It has finally happened. HWID activation for Windows 10/11 has been patched by Microsoft after 6 years.

Time of death: 4:22 PM UTC September 26th

Notes, please read:

For those of you who don’t know, HWID was the holy grail for Windows activation, letting you generate licenses straight from Microsoft licensing servers, being registered as fully legitimate in microsofts servers and letting you keep the activation permanently, even after windows reinstalls being completely undetectable and with nothing on your system being modified. If you’re still using outdated activation methods and you missed out on this, I’m sorry

Existing HWID licenses are left unaffected. Only new requests are blocked, no licenses were revoked.

By the way, MAS still works and is the best option for Windows/Office activation. For permanent Office activation use it’s Ohook method (supports subscription products such as 365 as well) and KMS38 for Windows

ALL OTHER ACTIVATION METHODS ARE STILL WORKING, ONLY METHOD AFFECTED IS HWID.

All HWID activators are affected, not only MAS

Around that time, Microsoft servers unexpectedly started blocking the licensing requests HWID activation method sends to Microsoft. This was a slow rollout that spanned over a few hours, at the moment the exploit is completely dead. The best options for Windows activation now is KMS38 or vlmcsd.

Patching this would boost illegal key reselling websites which causes more harm to Microsoft than HWID exploit. We can only wonder why they patched this.

{“code”:“BadRequest”,“data”:[],“details”:[],“innererror”:{“code”:“PermanentTSLRejection”,“data”:[],“details”:[{“code”:“113”,“message”:“avsErrorCode”,“target”:null}],“message”:“The Purchase Service rejected the provided TSL; the client should destroy the TSL.”,“source”:“PurchaseFD”},“message”:“The calling client sent a bad request to the service.”,“source”:“PurchaseFD”}

TLS=Temporary Signed License=The tickets HWID activation sends. Microsoft servers are now just responding with “kill it.”

Transferring existing HWID licenses to other computers using Microsoft account is broken too.

Moonrise2473,

Someone said “meh I’ll just use a win 10 22h2 iso with a win 7 key”. It will accept the key during the setup but it won’t actually activate it, right?

pewnit,

Honestly, I don’t get pirating windows. Even if you don’t want to use a Windows 7 license, you can just use it without activating it

ensignrick,
@ensignrick@startrek.website avatar

K38 still works. But yeah just switch to Linux.

emanresu,

Why would anyone use windows

Senuf, (edited )

Not that I like it, and I really do like certain Linux distros, but in my case I have to use some software that runs well on Windows and isn’t available under Linux. Alternatives aren’t as good, and the versions I need don’t run well (or not at all) on WINE. As far as proprietary OSs go, I find Mac OS much better than windows, both in general user interface, integration and how smooth it runs and feels, but as a choice it’s even more expensive than Windows. Better, yes, but more expensive.

When/if the software I need find runs under Linux I’ll stop using windows, I guess.

This one is just one answer to your question. I’m sure there might be some more.

Edit: runs

mechoman444,

Why would anybody drive Chevy’s.

Don’t be an asshole.

berserker,

After reading through the docs on the MAS site, KMS38 still looks pretty robust. I get that it’s not ‘permanent’ but are there any major drawbacks aside from having to re-run MAS after a fresh Windows install?

AndreTelevise,

Now, you can’t perma-crack your new PC with a “real” HWID key, then years later reinstall Windows and keep your “real” license anymore! And you can’t upgrade anymore on that new PC either! You have to patch Windows every time!

hunt4peas,

What’s that Ohook method you mentioned for office activation?

Katiria24,

It was added a few days ago, you can read on it on MAS GitHub or website

hunt4peas,

Thanks. I’ll have a look at it.

lukas,
@lukas@lemmy.haigner.me avatar

I guess Microsoft didn’t like that their support staff cracks Windows with HWID activation using MAS when their infrastructure breaks down for legit licenses.

user224,
@user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Sorry for possibly a stupid question, but what’s the point of activating Windows?
I never seriously used Windows, but I have a Windows 7 VM that’s not activated, and it works. Just the wallpaper is black. Also most of our school computers don’t have activated Windows, yet it seems to work fine, there’s just the watermark. And on some it shows the “You may be the victim of…” message. Same seems to be the case for Office 2016 installed on those. Other than the “non-genuine” message, it works.

