Cnet news is reporting that Researcher Debasis Mohanty (bio) has posted a full explanation on how to bypass Microsofts WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) Check.
A quick search on Google returned this post, originally submitted to the Full Disclosure mailing list, titled "Defeating Microsoft WGA Validation Check". Microsoft replied to Mohanty in an email stating "The generated code is partly made up of a timestamp, which would prevent use after a short period". Further testing by Mohanty returned a different result; "However, I checked this on a pirated copy of Windows XP Pro and installed couple of public beta products and tools for testing purpose. They are still up and running since past 1.5 months."
In a response to Cnet, an unnamed representative from Microsoft maintained that this posed "very little threat to Microsoft". The WGA check tool, which is downloaded to the computer and executed is still in testing and won"t be fully implemented until around the middle of this year. After that date all Windows 2000 & XP users will be required to "validate" their copy, before downloading anything from Microsofts websites.
WGA was added to the Microsoft Download Center late last year, and does not require Windows XP to be activated. Microsoft has not yet responded to Neowin on this issue, but we"ll be keeping our eyes & ears on the ground for any more developments to this story.