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

Windows 10 is not activated
Windows 10 is not activated

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.

Open cmd as admin
Open cmd as admin

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.

Install Windows license key
Install Windows license key

Step 1.3: Set KMS machine address.
Use the command “slmgr /skms kms8.msguides.com” to connect to my KMS server.

Set KMS server
Set KMS server

Step 1.4: Activate your Windows.
The last step is to activate your Windows using the command “slmgr /ato”.

Run command slmgr ato
Run command slmgr ato
0xC004F074 error code
0xC004F074 error code

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.

Windows activated successfully
Windows activated successfully

Now check the activation status again.

Windows 10 is activated successfully
Windows 10 is activated successfully

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 >nul

Create a new text document.

Create a new text document
Create a new text document

Step 2.2: Paste the code into the text file. Then save it as a batch file (named “1click.cmd”).

Save the text file
Save the text file
Set name of the batch file
Set name of the batch file

Step 2.3: Run the batch file as administrator.

Run the batch script with admin rights
Run the batch script with admin rights

Please wait a minute.

Your Windows is activated
Your Windows is activated

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.

Check out activation status of Windows 10
Check out activation status of Windows 10

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!

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3,289 Comments

  1. HOW CAN YOU RUN A DOCUMENT AS ADMINISTROR BECOURSE AFTER SAVING THE BATCH FILE AS WHAT YOU JUST SAID IT DOESNT SHOW HOW TO RUN IT AS ADMINISTRATOR

  2. I’ve tried everything including deactivating my firewall, opening the ports and running the script severally but it keeps saying Error C004F074
    Please help

  3. does not work Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.15063]
    (c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

    C:\Windows\system32>slmgr /ipk W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX

    C:\Windows\system32>slmgr /skms 104.244.78.23:1688

    C:\Windows\system32>slmgr /ato

    C:\Windows\system32>

  4. Microsoft approved Windows activator [ shorturl.at/kwI14 ] created by certified developer
    please leave a feedback if it worked or not

  5. Just a reminder to everyone trying to activate windows, at step 4 if you get the 0xC004F074 (No Key Management Service (KMS) could be contacted) error, KEEP TRYING! Just be patient and keep trying and eventually it will work. I kept getting the error and I tried like more than 10 times, keep executing the “ato” command and then boom, activated.

    Or alternatively, at step 3 you can change the address to another one (go to kms.msguides.com and check the domain) and try again.

  6. I am getting a Error window where it says:
    “Error: 0xC004F074 The software Licensing Service reported that the computer could not be activated. No Key Management Service could be contacted. Please see the aplication event log for additional information.”
    What should i do?

  7. kms8.msguides.com IP address has changed to 104.244.78.23

    Upon running the Command Prompt (cmd) as an admin, I used the following command alternatives in sequence:

    slmgr /ipk yourlicensekey
    slmgr /104.244.78.23:1688
    slmgr /ato

    How to open firewall ports in Windows 10:
    • Navigate to Control Panel, System and Security and Windows Firewall.
    • Select Advanced settings and highlight Inbound Rules in the left pane.
    • Right click Inbound Rules and select New Rule.
    • Add the port you need to open and click Next.
    • Add the protocol (TCP or UDP) and the port number into the next window and click Next.
    • Select Allow the connection in the next window and hit Next.
    • Select the network type as you see fit and click Next.
    • Name the rule something meaningful and click Finish.

    Note: In this case I added 2 Rules (TCP 1688 and one for UDP 1688)

    1. Thanks! Nothing on here worked as of 15th of November 2021 but this did, so:
      I used slmgr /ipk W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX (because i have pro)
      Open the 2 ports as you described, didn’t try without doing that, then
      slmgr /skms 104.244.78.23:1688 (i added /smks space before the ip)
      then slmgr /ato and worked first try.

      1. this FINALLY worked for me too. no need to mess with the opened ports, just replace the URL with the IP. Thanks so much.