2 ways to activate Windows 10 for FREE without additional software
As you know, Microsoft notified Windows 10 is “the last version of Windows” and explained that they will be focused on the development of powerful and new features under the guise of software updates instead of building a new version. This means there will be no Windows 10.1 or 11 in the future(*). So if you are thinking about an upgrade, this is the best time to get it.
(*) New update: An expected release of version 11 was launched in late 2021. Read this post for more information.
Windows 10 free upgrade
The representative of Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 is a free upgrade for all customers using a genuine copy of Windows 7 or higher. But this offer officially will expire on Friday so do not hesitate to own it before it is too late. Your time is running out. After July 29, the upgrade will cost up to $119 for the Home edition or $199 for the Professional one. Personally, that amount of money is enough to pay my rent this month so there is no reason for me to deny that.
Should you upgrade to Windows 10
“Do not upgrade to Windows 10”. This seems to contradict the above analysis but that is the statement of security experts. They said that Microsoft has been violating users’ privacy by collecting their personal information like gender, age, hobby, and Internet habits… without your permission. The options relating to sending feedback and data to Microsoft were enabled automatically from the moment that you installed Windows 10 successfully so most people don’t know about them. However, you can disable them in Settings/Privacy easily.
Install Windows 10 using ISO file instead of an upgrade
You can get the latest version of Windows 10 Professional here if you don’t have it already. If you have ever installed any versions of Windows before, I am sure you will have no difficulty getting started with Windows 10. If you are looking to install it with a USB flash drive, please search for “how to install Windows 10 from a bootable USB stick”. There are many detailed instructions for installing Windows 10 on the web.
Activate Windows 10 without using any software
If you are using another version of Windows, please navigate to the Windows OS category and select a suitable article.
Method 1: Manual activation
Step 1.1: Open Command Prompt as administrator.
Click on the start button, search for “cmd” then run it with administrator rights.
Step 1.2: Install KMS client key.
Use the command “slmgr /ipk yourlicensekey” to install a license key (yourlicensekey is the activation key that corresponds to your Windows edition). The following is the list of Windows 10 Volume license keys.
Home: TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99
Home N: 3KHY7-WNT83-DGQKR-F7HPR-844BM
Home Single Language: 7HNRX-D7KGG-3K4RQ-4WPJ4-YTDFH
Home Country Specific: PVMJN-6DFY6-9CCP6-7BKTT-D3WVR
Professional: W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX
Professional N: MH37W-N47XK-V7XM9-C7227-GCQG9
Education: NW6C2-QMPVW-D7KKK-3GKT6-VCFB2
Education N: 2WH4N-8QGBV-H22JP-CT43Q-MDWWJ
Enterprise: NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43
Enterprise N: DPH2V-TTNVB-4X9Q3-TJR4H-KHJW4
Note: You need to hit [Enter] key to execute commands.
Step 1.3: Set KMS machine address.
Use the command “slmgr /skms kms8.msguides.com” to connect to my KMS server.
Step 1.4: Activate your Windows.
The last step is to activate your Windows using the command “slmgr /ato”.
If you see the error 0xC004F074, it means that your internet connection is unstable or the server is busy. Please make sure your device is online and try the command “ato” again until you succeed.
Now check the activation status again.
Method 2: Using a batch file
This one is not recommended anymore due to the new update of Microsoft.
Step 2.1: Copy the code below into a new text document.
