Ex-MS engineer reveals the story behind the infamous 'FCKGW' Windows XP key: 'Pirates started baking the key into images or just writing it on the CD with a Sharpie' 'The most plausible source is an OEM or hardware partner that received final media early so they could ship PCs on launch day.' Ex-Microsoft engineer David Plummer has revealed that he was the "primary author" of Windows XP's Product Activation system on the OS side, and so he's got some inside details on the workings behind the infamous "FCKGW" product key. You know, the one that seemed to be written on every pirated, home-burnt CD copy of the OS back in the day. Anyway, the famous (and now defunct) key was, in its entirety, FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8—and Plummer thinks it may well have been leaked by an OEM or similar with early access to Microsoft's then-new, all-blue XP operating system. "Presumably someone does." In the aftermath, Microsoft started blacklisting product IDs belonging to the leaked keys in Service Pack 1, while Service Pack 2 "made the check more aggressive" and started blocking updates for installs using the key.
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PC Gamer