The developer at the time revealed that the license key circulating in the pirated version of Windows XP was not hacked but leaked from within
When Windows XP was released in 2001, users were required to enter a license key to use it legitimately. One such key, 'FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8,' was circulated early in the release as a license key for free pirated copies. Dave W. Plummer, a former Microsoft developer who worked on the development of the Task Manager and other features, said that this license key was actually leaked, not hacked through OS analysis.
The story of FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8.
pic.twitter.com/bJoGGO5c9o — Dave W Plummer (@davepl1968) October 8, 2025
If you're not the type to pay for your software, you probably know this key. What you might not know is that I worked on the first version of Windows Product Activation, and this was our first major 'hack'.
And yet, it wasn't a…
Legendary Microsoft developer reveals the true story behind the most famous product activation key of all time — infamous Windows XP 'FCKGW' licensing key was actually 'a disastrous leak' | Tom's Hardware
https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/legendary-microsoft-developer-reveals-the-true-story-behind-the-most-famous-product-activation-key-of-all-time-infamous-windows-xp-fckgw-licensing-key-was-actually-a-disastrous-leak
According to Plummer, who was involved in the development of Windows Product Activation (WPA), a copyright protection technology for Windows, WPA generated a unique ID from PC hardware information such as CPU and RAM, which was then sent to Microsoft's servers along with a license key for authentication. If the key was invalid or did not match the hardware configuration, the installation was treated as pirated.
However, the problematic 'FCKGW' key was 'whitelisted' within the WPA authentication logic. According to Plummer, this key was originally a 'volume license key' provided exclusively to large customers such as businesses.
Because the volume license key was registered as a legitimate key on the system, entering it during the Windows XP installation bypassed the normally required activation process, allowing the OS to boot fully functional without the 30-day trial period or warning watermark.
by
However, this key and the corresponding special installation data for businesses were leaked onto the Internet by a warez group called 'devils0wn' five weeks before the official release of Windows XP. The pirates then leaked the key and the corresponding installation data together onto the Internet.
However, when Windows XP was released in 2001, the Internet environment was still in its infancy compared to today. Only about one-fifth of households had access to high-speed broadband connections, and many people had slower connections. In this environment, it would theoretically have taken a full day to download the 455.1MB of Windows XP data. Therefore, even if someone had obtained the 'FCKGW' key, the OS itself was not easily available for free from the Internet.
Also, because Windows Me, released in 2000, was unpopular due to its many bugs, and because the PC specifications required for Windows XP were high at the time, the leak of the key did not spread instantly around the world, but instead became widely known only among a small number of enthusiast users.
by Mario AP
According to Plummer, Microsoft later disabled this key, and the WPA volume license key system itself was discontinued in a later update, Service Pack 2.
Related Posts:
