how do you feel about hv bypasses? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 14 hours ago by aol@sopuli.xyz to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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and is there a way to run them on windows without restarting?

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[-] kevincox@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 hours ago

Games have no sandboxing anyways. They can access most of the data on the systems on which they run. Whether the game, crack or a HV crack makes little difference.

Sure, running a hypervisor or kernel level does allow them a bit more access, mostly around persistence. But I don't think it is a huge difference to most people.

So IMHO you are already putting a lot of trust in any pirated software or crack, hypervisor bypasses are really just a small matter of degree. If you don't trust the crack don't run it. Easy as that. Or if you want robust protection run games on dedicated hardware with no personal information or in a dedicated untrusted gaming VM.

[-] Fitzsimmons 26 points 13 hours ago

Generally I'd say they're one of the most dangerous things you could voluntarily run on your PC. As someone whose education and profession is in infosec, games are one of the things I refuse to pirate because the risk is just too high for me.

Just running an untrusted exe from a shady source is enough to make my hair stand on end but the idea of intentionally replacing low level hypervisor components makes me run away screaming.

FWIW, the type of games that require HV bypasses are ones that I would pass on because the "legitimate" DRM is basically equally as scary from a security perspective.

Everyone's risk tolerance is different though. 🤷‍♂️

[-] Mordikan@kbin.earth 3 points 45 minutes ago

Generally I'd say they're one of the most dangerous things you could voluntarily run on your PC

I disagree under some conditions. Doing anything sketchy from the same machine you log into your bank account from is extremely dangerous, but a dedicated gaming PC is a lot less dangerous. Especially if you are isolating the network on that machine and using it for single purpose. At that point, HV bypass becomes irrelevant to overall security. And by single purpose, I mean single purpose. No SSO or logging into sites. If you are heavy into this, I wouldn't even put Steam on the machine.

In general, without HV bypass you could firejail processes and potentially put Steam on the box, but with HV bypass absolutely not.

[-] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

they're one of the most dangerous things you could voluntarily run on your PC.

This cannot be stressed enough.

If you have a PC that: 1. you only run games on, 2. have nothing at all on it otherwise, and 3. airgap the shit outta the whole thing, you're still not safe. ☝🏼

Y'all do you, though. Do your research, vet all sources, and follow their instructions to the t. Good luck, fellow mariners! 😅

[-] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 12 hours ago

I feel glad that they exist on a socioeconomic principle of fairness, as well as having the option to play those games becomes more "grounded". But from the perspectives of consumer rights and of digital sovereignty HV bypasses are absolutely terrible, and technically at least one level worse than DRM-ed games.

Honestly, all that effort could be better spent developing original indie IPs with ethically respectable distribution channels. But then again the same should be said of corporate DRM in games in general.

[-] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 12 hours ago

Corpo doesn't like that, though. 😜

[-] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 11 hours ago

They're free to change their tune. The entire reason this exists after all is that corpo does harm.

[-] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 hours ago

The corpos don't have any reason to change. 🥲

[-] Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works 14 points 13 hours ago

I've tried to understand what the hypervisor bypass is and I feel like I'm not fully grasping it, I just wanted to say that first so that if I sound stupid, it is because I am stupid. From my loose understanding, it sounds like you are trading giving a corpro entity more access than they should need to your hardware/system, to giving a modified and possibly sketchy program from an unknown source even more access. Sounds like a lose/lose situation and I am staying away from it, but I am glad someone (other than a complete lunatic) was able to break that DRM

[-] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 12 hours ago

Thank you for using "loose" correctly. 🤩🖖🏼

[-] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 12 hours ago

You are, basically, not at all wrong with your understanding.

[-] BurgerBaron@quokk.au 4 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

The only way I'd touch a bypass like this is with a sacrificial PC which would never connect to the internet/home LAN ever again. I'd still have to come up with a way to get the files onto it in a safe way after the first game gets run with a bypass.

This lvl 0 stuff can potentially overwrite firmware, so a wiped storage drive isn't even enough* to be safe as I understand it.

Not very realistic.

this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2026

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