It WASN'T the update, says MS: Windows 7 suffers identity crisis... activation errors (tr)

The Register ^ | Jan 11, 2019 | Richard Speed

[dayglored]

Activation server fiddling on day of monthly update... really?

Microsoft has said that activation errors seen by Windows 7 users should not be chalked up to Tuesday's patch, but rather were an entirely different cockup.

Windows Activation Technologies is the Jiminy Cricket of Windows 7, chirping at you if it thinks you might not be paying for your licensing. Combining Jiminy with the Key Management Service (KMS) on Windows 7, as many enterprise customers likely do (even though Microsoft wishes they wouldn't), hasn't caused too many headaches.

Until this week.

A tweak to the Activation Servers saw happily licensed Windows 7 users suddenly presented with "Windows is not genuine"-type notifications from 10:00 UTC on January 8, surprising BOFHs already dealing with loss of folder sharing for some users thanks to the January update.

Even Microsoft was initially confused, before finally updating its known issues for the iffy update to insist that just because activation errors appeared to start happening just after the update was installed, it didn't mean that was the cause.

"The timing of this issue coincides with the release of the January updates (KB4480960 and KB4480970) that were released on Tuesday, January 8, 2019. These events are not related."

After a long day of head-scratching, someone at Microsoft had a lightbulb moment and at 04:30 UTC on 9 January, the activation server change was reverted, fixing the issue for many. Microsoft would still very much like enterprise users to uninstall the Jiminy Cricket update (aka KB971033) because it is aimed at consumers.

Borkage of the activation servers is nothing new in the Windows world. Lucky Windows 10 Pro users suddenly found themselves relegated to Home status last November.

However, updating the servers Windows uses to check it is the real deal on the same day that users get their important patches takes a special kind of planning. ®

[Bob434]

[[Only problem with is that it lists all kinds of stuff like software libraries that programmers use.]]

Yeah, that’s what confuses me- not sure which files to get

[[I just back up the Home folder as it contains all your config files as well as regular files like docs and pics etc.]]

Thanks, I’ll look into how to do that- I assume you would reinstall the os, then restore this home folder, right? Reinstalling linux is very quick and easy- so that wouldn’t be a problem, as long as restoring the backup home folder would reset all my preferences and customizations- I assume it would restore things like video card drivers too, right? Not that it’s hard to update those- but would be nice if a restore restored the right drivers for me-

Even if i have to reinstall and start from scratch though, with linux, it’s very quick and very easy- unlike windows 7 used to be- used to take me literally days- with all the customizations and windows updates, which were slow as mollasses- with linux, i can be up and running in about 1 hour- maybe two at most- all updated, customizations, programs i like back on- etc- it was such a nice thing to have it functional and updated so quick compared to windows-

[Pollard]

Yup, install new ubuntu based OS and restore Home

Not sure about drivers as all of mine have worked out of the box.

[Still Thinking]

True. Only 8 billion people qualify.

[dayglored]

The good news, regarding Stallman, is that I don't have to deal with him and his proclivities, in order to use his software. (Same true of Torvalds.) I have used GNU software since before there was Linux, and am grateful for and appreciative of Stallman's huge efforts.

I'm also grateful that his Hurd kernel never made it into production, thus giving Torvalds the impetus to do the Linux kernel. I don't get into arguments about monolithic kernels (e.g. Linux) vs. microkernels (e.g. Hurd). Rather, I suspect the Hurd kernel would have been a disaster had it made it to real production, given the lack of authoritative technical oversight that is endemic to the GNU world. Wikipedia offers this interesting insight:

According to Thomas Bushnell, the initial Hurd architect, their early plan was to adapt the 4.4BSD-Lite kernel and, in hindsight, "It is now perfectly obvious to me that this would have succeeded splendidly and the world would be a very different place today".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Hurd#Development_history

Oh well. Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer choice.