RedPill Enabler
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![]() The RedPill Enabler running on Windows 8 build 7927 | |
Developer(s) | Vizion |
---|---|
Operating system | Windows 8 builds 7927 to 8056 |
Latest release version | 1.4.0.1 |
Latest release date | 2011-06-17 |
Website | The thread on MDL |
RedPill Enabler (also known as the MDL Redpill Enabler after the forum where it was first published on) was one of the first public applications meant to enable features restricted by Redpill. It was developed by Vizion, a member of the My Digital Life forum, and was initially released on 17 June 2011.
It works by replacing slc.dll
, the Software Licensing Client DLL, with a modified one that returns desired Redpill values when prompted. Due to certain queries being moved from SLC into the kernel in Windows 8, this approach failed to work as a patch for the entire system. It also includes a set of icons for the Ribbon Explorer to replace the placeholder ones that some builds used[a] and a copy of the new Task Manager user interface from build 7971 (winmain). The tool also lets users pre-unlock Windows images, simply by pointing it to a build's install.wim
file.
RedPill Enabler has faced a variety of criticism over the time. Complaints include the code being poorly written, obfuscated, slow, as well as using replacement resources of dubious origin. It is therefore no longer recommended for use, and the Redlock tool should instead be employed as it supports all Windows 8 builds from builds 7779 through 8123 while replicating Microsoft's Redpill implementation as closely as possible.
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ It works by copying the ICO files to
%WINDIR%\Resources\Icons
directory and specifying the icon paths in the keys ofHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\CommandStore\shell
and the replacingexplorerframe.dll
with a modified one that doesn't have the placeholder icon bitmap resources, because if the icons for the ribbon item are both present in the registry and the DLL, the one in the DLL is used.