WGA server outage labels copies of Microsoft Windows XP and Vista non-genuine
By Jonathan Schlaffer
Users of both the Windows XP and Vista operating systems have come to know fully the problems when the WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) system experiences a problem. The online authentication systems to activate copies of Vista and XP is for all intents and purposes offline, a fix will be in place by Tuesday. Those with new installations of Vista or XP are advised to hold off on activating their copies. [UPDATE:] According to ComputerWorld, the WGA Servers are functioning properly again, as of Saturday, August 25, 3pm (eastern US time) normal functionality resumed. So, go ahead, see if that copy of Vista (or XP) will come to its senses and validate.
According to ArsTechnica Microsoft is aware of a major WGA server outage affecting users all over the world. All new installations of Vista and XP may be identified as non-genuine and in the case of Vista may lead to reduced functionality. Phil Liu, Microsoft’s WGA Project Manager promises a fix and an explanation when it is squared away. He also says that Vista installations are not going to the reduced functionality mode.
If your installation of Vista or XP wants to contact the activation servers, say, after installing an update, it will fail. Avoid installing updates until the problem is fixed that way WGA won’t “phone home.”
Those of you that might have bought new computers with Vista and want to activate, continue using the computer without activation (you can use it for 30 days) and come Tuesday, hopefully the issue will have been dealt with and you will be able to activate the operating system normally.
You are also advised not to reboot a Vista installation that failed validation, keep it on or put it in hibernate mode if not in use.
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August 25th, 2007
[...] WGA server outage labels copies of Microsoft Windows XP and Vista non-genuine » This Summary is from an article posted at VISTA.BLORGE.com on Saturday, August 25, 2007 This [...]
August 26th, 2007
Ouch, this is sad.
Now, I’m strictly a Linux user so I’d just roll my eyes but still, an issue like this would be really problematic for many businesses and services which rely heavily on Vista.
I just hope that MS will take measures to prevent this from occurring in the future. Otherwise, it’d only piss off many users who have stuck with Windows for years as well as those who have shelled out plenty of dough for Vista.