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Registry hack enables continued updates for Windows XP

Topic: Security

Registry hack enables continued updates for Windows XP

Summary: A single registry setting makes Windows Update think your XP system is Windows XP POSReady, which will receive updates for another five years.

Larry Seltzer
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TOPICS: Security, Windows
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As reported by Wayne Williams at Betanews and confirmed by us, a simple registry hack to a Windows XP system tricks Windows Update into providing updates for it.

Williams says that the hack, included just below, makes the system look like Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 which will continue to receive updated until April 9, 2019.

To apply the hack, create a text file with a .reg extension and the contents below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady] 
"Installed"=dword:00000001

Run it by double-clicking in Windows Explorer. After this is done, if you run Windows Update, it will find several updates, as illustrated in this screen capture:

WinXP.POSReady
(Image: ZDNet/CBS Interactive)

The screen capture is from our own tests, which appear to work. Notice that two of the displayed updates are for WEPOS (Windows Embedded Point of Service) and Windows POSReady 2009. The others are for Windows Server 2003, which runs the same kernel and many other components as Windows XP.

This specific hack works only on 32-bit systems, but a 64-bit workaround is available at this page, which may have been Williams's source for the 32-bit hack.

We asked Microsoft for a comment, but due to the holiday we don't expect one immediately. If we hear back from them we will update this story.

As we would anticipate them saying, Windows XP has reached end of service for a reason: its underlying technology is old and inferior to that of current Windows versions. Despite receiving security updates, it is not possible to secure the system properly. The systems being impersonated, WEPOS and POSReady 2009, are embedded applications that are not designed to be used like regular desktop systems.

Topics: Security, Windows

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47 comments
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  • There it is then

    Windows XP .. almost forever?
    Singularity Point
    Reply 6 Votes

    • That's insane!

      Time to let these all go! This system is 13 years old and still filled with holes, why are people hanging on to it so hard?
      slickjim
      Reply 5 Votes

      • because

        a lot of IT departments would rather deal with holes than half their system breaking- a lot of places have some pretty complicated setups which would take a huge amount of resources to update.
        theoilman
        Reply Vote

        • And they have had plenty of years

          To migrate to a newer platform, and update the things they need to update. Most of corporate america is so unproductive because they have crap computers with Pentium 3 or Pentium 4 since they are running XP.
          Jimster480
          Reply 2 Votes

      • Because sometimes there's no choice...

        If your Windows XP system is running a $250,000 climate control system which doesn't have any new software available, it's unlikely your management is in a rush to run out and spend a quarter milion dollars just to upgrade to Win7. Oh, and electron microscopes, badge access systems, security cameras, laser engravers, whatever. In the enterprise world it's not as easy as inserting a DVD and clicking Next.
        Rick 72
        Reply 12 Votes

        • Except when

          Windows XP has been outdated for the better part of 8 years now. Its time to move on, its time to code workarounds to get it working on newer OS's and not to do business with crappy companies in the future which don't update their software. For a 250k climate control system to not have any updates, is not at all acceptable. Climate control isn't even something complicated, and why it wouldn't work on Windows 7 is unknown, especially with the various emulation layers.
          Jimster480
          Reply Vote

          • Crappy companies?

            It's amaizing about "crappy" companies, that if xp POS will keep receiving updates, that is because all ATM are running over xp POS. So, basically the crappy companies are all the banks, and mostly all electronic transactions relay on that 13 yo OS "full of holes"! If you don't want to deal with such crappy companies, there is no way.
            But there are complaints about refrigeration systems running over xp and why those systems are not yet updated......?
            Why not to take an Apple approach and provide a free distribution of w7 ? (Like what apple did with os x 10.9)
            @...
            Reply Vote

          • Not gonna happen

            When Apple starts making the iFridge, maybe then they'll offer free OS X updates for it.
            Joe_Raby
            Reply Vote

        • Not an excuse

          Those kinds of systems (embedded) should already be using an embedded version of Windows anyway, and continue to get support. There is still no excuse for general-purpose computers.
          Joe_Raby
          Reply Vote

      • Work at home special report.................WWW.GAWKJOB.COM

        until I saw the check of $9213 , I did not believe …that…my mother in law had been actualy making money part time on-line. . there friends cousin has been doing this for only about eighteen months and just now paid for the mortgage on their place and purchased a top of the range Toyota . why not check here >>>>>>>>>>>>> Ｗ­­Ｗ­­Ｗ­­.GAWKJOB­­.­­Ｃ­­ⓞ­­Ｍ
        Hisk1938
        Reply 1 Vote

