Need some help with cracking an .msi install file

A debugger for .msi is overkill...
Also you would have to break in msiexec.exe (the Installshield executable
that runs the .msi) It's a mess!

Alot easier way is to use ORCA (msi tables editor available with the MS Platform SDK)

The SDK is available for free from Microsoft but it is unfortunately a mammoth download.
So...
Get ORCA here:
/h--p://www.patchlink.com/downloads/support/orca.msi

Install it and use it to open your .msi
Now on the left side you'll see all the installer tables.
Locate your username/password dialog and look at the conditions for next/ok button.

Because there are a lot of tables in an .msi, focus on "ControlCondition", "ControlEvent", "Property" and "CustomAction" tables.
Generally look around in there and you'll soon get the meaning.

Post with more info (maybe even the program you're trying to crack) if you
get in trouble and I'll try to give more details...

PS. You were on the right path with your first post.
Don't stray from that! Just look at your conditions a little better and you'll get it.
It doesn't matter that the verification is done by an external dll, this is then
evaluated by the installshield script. If you find where you can tell it to be
happy with the result you're OK.

Hope it helps.

[Sailor_EDA]

Actually i downloaded Orca a couple of days ago and it seemed very similar to the Installshield developer tool.
In anycase this is what I have so far with Orca (based on your instruction)
I've attached a jpg with the tables of Control, ControlEvent, ControlCondition
and CustomAction. Actually its kinda neat that Orca isolates everything (a little annoying as well as you don't get a visual representation that Installshield gives you ).
I've only included the relevant table entries to reduce space so let me know if you feel you need more information.
Control - The entry in question is CustomerInformation - this is where you enter the serial number. In fact the variable name "SERIALNUMBER" is right there for everybody to see.
ControlCondition - Under CustomerInformation there are 2 entries, SerialNumberEdit and SerialNumberLabel, these don't look very interesting since I think they are just to edit the serial number. The Conditions "LicenseOK="1" looks interesting but I'm not sure where its set
ControlEvent - Under CustomerInformation again, the Next has a DoAction which points to a LicenseCheck with condition 1. Changing the condition to "0" gives me the following error "The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2803"
CustomAction - Here LicenseCheck is actually called _CheckLicense@4 and appears in TKCommonAct.
So this is pretty much where I was when I posted the message initially. Hopefully I've included more details that might be helpful.
I think it maybe easier to just post the msi file but I think it might invite the wrath of the admin.
Thanks for all of your help.
PS: I read the articale in wasm.ru, its pretty good except that the tool they suggest m_extract to extract any function calls in the msi file didn't work for me.

>..."SERIALNUMBER"
>..."LicenseOK="1"
>.. .LicenseCheck is actually called _CheckLicense@4 and appears in TKCommonAct.
>

I can't download any attachments yet, but...
Seems there is a custom dll with exported function _CheckLicense.
This function has one argument (@4), probably pointer to var "SERIALNUMBER".
If function input is valid, it returns 1 (LicenseOK=1)

[Mkz]

Activate the "kernel32.GetProcAddress" BP after you inserted the serial and before you press Next.
You'll hopefully catch it retrieving the address of that "CheckLicense" function, amongst others. Then you can BP that function, and see what it does and which module it comes from in the file system.

I cannot download attachements yet.
Consider uploading your screenshot at some free webspace
(eg. /h--p://us.imageshack.com/)
or your whole .msi to some similar
(eg. /h--p://www.yousendit.com or /h--p://www.ezshare.de)
and posting the links so I can get the files.
In the meantime:
If you look at the "ControlEvent" table you'll see several columns.
Does Next have more than one entries?
It probably has (one with the license check and another(s) with the next action
should license check passed succesfully)
The last column "Ordering" specifies which Next Action is executed first (smaller order)
Also if the DoAction you're referring to has the form "LicenseCheck=1" (I'm just guessing here
as I can't see the screenshot) don't bother to change the "=1" to "=0".
Just replace the whole "LicenseCheck=1" with "1" (true) and give it a try.
I can probably help more if you post the files somewhere I can get them...
Think simple

[Sailor_EDA]

Here is a link to an image of the orca msi tables
http://img50.exs.cx/img50/7523/orcamsitables9nb.jpg
And here is a link to an image of calls I get when I do a bpx kernel32.GetProcAddress in Olly
http://img5.exs.cx/img5/1949/intermodularcalls1kw.jpg

Thanks for all of your help.
Sailor_EDA

I found this useful h**p://wxw.reteam.org/papers/e42.pdf