On Monday we were alerted to a rumour that a developer by the name of Fad Opal had found a backdoor that allows any owner of Pro Tools 11 to unlock it to run as Pro Tools HD. A backdoor is a way of gaining access to an application but is usually only known to the developer, it is often created to run test procedures, however it is widely considered to create a security risk if these are on network based applications.

The Back Door In Pro Tools 11

The rumour we were told was that if certain keys were held down when launching Pro Tools 11 then it would open as Pro Tools 11 HD. We thought this was rubbish and so decided to try it for ourselves, the combination is not a simple one but requires some careful finger placement before getting it right, it took us 28 times before it eventually worked - but work it eventually did. After which we could repeat the process. The best news is this requires no programming skills and does not require any kind of hacking or meddling with the code as it was put there in the first place by the author of the code. We remember doing this on some games consoles to unlock secret levels or infinite lives.

Video Proof Of It Working

We decided to make a video of it working so viewers could see for themselves, although our guess is that someone will move quick to patch this back door.

When you watch the video you will see how hard it is to do on a laptop, so we suggest you ask a friend to help you if you are using a regular keyboard and mouse. Fad did say that it is best to always make sure you have two people in the studio when running a session to ensure you can launch Pro Tools 11 in this way. 

More Back Doors In Pro Tools And Other Software?

Fad also told us that most software has back doors and easter eggs built into it, something he learnt as a games coder in the 1990s. Fad told us he spends several hours each day launching software whilst pressing different key combinations to find them, sometimes with unexpected results.

Thanks to Rosily Developers for allowing Fad to show us this trick, however he is unable to offer any support or advice on using this method.

Update

on 2014-04-02 07:05 by Pro Tools Expert

Of course it was a hoax that we dreamed up last October.

How it was done was simple and helps to illustrate a very simple fact about Pro Tools. Pro Tools uses a single installer and what version boots up depends on the licence you have on your iLok.

The right of the Mac contains a regular Pro Tools asset, the cable on the left is a USB extension cable that ran off camera, we simply inserted an iLok with a HD licence and hey presto!