Monday, November 23, 2009

Easy Way To Disable WGA

The easiest way to disable WGA is to deny access to its files. Why? Because if access is denied for all users that can use this file, the file cannot be executed. Normally in Windows, you have these users:

‘BUILTIN\ADMINISTRATORS’
‘BUILTIN\USERS’
‘NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM’
‘NT AUTHORITY\AUTHENTICATED USERS’

The normal way to deny access is to use Windows Explorer to open the C:\Windows\System32 folder and find three files that WGA uses – WGATray.exe, WGALogon.dll and LegitCheckControl.dll. Right-click on each file, go to Properties->Security, click on each listed user, click on Deny All and Apply. But, since there is no Security tab, this can’t be done so easily.

Until now, of course. :)

Instead of disabling access to these files via Windows Explorer, use these simple command prompts:

1. Start->Run
2. Write ‘cmd’ and press Enter (or click OK)
3. Write ‘cd C:\Windows\System32
4. Write the following commands:
  • a. ‘cacls wgatray.exe /d everyone’; when asked if you’re sure, click ‘Y
  • b. ‘cacls wgalogon.dll /d everyone’; when asked if you’re sure, click ‘Y
  • c. ‘cacls legitcheckcontrol.dll /d everyone’; when asked if you’re sure, click ‘Y
5. Reboot the machine (Start->Shutdown->Restart)

http://www.overclockers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4299:wga&catid=53:editorials&Itemid=4259