Solved OA 2.0 questions

[nommy the first]

Hey all,

I'm starting to get into Windows Update and Windows Activation troubleshooting again after quite a while out, and I'm currently reading up on my literature. Basically I just read the activation process of the OEM Activation 2.0 whitepaper and I have a few questions about it

First of all, OA2.0 is for Windows Vista, and not for Seven, since Seven uses OA2.1 (or at least, I think it does).

The whitepaper starts with explaining what WPA (Windows Product Actvation) is, and that it is an alternative for OA 2.0, which I think is weird. Basically this would mean that WPA (entering your product key to activate Windows) is an alternative to activating Windows using the BIOS information (SLIC Table, OEMID etc). Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Vista always activate via WPA? I mean, you always have to enter a valid product key in order to use it outside of the grace period. I've seen a few MGA's where Vista did activate using the product key, but where the SLIC didn't match; wouldn't that mean that Windows used both WPA and OA 2.0?

Or am I completely missing the point and does OA 2.0 also incorporate WPA? Since the whitepaper does mention that when it is not possible to use OA 2.0 it will divert to WPA.
But if this is the case; that Windows can change between WPA and OA 2.0, wouldn't that mean that you could install a type 2 SLP onto a different machine, as long as you can make the key work, since Windows will simply revert to WPA is no valid OEM public key is detected?

Also a question about WAT. First off, Vista does not use WAT, correct?
So after reading OA 2.0 I am getting the idea that WAT basically does what OA 2.0 does, but with .dll files installed via WU instead of the OEM public key in the BIOS (i.e. verifying the signatures). Is this correct?

Sorry if the questions are kind of obvious, but I've been out of the running for quite a while and I just really want to get back into this


Cheers and thanks in advance!
Nommy

 

[NoelDP]

OA activation is used when activating an OEM_SLP Key - WPA is used for everything else.
WAT was not introduced until Feb 2010 - after SP2 for Vista was released. It's only on Win7. I think the reasoning is that the SLT's for Vista got in the way of introducing a similar innovation there.
WAT does a lot of things very differently to anything that preceded it - for one thing, it phones home every 90 days to check for updates definitions and block lists.
You may want to read my notes in the VIP WGA subforum