Windows Server Bypass

A shim-based solution that makes applications think they're running on Windows 11 24H2 Workstation instead of Windows Server 2025.

Windows Server 2025 and Windows 11 24H2 share the same kernel version (10.0.26100) — the only difference apps can see is the product type (VER_NT_SERVER vs VER_NT_WORKSTATION). Some applications, like Call of Duty, refuse to run on Server editions despite being fully compatible. This shim intercepts all OS version-checking APIs and reports Workstation instead of Server.

Quick Start

1. Double-click Install.cmd
2. Accept the UAC prompt
3. Select the Call of Duty preset (or add custom executables)
4. Done! Launch your game.

What It Does

The shim hooks 5 Windows APIs to spoof version info:

API	DLL	What It Does
GetVersion	KERNEL32	Returns packed Win11 24H2 DWORD
GetVersionExA	KERNEL32	Overwrites version struct with Win11 Workstation
GetVersionExW	KERNEL32	Same as above (wide-char variant)
VerifyVersionInfoW	KERNEL32	Intercepts IsWindowsServer() checks
RtlGetVersion	NTDLL	Hooks the low-level call that bypasses compat shims

Spoofed Values

Field	Value
Major.Minor.Build	10.0.26100
Product Type	VER_NT_WORKSTATION (1)
Platform ID	VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT (2)
Suite Mask	VER_SUITE_SINGLEUSERTS (0x100)

Presets

Preset	Executables
Call of Duty	cod.exe, cod24-cod.exe, cod25-cod.exe

You can add any additional executables during installation.

Uninstall

Double-click Uninstall.cmd (or run .\Install.ps1 -uninstall from an admin PowerShell).

This will:

• Remove the installed SDB shim database
• Restore the original AcRes.dll from the backup (AcRes.orig)

Files

File	Purpose
Install.cmd	Double-click to install
Uninstall.cmd	Double-click to uninstall
Install.ps1	PowerShell installer script (called by the .cmd files)
AcRes.dll	The compiled custom shim DLL
SprintDLL.exe	Tool to generate SDB database files
VersionCheck.exe	Test tool to verify what version APIs are reporting

Testing

Run VersionCheck.exe after installation to verify the shim is working. You should see:

• GetVersion, GetVersionExA/W: reporting 10.0.26100 with VER_NT_WORKSTATION
• RtlGetVersion: also reporting VER_NT_WORKSTATION (hooked)
• IsWindowsServer: FALSE

Re-configuring

To add or remove target executables, just double-click Install.cmd again. It automatically removes the previous installation before applying the new configuration.

Building From Source

The shim source is in the CustomShimRepo directory. To build:

1. Open CustomShimRepo/CustomShim/CustomShim.sln in Visual Studio
2. Build Release | x64
3. The output DLL is your new AcRes.dll

Requirements

• Windows Server 2025 (build 26100)
• Administrator privileges (for installing the SDB and copying to System32)
• PowerShell 5.1+