WGA crash affected 12000 users

29th August 2007

Microsoft manager Alex Kochis in his blog commented on the recent failure of the anti-piracy mechanism Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA).
WGA complex requires a user to authenticate the legacy of his Windows operating system copy when attempting to download related software, such as Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player. If the verification test is not passed, Windows Genuine Advantage bars access to the requested application download page.
Malfunctions in the mechanism WGA emerged at the end of last week. Users of Windows XP and Windows Vista failed to download updates and additional components and legally acquired copies of the OS WGA sometimes detected as pirated and limited their functionality.
As Kochis notes now, the first failure of Windows Genuine Advantage was recorded on last Friday afternoon, and the problem was identified the same evening. All errors were already fixed on Saturday. According to Kochis, the problem affected about 12,000 users, many of whom had already been verified in the WGA to that moment more than once. Kochis also pointed out, that all rumors about WGA mechanism` full recovery no sooner than by Tuesday are groundless. Unfortunately, Kochis did not say about the reasons that caused the crash. He only promised, that the software giant will try its best to avoid such situations in the future.