@echo off
title Activate Windows 10 (ALL versions) for FREE - MSGuides.com&cls&echo =====================================================================================&echo #Project: Activating Microsoft software products for FREE without additional software&echo =====================================================================================&echo.&echo #Supported products:&echo - Windows 10 Home&echo - Windows 10 Professional&echo - Windows 10 Education&echo - Windows 10 Enterprise&echo.&echo.&echo ============================================================================&echo Activating your Windows...&cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ckms >nul&cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /upk >nul&cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /cpky >nul&set i=1&wmic os | findstr /I "enterprise" >nul
if %errorlevel% EQU 0 (cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43 >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk DPH2V-TTNVB-4X9Q3-TJR4H-KHJW4 >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk YYVX9-NTFWV-6MDM3-9PT4T-4M68B >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk 44RPN-FTY23-9VTTB-MP9BX-T84FV >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk WNMTR-4C88C-JK8YV-HQ7T2-76DF9 >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk 2F77B-TNFGY-69QQF-B8YKP-D69TJ >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk DCPHK-NFMTC-H88MJ-PFHPY-QJ4BJ >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk QFFDN-GRT3P-VKWWX-X7T3R-8B639 >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk M7XTQ-FN8P6-TTKYV-9D4CC-J462D >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk 92NFX-8DJQP-P6BBQ-THF9C-7CG2H >nul&goto skms) else wmic os | findstr /I "home" >nul
if %errorlevel% EQU 0 (cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99 >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk 3KHY7-WNT83-DGQKR-F7HPR-844BM >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk 7HNRX-D7KGG-3K4RQ-4WPJ4-YTDFH >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk PVMJN-6DFY6-9CCP6-7BKTT-D3WVR >nul&goto skms) else wmic os | findstr /I "education" >nul
if %errorlevel% EQU 0 (cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk NW6C2-QMPVW-D7KKK-3GKT6-VCFB2 >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk 2WH4N-8QGBV-H22JP-CT43Q-MDWWJ >nul&goto skms) else wmic os | findstr /I "10 pro" >nul
if %errorlevel% EQU 0 (cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk MH37W-N47XK-V7XM9-C7227-GCQG9 >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk NRG8B-VKK3Q-CXVCJ-9G2XF-6Q84J >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk 9FNHH-K3HBT-3W4TD-6383H-6XYWF >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk 6TP4R-GNPTD-KYYHQ-7B7DP-J447Y >nul||cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ipk YVWGF-BXNMC-HTQYQ-CPQ99-66QFC >nul&goto skms) else (goto notsupported)
:skms
if %i% GTR 10 goto busy
if %i% EQU 1 set KMS=kms7.MSGuides.com
if %i% EQU 2 set KMS=kms8.MSGuides.com
if %i% EQU 3 set KMS=kms9.MSGuides.com
if %i% GTR 3 goto ato
cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /skms %KMS%:1688 >nul
:ato
echo ============================================================================&echo.&echo.&cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ato | find /i "successfully" && (echo.&echo ============================================================================&echo.&echo #My official blog: MSGuides.com&echo.&echo #How it works: bit.ly/kms-server&echo.&echo #Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.&echo.&echo #Please consider supporting this project: donate.msguides.com&echo #Your support is helping me keep my servers running 24/7!&echo.&echo ============================================================================&choice /n /c YN /m "Would you like to visit my blog [Y,N]?" & if errorlevel 2 exit) || (echo The connection to my KMS server failed! Trying to connect to another one... & echo Please wait... & echo. & echo. & set /a i+=1 & goto skms)
explorer "http://MSGuides.com"&goto halt
:notsupported
echo ============================================================================&echo.&echo Sorry, your version is not supported.&echo.&goto halt
:busy
echo ============================================================================&echo.&echo Sorry, the server is busy and can't respond to your request. Please try again.&echo.
:halt
pause >nulCreate a new text document.
Step 2.2: Paste the code into the text file. Then save it as a batch file (named “1click.cmd”).
Step 2.3: Run the batch file as administrator.
Please wait a minute.
Note: If you guys see three times the same error message saying that the connection to the KMS server was unsuccessful, please read this post.
Check the activation status again.
If you would have any questions or concerns, please leave your comments. I would be glad to explain in more details. Thank you so much for all your feedback and support!
Awesome guys great!
Thank you very much it worked perfectly on my pc
Thanks for the activation man.
Thank you Guang for your work!
This is an awesome tutorial!
Good luck in life!
Hey Guang,
Great job, thank you 🙂 I will become a patron and hope many others do too.
The W10 Enterprise key does not work with LTSC, only LTSB, which it replces.
Can you provide a solution?
Thanks,
Larry
wow thank you so much!
A+mazing Shock & AWE success!!
👍😎
YOU ROCK- THANK YOU
❤
can i activate using your cmd scrip on windows 10 pro for workstation?
it didn’t wanna work for me it said :
Error: 0xC004F074 the software licensing service reported that the computer could not be activated. no key management service (kms) could be contacted …
please help me I’ve been using this version of windows 10 for a year and it has been expired since a month
got the same message error! (with single language)
Thank you so much for this. I’ve used this on a couple of computers, just finished another upgrade and needed to reactivate, once again you’ve saved my a**e. Thank you
Great job Guang. Must be hard to keep this server running 24/7.
