re can i change licensed to data in windows in b b c vms csd mu edu a dubinski vms csd mu edu writes ahh yes this is a fun topic no once the name is incribed on the disk that is it it is encoded not even a hex editor will find it you can but a disk compare utility old versus new will and windows is also flexible enough at install time that you can copy all the files onto your hard disk which greatly speeds things up and makes them less annoying if you can spare the or so compressed megs write over the licensed to but you can t change the name underneth it i think if you wish to change this you would have to be a pirate and we re not going to promote that here no we re not but we re also not going to promote pandering to corporate paranoia when the real issue is convenience i don t like dealing with floppies personally i have no use for changing the registration info but i see it as a valid need and one that ought to be solved using a quick little utility rather than a half hour reinstall that s just about guaranteed to mess up your settings in one way or another so while i m not going to put much time into it myself here s the procedure for getting on your way to finding the encoded information copy all your windows disks into the directory from which you want to install it i ve been using c winstall myself from there copy that directory to something like c winorig install from c winstall comp the two directories to determine changes i e comp winorig report txt look in the report file for the file s that change assuming they didn t cover themselves covering their own tracks at least one file should have a difference noted at a particular offset locate said offset in the original directory and see what s there using a hex editor and do the same for the modified one you re on your own as far as breaking the code goes i don t really do cryptography it s probably just an xor key or something i think ms is more concerned with joe schmoe at the office personalizing his copy than with real pirates who will probably just disassemble the damned thing anyway this technique should work with just about any obnoxious corporate product that tries to write to the original floppies when you install in some extreme cases you may not be able to back the floppies up to hard disk and will be stuck doing a compare on floppies lotus stuff is probably like that as i noted before if you can afford the space on the hard disk and don t do much in the way of customization reinstalling from one directory to another may be less arduous doing some of the stuff i ve mentioned here may well void your license with microsoft as if they d ever find out if you aren t careful with the disk editor you could also mung something important duh i guess that s a disclaimer have at it rob rob kudla acm rpi edu keywords oldfield jane s leather yes win phish light blue right bondage r e m dtp steely dan ds fnm owl genesis in the spaceship the silver spaceship the lion takes control
