To Activate Windows 7 on Toshiba Mini NB205

Because Toshiba Mini NB205 has BIOS with embedded SLIC 2.1 signature, it is easy to activate the netbook if the owner obtains an .xrm-ms file and a valid Windows key. Thanks to the Internet and powerful search engines, this seemingly difficult task becomes rather easy for average people. Surprisingly, new computers and motherboards in most cases come with SLP 2.1 capable BIOS, thus making it easy to activate new computers.

For your information, SLP (system locked preinstallation) 2.1 is the newest anti-piracy scheme used by Microsoft to sell more Windows 7 on OEM computers. In this case, BIOS of OEM computers have SLIC 2.1 signature which is unique per each OEM manufacturer. An OEM version of Windows 7 is installed on an OEM computer and contain an OEM certificate (*.xrm-ms) that should match SLP/SLIC 2.1 thing in the BIOS. In this post, it is assumed that you installed an OEM version of Microsoft Windows 7 that can be downloaded using utorrent, eMule or Limewire.

If you use the SLIC Dump Toolkit on Toshiba Mini NB205, you can find that SLIC 2.1 begins with the string TOSCPLTOSCPL00.

Now you can search for an OEM certificate matching your SLIC 2.1 data with the help of a search engine. You can use such search keywords like: TOSCPLTOSCPL00 2.1 XRM-MS.

Clicking on the fourth link in the picture above, you'll be taken to a page where you can download a file containing TOSCPLTOSCPL00.XRM-MS. You'll need to type a 3-digit number to download the archive 2.1.rar. Once you downloaded it, open it and extract TOSCPLTOSCPL00.XRM-MS.

Open a command prompt with administrator privilege.

Type the following command to install the OEM certificate.

slmgr -ilc TOSCPLTOSCPL00.XRM-MS

Now you need to activate Windows 7 with a valid Windows 7 key. Use a command in the following form to activate Windows 7.

slmgr -ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Some valid Windows 7 keys are circulating on the Internet. With luck, you'll be able to find one. The following are some keywords to locate a Windows 7 key:

• R6B6D
  

Matching an OEM certificate (*.xrm-ms) with a SLIC 2.x table

Here I write how to verify a Windows OEM certificate (*.xrm-ms) against the SLIC 2.x signature embedded in the BIOS ACPI table. Part of the information herein is taken from this thread in My Digital Life forums. If your BIOS has embedded SLIC 2.x signature in its ACPI table, view it with SLIC Dump ToolKit.






Open your OEM certificate (*.xrm-ms) in your favorite text editor, for example, WordPad. Otherwise, double-click on the OEM certificate and it will be displayed in Internet Explorer.






Find the line that contains a long string beginning with kgAAAAAAA. Highlight the part from kgAAAAAAA to the next equal sign =. Copy the highlighted section.
Find a way to convert the string from a Base 64 format to a binary format. I used an online base64 convertor at motobit.com which provides a way to save to a binary file. You can search Yahoo! using the search keywords “base64 binary converter” to find some useful online base64 converters.



Open the resulting binary file in a Hex editor, for example, XVI32. Compare the SLIC content (in SLIC dump toolkit) with the binary OEM certificate (in XVI32).






To learn how to compare the SLIC data with OEM certificate, read this forum thread.

Sample OEM Certificate / SLIC Matching

BLUE - OEM ID

RED - RSA module

ORANGE - RSA public exponent

Always: 01 00 01 00

GREEN - Windows marker version

Always: 00 00 20 00

PURPLE - Size of the OEM Certificate's licensing data

Always: 92 00 00 00 (146 bytes)

OEM SLIC tables for Windows Vista

I was researching the activation scheme behind Windows Vista OEM computers. Computers with pre-installed Windows Vista have a special license embedded in their ACPI BIOS, called SLIC table. This kind of a hardware-based activation scheme was designed to prevent software piracy. Nonetheless, there's a way to create a SLIC table in the BIOS with the help of software. This method is sometimes called SoftMod or just Vista Loader.

Using the SoftMod method, one can insert the SLIC signature of a certain hardware manufacturer into the BIOS and apply a copy of a license file (*.xrm-ms), then have Windows Vista activated. The first SLIC code that was leaked widely belongs to the (infamous) ASUS notebook manufacturer. After ASUS, more and more SLIC codes have been discovered and exploited.

Obviously, using a SLIC code that's spread and used widely makes it vulnerable to Windows updates that are designed to defeat circumventive measures against software activation. Therefore, uncommon SLIC signatures are better than the common ones. Vista Loader 3.0.0.1 includes OEM BIOS emulation codes of the following vendors:

• AMD
  
• AMD64
  
• Acer
  
• Asus
  
• COMPAQ
  
• Dell
  
• Emachines
  
• Fujitsu-Siemens
  
• Gateway
  
• Hewlett-Packard
  
• Intel
  
• Levono
  
• Medion
  
• NEC
  
• Packard Bell
  
• Samsung
  
• Sony
  
• Toshiba
  

Among these vendors, MEDION seems to be the most obscure one. Anyway, I found more vendor SLIC codes by downloading AMI_SLIC3_20080419.rar.