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Microsoft is blaming a server error for inadvertently labeling legitimate copies of Windows XP and Vista as pirated software. Thousands of users found their purchased copies of Windows labeled as pirated software by Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage validation system over the weekend.
Any Vista system fingered by the malfunctioning server was stripped of features, including the Aero graphical interface and DirectX support.
After the issue cropped up, Microsoft's WGA program manager, Phil Liu, posted a note to the WGA forums announcing a fix, though the cause of the issue remains a mystery.
If you were hit by the glitch, head to the WGA site and click the “Validation Now” link to restore your copy of Windows to full functionality.
Understandably customers were somewhat miffed at the disruption and the WGA forums are littered with irate posts we can't reprint here. Still, it seems somewhat remarkable — if WGA is relying on a centralized server set up, as it appears it is — that this hasn't happened before.
And perhaps the WGA team should consider setting up a better way for customers to respond to potential outages and invalidation, something a bit more sophisticated than forum posts seems like a good idea.
