Installed License Values

The following table shows the license values that are initialised from the system hives on the installation media for 32-bit Windows Vista. The specific media examined for this article are the MSDN discs numbered 3668 to 3672 inclusive. These discs have files INSTALL.WIM and INSTALL2.SWM to INSTALL5.SWM which altogether contain installation images for seven different editions of the product. You can list the images, and extract them, using the IMAGEX.EXE program from the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). Just so there is no mistaking which editions are meant, the following table shows a few identifying characteristics, as reported by IMAGEX. For all, the version is 6.0.6000.16386 (and the language is en-US).

Each image has a file named SYSTEM in the directory \Windows\System32\Config. This file is the system hive from which to build the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System for the installed operating system. Having extracted this file from an image, you can read it easily enough by loading it into the Registry Editor. A good way is to select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in the tree-view and then invoke Load Hive from the File menu. Within this system hive, the license values are the data for the following registry value:

The format is presented separately. (It is in preparation.) The purpose of this article is just to list the values from the images on the installation media. Note that the values at the corresponding registry location for the installed operating system may be different.

Where data is given without qualification, it applies to all seven editions. Since HomeBasic and HomeBasicN mostly do not differ, HomeBasic stands for both wherever a different case for HomeBasicN is not noted specifically. Business and BusinessN are treated similarly. Where the HomeBasic and HomePremium editions do not differ, they are described jointly as Home. String data are shown in C-language notation (enclosed in double-quotes, with escaped backslashes). Some license values have very long string data, which is presented after the table.

The list below is, of course, a re-presentation of information to which Microsoft asserts various legal rights. Microsoft does not formally document these license values. Many of the limits on product functionality that look like corresponding to these license values don’t seem to be documented, either. Some are, but inaccurately. Of course, my transcription is unlikely to be free of error, either. If you want better accuracy than is delivered by either Microsoft or me, then have your own look at the file in the image on the discs.

The license value Kernel-MUI-Language-SKU has a long string as its data for all editions. It consists of the following locale codes, with each successive pair separated by one semicolon:

• en-US
• ar-SA
• pt-BR
• zh-TW
• zh-CN
• zh-HK
• cs-CZ
• da-DK
• el-GR
• es-ES
• fi-FI
• fr-FR
• de-DE
• he-IL
• hu-HU
• it-IT
• ja-JP
• ko-KR
• nl-NL
• nb-NO
• pl-PL
• pt-PT
• ru-RU
• sv-SE
• tr-TR
• bg-BG
• hr-HR
• et-EE
• lv-LV
• lt-LT
• ro-RO
• sr-Latn-CS
• sk-SK
• sl-SI
• th-TH
• uk-UA
• ar-EG
• tk-TM

In the Starter edition only, the license value Microsoft-Windows-Core-InstanceLimitExemptedApps has long string data formed by concatenating the following, with a semicolon after each:

• 0explorer.exe
• 1WerFault.exe
• 1ACW.exe
• 1control.exe
• 0HelpPane.exe
• 1SLUI.exe
• 1rundll32.exe
• 1taskmgr.exe
• 1osk.exe
• 1magnify.exe
• 1narrator.exe
• 1utilman.exe
• 0winhlp32.exe
• 1oobe\msoobe.exe
• 1wuauclt.exe
• 0hh.exe
• 1dwwin.exe
• 1SndVol.exe
• 1verclsid.exe
• 1wermgr.exe
• 1AtBroker.exe
• 1sethc.exe

The same method of composition applies to the (shorter) data for the license value Microsoft-Windows-Core-ParentProcessDenyList, again for the Starter edition only:

• 1taskmgr.exe
• 2Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe