In context: Piracy has been a part of Windows history from the very beginning. Microsoft began taking the issue seriously with Windows XP, and Dave Plummer has now revealed that the first unauthorized copies of the operating system were actually the result of an internal information leak.
David William Plummer began his career at Microsoft as an intern on the MS-DOS team and was later offered a full-time position. During his 10 years with the company, he developed several major components for both DOS and Windows, giving him firsthand knowledge of what was really happening in Redmond.
Plummer's latest inside story focuses on the infamous "FCKGW" key, widely used to activate original editions of Windows XP. The Canadian-American programmer worked on the first version of Windows Product Activation, Microsoft's early attempt to protect Windows with DRM technology.
Plummer explained that the FCKGW key was a valid volume licensing key, which allowed multiple copies of Windows XP to be activated when paired with a specific VLK copy or ISO of the operating system. The key quickly spread across P2P platforms and piracy forums and is now considered the first major "hack" targeting Microsoft's WPA technology.
The story of FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8.
– Dave W Plummer (@davepl1968) October 8, 2025
If you're not the type to pay for your software, you probably know this key. What you might not know is that I worked on the first version of Windows Product Activation, and this was our first major "hack".
And yet, it wasn't a… pic.twitter.com/bJoGGO5c9o
However, Plummer emphasized that there was no hack. It was, in fact, a "disastrous leak" of information that should have remained inside Redmond. To this day, the identity of the person responsible for leaking the key – or the location where it first appeared online – remains unknown.
Plummer's disclosure suggests the key originated from within Microsoft, which explains why the so-called "hack" was so effective and why Windows XP soon became the most pirated operating system in PC history.
Plummer designed WPA to generate a hardware ID tied to a user's CPU, RAM, and other installed components. This ID would then be sent to a Microsoft server along with the product key for validation as a legitimate copy of Windows XP.
Because FCKGW was a legitimate corporate volume licensing key, it was whitelisted in XP's activation logic. The WPA system effectively skipped the activation process, allowing pirated copies of the OS to even install early updates via Windows Update.
"Technically, you could still use it today on an old XP disc (if you can find one), but Microsoft's servers shut down validation years ago, and the key's long since been blacklisted," Plummer said.
Microsoft issued its last security update for Windows XP in 2019. The OS is now used by less than one percent of Windows PCs, according to StatCounter.
WPA technology was fully bypassed years ago, and modern Windows editions can be cracked even more easily thanks to open-source tools in the Microsoft Activation Scripts project – something Microsoft appears largely unconcerned about today.
FCKGW: How an internal Microsoft leak fueled Windows XP piracy