yoichi,

I guess it’s just a personal thing. I personally cannot stand the “Please Activate Windows” watermark and MAS is such an easy tool that it just makes sense to do it. It’s not like this announcement kills MAS, you can still use the other activation methods

BrownianMotion,
@BrownianMotion@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

this is even more funny since there are apps that literally target this shit and remove it. Its unregistered, and the watermarks are removed, allowing you to forget the existance you are in. (disclaimer: I didn’t do W11, but I doubt they were that good at their job)

viking,
@viking@infosec.pub avatar

In Windows 11 they lock down the customization/personalization options, but you can get around that with some registry edits regardless. So I guess it’s pretty straightforward to build a third party tool that replaces the internal customizer.

But… MAS was so nice and easy.

euphoric_cat,
@euphoric_cat@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

my school pcs also didn’t have activated windows for a few months yet we were able to use professional software like maya and shit no problem, other than the watermark I don’t get it

hypevhs,

Is kmspico still ok?

Draconic_NEO,

I hope this means we’ll finally get activation methods that patch windows itself rather than playing along with their key system. Obviously it can be done since Windows AME has activation Functions completely removed yet it will never try to deactivate itself.

redcalcium,

I always thought microsoft allowing HWID activation was a deliberate move to get as many people to use windows and got them enrolled into windows updates, which bolster their market share and allow them to push ads/promotion for their various services to windows start menu. I think microsoft got a lot more to lose from ending HWID activation.

yum13241,

Does the Lockbox method not work? Normally MAS uses Downlevel.

vildis, (edited )

Possibly(?) related official notice …microsoft.com/…/comm-windows-ends-installation-p…

Never spent the time to figure out what KMS actually did but seems like licenses weren’t validated when upgrading from 7 -> 8 / 11

Melody,
@Melody@lemmy.one avatar

Microsoft is stupid, someone high up is getting greedy or desperate.

Patching HWID is annoying and doesn’t stop piracy. In fact it will break a lot of legacy systems in general; which is probably what they intended and why they are guilty of corporate greed in this case.

I hate Micro$hit but I am REQUIRED to use Windows by too many stupid fucking different idiots, apps, and games to count. Linux is still not there yet for me usability-wise; though it probably is still improving.

No; I will never accept that CLI is an acceptable end-user implementation; GUI is required; along with ease of use and the polish that comes with it. I don’t mind CLI interfaces; but I do feel they’re not user-friendly enough usually. They REQUIRE YOU to LEARN a few things to get used to them; which is the opposite of an intuitive interface.

NOTE: I am very FLOSS accepting when it meets my needs; but I will not hold back criticism. Do not try to shout me down. You will always be wrong. Windows is factually more user-friendly and application compatibility diverse than Linux.

I genuinely hope that Linux finds more ways to 100% match Windows functionally without forcing the user to compromise. We need to punish Microsoft for all these years of monopoly holding and reclaim computing more effectively.

Mars,
@Mars@beehaw.org avatar

It’s funny how computers are almost the only human invention that for some reason must be able to be used without learning anything.

We don’t do that for almost anything else. We expect people to learn how to drive, how to fill taxes, how to buy things on the store, how to cook, how to play chess. It seems like the only cases when someone decides learning stuff is an inconvenience is when tech people get into another field and tries to disrupt it.

I am all about making things as simple as they can be, but not simpler. Intuitive is a super relative term that depends on your knowledge and life experience. People find Office intuitive after using it for twenty years, but for me is a nightmare where legacy features intermingle with weird cloud and AI shit, and most of the time I only need a markdown file. No interface is intuitive, they are only familiar, clear, accesible, discovereable, etc.

Interface Design goes in cycles of skeuomorphism and simplification because computer stuff is not Intuitive, you have to open the way with metaphors people can understand, and when they are part of everyday life you can make the app for the virtual credit cards not look like it’s made of leather.

yum13241,

Taxes aren’t intuitive either.

Stormyfemme,

that’s because there’s a lot of money to be made in making it complicated.

yum13241,

Driving isn’t exactly intuitive either. You’d think you just hold gas and move the wheel around but it’s a lot more complicated than that.

