit I'd rather blog the algorithm than release a closed source executable. Seems to happen a lot in these cracking communities though.

2 more replies

gnabgib3y ago· 1 in thread

Seems to be a fork of the original https://github.com/TheMCHK/WindowsXPKg

miles3y ago

Even that is apparently not the original; see Endermanch's Actual creator of XP Keygen / Future of XP Key Generation https://github.com/TheMCHK/WindowsXPKg/issues/5 .

cat_plus_plus3y ago

POSReady 2009 is lighter, has more updates and is volume activated, so a cleaner option all around.

irusensei3y ago

Does it comes with a catchy tracker soundtrack?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

31 comments

22 comments · 7 top-level

esalman3y ago· 7 in thread

I reinstalled XP so many times back in the day that I still have an installation key memorized.

baobrien3y ago

FJG2V-CDW3P-K7BKD-89FCT-GM6MY

doix3y ago

DQTHH-4PG4W-TMYYF-W77VV-PR8HD

ahmedbodi3y ago

that's the one I used too

2Gkashmiri3y ago

H7c97-c67jb-g6rqr-p6hwy-tmq6w

Dwedit3y ago

FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8

6 more replies

AmVess3y ago

LOL, that's the one.

esalman3y ago

cgj2m-cftxy-w4rbj-bwtgb-vh2cb

RobotToaster3y ago· 3 in thread

Wasn't the XP source code leaked some time ago?

Couldn't someone just modify it to remove the key check?

junon3y ago

This implies you can build it. I've not seen the leak but I doubt it's complete enough to perform a full, working build.

userbinator3y ago

It can be built: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24640878

1 more reply

userbinator3y ago

Yes and yes (even without the source code) --- after all, cracks did exist for XP (and every version of Windows before and after it.)

The creation of a keygen, which doesn't require any modifications to the original software, is mainly for the challenge of doing so, and now that XP is out of support, historical/archival purposes.

jeroenhd3y ago· 2 in thread

This can't possibly work, there's not a single line of code in there that plays those sweet mod tunes that every good keygen plays when you start it.

All kidding aside, this looks like a fork or reimplementation for the tool that got popular recently, based on a blog post from a few years back.

IntelMiner3y ago

I've been setting up a WinXP PC for old games (Command & Conquers, etc) and re-discovered the "Fighting 4 FUN" multi-keygens (hundreds of EA games in a single 100KB-ish keygen)

The music is delightful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE2uyF4PzNI

ztgasdf3y ago

Classic. I think the latest multikeygen had 214 games? It's the largest one in the my collection. Fun fact, the older iterations of the keygen had different music![0]

[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwWB4TbGUCo

userbinator3y ago· 2 in thread

Here's some more details:

https://sabah.forumotion.com/t333-all-you-need-to-know-about...

The key phrase is at the end: "Therefore, the complexity of computing the private key k is O(2^31)"

miles3y ago

That forum post is an uncredited reprint of the years-earlier MSKey Readme[1], a brief history of which I've outlined in the first footnote on this blog post[2].

[1] https://bbs.kanxue.com/thread-10032.htm

[2] https://tinyapps.org/blog/202304230700_xp_wpa.html

technion3y ago

2 more replies

gnabgib3y ago· 1 in thread

Seems to be a fork of the original https://github.com/TheMCHK/WindowsXPKg

miles3y ago

Even that is apparently not the original; see Endermanch's Actual creator of XP Keygen / Future of XP Key Generation https://github.com/TheMCHK/WindowsXPKg/issues/5 .

cat_plus_plus3y ago

POSReady 2009 is lighter, has more updates and is volume activated, so a cleaner option all around.

irusensei3y ago

Does it comes with a catchy tracker soundtrack?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse