Nurmaki

Microsoft is rendering pirated perfectly genuine copies of Windows 7 if users have installed Multilingual User Interface packs on SKUs of the operating system without MUI capabilities. According to the Redmond company, customers running Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Home Basic that installed a language pack different than the default language of the OS will receive non-genuine warnings when attempting to install updates, or deploy files from the Microsoft Download Center. At the same time, the validation process would also fail, the company informed.


“You may receive the following message: ‘This copy of Windows is not Genuine.’ Additionally, the non-genuine warnings that you receive in Windows may contain one of these validation error codes: 1699978131, 1571607440, 757834664, 228668481,” the company said.

This will happen even if customers acquired a genuine copy of Windows 7. Essentially, Windows 7 editions other than Enterprise and Ultimate that have MUI packs installed will be identified as pirated by Microsoft. “This issue can occur when the following conditions are true: Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packs are installed that provide additional display languages in the operating system. The Windows 7 edition that is installed on the computer is Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, or Professional edition,” Microsoft said.

If you ask me, the move is an error of judgment on Microsoft’s behalf that will only alienate users. Some customers have acquired Windows 7-preloaded computers from a market different than their own, most probably because the PC is considerably cheaper than in their native country. However, pre-installed copies of Windows 7, with the exception of Enterprise and Ultimate, come in localized versions, and Microsoft doesn’t permit users to change the language.

Third-party solutions such as Vistalizator emerged to enable end users to perform what should be a simple task, namely change the language in Windows 7. Microsoft should restrict the number of languages it allows Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Home Basic users to change, or charge them for additional languages, but not detect their genuine platform as pirated, just because they installed an MUI pack, which, with a bit of effort, they can download straight from Microsoft for free.

“Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packs require a license to be used and are available only for Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 7 Enterprise editions. If these language files are present on another edition of Windows 7, genuine technologies will detect tampering on the system and display the non-genuine warnings,” Microsoft added.



(From my RocketPost blog software)