Stormyfemme,

Right but we more or less mandate learning to drive in the states. If something is essential to daily functioning in life it should have some sort of public education and testing sort of vibe huh?

yum13241,

And we should mandate computer literacy classes, preferably stuff that’s agnostic to OSes like avoiding viruses.

averyminya,

There’s definitely a fine line between having to learn the ins and outs of something to use it in any capacity and being able to just pick up something and have it work.

Musical instruments take years of practice. But after just a couple weeks most people can start fiddling around. Once there’s a foundation, it gets built on.

Realistically, how many Linux users have memorized every command they use? How many of them actively are looking up lists or guides on how? The memes of developers just being professionals at search engines exists for a reason, no? That’s not to say that there’s no foundation under Linux, but it’s much less encompassing.

Then there’s the whole thing of inconsistency. In music or art, most of what you learn translates. Sure, if you’re a baritone moving to a tenor you might have some adjustments, but it’s quite literally a simple shift. Not the case for computers though, because there’s no transposing from one “language” to another. If you’re following a guide online and you don’t have the same distro, chances are high it will not work.

I’m all for people learning and honing skills to accomplish a goal. I’m also for simplicity and ease of access. If someone wants to set up a personal home server, it does seem a little ridiculous to have to learn the entirety of the ins and outs of networking just because I want to host some local services. Especially when there are hundreds of guides all detailing how to, each with a different way of doing the same thing, and each not working on your personal system for whatever reason. It’s also especially hard when a portion of the community becomes condescending when questions are asked.

All in all I think it comes down to the intent of the tool. For music and art the intent is both to create and to practice the skill for that creation. For computers, well there are people who can practice the skill of ____, but there is also how the computer was marketed to be used by everyone.You have people making the computers and the software and you have the people using them, the overlap between the two has always been small. The idea of practicing computer skills has effectively died outside of programming, which is understandable given that colloquial “computer skills” can now encompass any hobby under the sun.

crispy_kilt, (edited )

But after just a couple weeks most people can start fiddling around. Once there’s a foundation, it gets built on.

Realistically, how many Linux users have memorized every command they use?

If they invested the same few weeks of time, all of the important ones and then some!

But people don’t want to learn for even 5 minutes when it comes to computers. This is exactly parent commenters point.

Not the case for computers though, because there’s no transposing from one “language” to another. If you’re following a guide online and you don’t have the same distro, chances are high it will not work.

Yes there is, but people don’t want to learn the fundamentals that enables them to see behind the instructions. Online tutorials for computer stuff are the music equivalent of a guitar tutorial going like “place index finger on position A. Strum with middle finger and thumb at position B for 3cm for a duration of 200ms touching strings 1 theough 3. Then…” instead of a bunch of notes. Obviously this series of excruciatingly boring instructions won’t translate to even another guitar yet alone a piano. Same goes for computers. They have tonnes of things in common (just like instruments) but to see that you first have to learn the basic principles behind them.

averyminya,

To your last point about guitar not translating to piano - that’s not true at all which is exactly my point. Regardless, I’m not disagreeing that computers need to be learned, my point is that they have been marketed specifically against that.

Ease of use is a huge part of computers existing in our world as they do today.

whodoctor11,
@whodoctor11@lemmy.ml avatar

There have been Linux distros that cover 100% of Windows functionality without the need to use CLI (and even add more functionality) for years. I think the only possible way to have problems is with Wayland and NVIDIA. Usability has never been the problem: the problem is that Windows is the industry standard, so most applications and games are developed for it, most workplaces use it, all computers come with it pre-installed…

CeeBee,

I will never accept that CLI is an acceptable end-user implementation

This is a very terrible stance. Anytime you type something into a search engine it’s basically like a command-line. Computers used to only be terminals and users were just fine with it then.

Literally every OS (including Windows) has some things that can only be done in a command window. How about each having their appropriate uses and we use the best tool for a task?

radostin04,
@radostin04@pawb.social avatar

I don’t think they mean that everything should have a GUI, but everything that a regular user is expected to do. I still haven’t been able to figure out how to create a .7z file in Linux without using the CLI, and that’s a pretty normal thing to want to do I feel

CeeBee,

If you’re on KDE then Ark can do it for you. I do it all the time.

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