  • Enjoy the updates whilst they last :)

    Article: "The others [updates] are for Windows Server 2003"

    Note that Microsoft will EOL Windows Server 2003 in July, 2015, just over one year from now.
    Rabid Howler Monkey
    Reply 1 Vote

    • Doesn't mean anything

      If the update is also for POSReady it will be available until 4/2019
      larry@...
      Reply 1 Vote

  • Oh wow

    Move on already.

    At this point, move on to Linux or OS X for all I care.

    Just let XP die.
    Michael Alan Goff
    Reply 3 Votes

    • So, you don't care if they move to Linux or OS X, but

      you really get your shorts in a knot if they stay with XP.
      baggins_z
      Reply Vote

      • XP is holding things back

        It needs to stop.
        Michael Alan Goff
        Reply 1 Vote

        • How are you being held back?

          I have to admit this puzzles me. What someone else does with their computer could not possibly hold you back, could it?

          As a web developer, IE8 annoys me (no SVG support, and other cool HTML5-ness), but we're not really holding back because of it. If I'm not being held back, I don't know how casual computer users are.
          Mac_PC_FenceSitter
          Reply 1 Vote

          • When you have to code software for XP support

            And that makes your job 3x harder than coding it for Windows 7 and Windows 8 only, and when you have to do some sort of IE6 support for organizations...
            Jimster480
            Reply Vote

          • Let me give you an example

            There are quite a few Windows games that use DirectX 9, ones that are even still updated and sold, and stick with it because a large enough portion of their user-base still use XP.
            Michael Alan Goff
            Reply Vote

          • You really think that?

            No game vendors targeting XP can get their app certified for Windows.
            Joe_Raby
            Reply Vote

  • Another reason why we are quickly reaching the end of the current PC era.

    We are talking about ways to hack a 14+ year old OS to keep using it. And add to that the market for lotions, potions, and wrappers to keep it resurrected and XP in one way or another will probably be around for 25+ years or more in real-world systems.

    Not really odd, because I bet you can find some MS-DOS systems running in cases where very specialized (and not networked) programs are in use. And people lovingly keeping those machines going. But in those cases, it is for VERY special use and ran by people with skills for doing that. XP on the other hand is almost becoming a badge of honor to keep going. Which is bad because you have one system on the Internet that can be compromised and all sorts of fun can be had by malcontents. But then again, it's a lot of malcontents who don't want to move on to a newer version of Windows, Linux, OSX or whatever. And that is the bad thing, there are alternatives.

    But then look at the tablet/smartphone/device world. More and more, it starts with what it was born with, and that keeps evolving until the device is obsolete. Sometimes (like some accuse Apple of at times) the device outlives when the manufacturer thinks it is obsolete and stops supporting it. Other times the device goes on until it is just untenable and then gets retired. But until then it is kept supported. Android smartphones are the exception, because the carriers are a big impediment to that. Sooner or later when a major Android breach happens (and it will) they will wise up and hand off the OS maintenance to Google and get out of the way. Like the do for the iPhone and (mostly) for Windows Phones. And Samsung hopes to do with Tizen the same thing Apple has done with iOS.

    What Microsoft's problem is (and to a certain extent, Apple's as well) is that the hardware has raced so far ahead of the software that it is entirely possible for a high-end XP box to be perfectly viable up through and including Windows 8.1, especially gamer-oriented boxes where the owner has kept stuffing the latest and greatest upgrade parts in it. So when perfectly good hardware drops off the support list of the newer OSes (I am looking at you scanner makers and Creative with your SoundBlaster cards) then the only options are hacked drivers or sticking with the last viable OS. Same for Macs that still run okay when Apple says "too bad, so sad, no more new OSes for you".

    So the day of tying the OS to the device will increase. As for Linux, besides the "mostly geek" credentials it has the other advantage of the fact that generic drivers get eventually baked in and carried on to the next release. And proprietary drivers will continue to work until the underlying structure changes (if ever) so once written, they are good for a LONG time. But even there hardware drops off. But no one hacks old Linux systems anyway.

    Right...
    jwspicer
    Reply 6 Votes