Well. This procedure worked for some time. But lately the command slmgr /xpr shows the following pop up:
“Windows(R), Core edition: Volume activation will expire 6/1/2020 5:14:17 PM.”
Is there any way around this time limitation?
Thank you very much for your support.
That works like a charm.
I can’t save the patch after allowed it from the antivairous
Hello Getting error while using 1st method
C:\WINDOWS\system32>s1mgr /ipk MH37W-N47XK-V7XM9-C7227-GCQG9
‘s1mgr’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
And not able to do via second method, please suggest the way forward..
Many Thanks for you support
s1mgr is mistyped.
The correct syntax is SLMGR.
Please use the blessed CTRL+C and CTRL+V to avoid typing errors.
Thank you so much
Thankyou so much, 1st method really worked for my professional version. Thanks a lot.
I have used your info to activate my Windows 10 Enterprise …
I just used 3 lines:
slmgr /ipk NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43
slmgr /skms kms8.msguides.com
slmgr /ato
I was so happy this worked right away … BUT
But it only lasts for about 7 days, then I have to do it all over again.
I keep getting the watermark on my screen … and that’s when I enter the code all over again.
Is there a better way and make the activation last longer?
Thanks
Bro that
Method 2: Using a batch file is safe
Wow, this step works well for me
bro thanks man!
if anyone doesnt wanna activate the whole thing and only wants to get rid of the activate windows watermark, heres how to do it:
-open notepad on your computer
-paste the below code:
@echo off
taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
explorer.exe
exit
-hit “file”, and “save as” with the name: disable_activatewatermark_explorer.bat, on the desktop location.
-right click on the disable_activatewatermark_explorer.bat file
-hit “run as administrator”.
-wait like 2 seconds (your screen will go black for a little bit)
-from your desktop, select the activate windows watermark, using the blue desktop select tool
-restart your computer
THATS IT! YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PERSONALIZE WINDOWS, BUT THE WATERMARK WILL GO AWAY. YOU CAN NOW SLEEP AT NIGHT!!!!!!!
thanks!!
Thank you so much!
You are awesome man, the first method definitely worked for me and upgraded my laptop to the latest windows 10 pro.. Thank you so much <3 All you have to is copy and paste :))
wow!!!, it worked
Thank you so much for wonderful post. Method 2 works for me. Spread tech! 😛
Hi, I have done other steps successfully however while activating, after writing “slmgr /ato” following error appears
“error:0x80070002 The system cannot find the file specified. (SWbemObjectEx)
I’ve the Enterprise 2016 LTSB but it says my version is not supported. Help.
Just for your information,
If you use this method to activate your copy of Win10, then you must know that what you´really doing is using this site activation servers instead of the original ones from Microsoft. This implies that now this site (and its administrator(s)) are in control of your Windows 10 installation. That gives them the rights to schedule or delay software updates, install o create devices policies that can affect the behavior of your PC/laptop. Also they can make your equipment to skip important security updates or redirect it to update servers outside of Microsoft´s environment.
Essentially this is what enterprises are doing when they enroll/deploy a new PC/laptop in the company´s intranet.
So evaluate your options and consider it before you perform the activation process.
Stay safe
How dangerous is this? As in, does this essentially give someone else a backdoor into my PC? And if so how do I undo this?
Hi Carlos
I already did it. how to reverse?
I did this how to reverse this?
lol, this is not true at all. This method is for only KMS activation, and does not provide them access to your machine. KMS is a volume activation method, and from what I can see misguides is hosting a kms server to activate volume licenses. However this does not give them access to anything related to your machine, as your machine will need to be part of their AD domain. From their end, they can see your IP/hostname though, but thats about it.
After 3rd step
Error:0xC004F074
Pls help
After 3rd step
Error: 0xC004F074 The Software Licencing Service reported that the computer could not be activated. No KMS could be contacted..
Please help!!!
install kms bro.
or downlode microsoft toolkit.
method 1 really worked with my windows 10 professional
Thank you – so easy!
https://imgur.com/a/ZS52hfz
This error appears after last command from method one
Same thing happened to me, but with Windows 10 Home. Can anyone help on how to fix this ?