This article is intended for educational purposes and for legitimate owners of WinOLS who need to run their licensed copy inside a virtual machine for professional convenience. Applying these fixes to circumvent a paid license or to pirate the software is illegal and violates the EULA of EVC GmbH. Always support software developers.
cpuid.1.ecx = "0:---:-:----:----:----:----:----:--0:----" cpuid.80000001.ecx = "0:----:----:----:----:----:----:----:----"
WinOLS versions 4.50 and above introduced enhanced anti-tampering mechanisms that detect when the software is running inside a virtual machine (VMware, VirtualBox, etc.). When detected, WinOLS typically displays an error message (e.g., "Virtual environment detected") or crashes shortly after launch. This fix disables those checks, allowing WinOLS 4.51 to run stably inside a VMware virtual machine.
Patch the detection routine
Replace the first byte of each detected instance with 00 (NOP).
Example:
Original: 76 6D 77 61 72 65 → Patched: 00 6D 77 61 72 65
This corrupts the string enough to bypass the check without breaking file integrity. winols 451 vmware fix
Disable VMware backdoor I/O
Add the following lines to your VM’s .vmx configuration file (shut down the VM first):
isolation.tools.getPtrLocation.disable = "TRUE"
isolation.tools.setPtrLocation.disable = "TRUE"
isolation.tools.setVersion.disable = "TRUE"
isolation.tools.getVersion.disable = "TRUE"
monitor_control.disable_directexec = "TRUE"
monitor_control.disable_chksimd = "TRUE"
monitor_control.disable_btinout = "TRUE"
monitor_control.disable_btmem = "TRUE"
monitor_control.disable_btrel = "TRUE"
Save and relaunch
Save the patched .exe (overwrite original or rename). Restart your VM and launch WinOLS 4.51.
This is the most common and effective method. It involves adding specific parameters to the virtual machine’s configuration file to hide the presence of VMware. This article is intended for educational purposes and
In the context of WinOLS, error 451 is not a standard Windows system error. It is a custom protection mechanism built into the software (or its accompanying driver/hardware key emulator) to detect if it is running inside a virtualized environment.
The software performs a series of “red pill” checks—techniques used by malware and protected software to detect virtualization. Common checks include:
If you own a legitimate WinOLS dongle, the error might persist because WinOLS checks for both the dongle and the environment. Patch the detection routine Replace the first byte
Fix: Enable USB passthrough in VMware.
Sometimes, simply presenting the physical dongle disables the VM check. If not, combine with Method 1.