Has Microsoft Discontinued Offline Activation of Windows? (neowin.net) 99
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Offline Windows activation has been possible to do using the phone. However, it looks like Microsoft has quietly killed off that method as users online have found that they are no longer able to activate the OS using it... [As documented by Windows user Ben Kleinberg on his YouTube channel], Now when trying to activate the OS by attempting to call the phone number for Microsoft Product Activation, an automated voice response says the following: "Support for product activation has moved online. For the fastest and most convenient way to activate your product, please visit our online product activation portal at aka.ms/aoh"
If you are wondering, that link takes users to the Microsoft Product Activation Portal for online activation. Thus it appears that offline ways to activate Windows may no longer be available even though the official support documentation by the company may not reflect it yet.
If you are wondering, that link takes users to the Microsoft Product Activation Portal for online activation. Thus it appears that offline ways to activate Windows may no longer be available even though the official support documentation by the company may not reflect it yet.
For the fastest and most convenient way... (Score:5, Insightful)
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This impacts virtually no one
This impacts virtually everyone, indirectly.
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It does.
Re:For the fastest and most convenient way... (Score:4, Insightful)
This impacts virtually everyone, indirectly.
No it doesn't. Virtually no one has ever activated windows by phone. In fact I challenge you to ask 100 people in the street (limit yourself to windows only users) if they even knew phoning Microsoft was an option. I would bet you actual money that not a single person would say yes.
It impacts virtually no one. Not directly, not indirectly.
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I don't think you know what the word "virtually" means.
Do you?
virtually /vtli/
adverb
1.
nearly; almost.
"the disease destroyed virtually all the vineyards in Orange County"
I hope you learned how to read my perfectly correct English post.
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The reason being that the statement applies to Europeans, which is almost(*) everyone who pays for Microsoft products.
(*)virtually
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They wouldn't, because the standard is now to have all computers with an always-on internet connection, and would most likely self-activate as soon as you login to a microsoft account. As it's done in the background, there's no prompt.
On the other hand, those using Windows XP would have seen it as an option, especially if they were one of the few people at the time
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This impacts virtually everyone, indirectly.
No it doesn't. Virtually no one has ever activated windows by phone.
Everyone that buys Windows licenses from those El Cheapo Google Marketplace vendors has to as the licenses tend to be pro licenses pulled from machines that won't activate over MS's web method.
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So precisely what I said "virtually no one". Nearly all consumer windows licenses come with a machine. No one "buys" windows. And corporate licenses don't use these mechanisms either.
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This could affect any Windows user, so while it will not affect most Windows users, it's still a potential problem for any of them. If something happens to activation, whether because of just some new bug or because of a hardware change (user has something they need on their PC so they pay for a repair and the system decides it's a different system now) then they may be left unable to reactivate. This has happened in the past, and Microsoft is infamous for having the same problems linger on for multiple Win
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This has happened in the past
That's a great code for "I don't understand how fundamentally things change over time". Yes it has happened in the past, no it won't happen going forward because the process is fundamentally different. You can't use Windows 11 offline only in a way that will require a consumer version of activation because you are forced to be online during the installation process. You can't use windows without an account. That last bit is critical since Microsoft now tie windows licenses to MS accounts meaning all the thi
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That's a great code for "I didn't read or understand what you wrote" since I'm writing about what happens if Windows activation breaks, which Microsoft has done before, and there's zero reason to believe they won't fuck up again in the same way. When you find yourself defending Microsoft, you should really think again. Or, to put a finer point on it, once.
The idea that I shouldn't remember what happened before when what happened before was Microsoft being incompetent is especially ridiculous. They've been r
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Congrats on not being a normal user. You are the 0.1%
I had to use phone activation (Score:2)
I had to use phone activation for Windows 7 Pro after a clean reinstallation on a Dell Precision workstation. I'm sure I'm not the only person who's had to use it in some situation.
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I'm sure you're not the only person either. That doesn't make it in any way something a normal person would do. So let me say again this affects virtually no one. In case you like the other poster above doesn't understand what the term virtually means it is an adverb which means "nearly". Congrats on being in the 0.1%
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I've used it before for activating Windows XP -- which is the last Windows version I ran before switching to Linux.
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So what you are saying is that you activated a license back when the process and requirements were very different and then haven't used Windows since and have no clue how it works today? The license activation process and the conditions of installing windows are nothing at all like what they were in the Windows XP days.
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Up to you how you wish to view my comment. Nevertheless, I am someone who "has ever" activated Windows by phone. At the time I was also a novice, Windows-only user, yet who still knew it was an option and utilised it.
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I've activated windows by phone a couple times though certainly not recently. The last time was 2020 or so.
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You are 0.1%. Have a gold star.
Incidentally in 2020 you could run a Windows 11 install offline without tying an MS account to it. You can't do that in 2026, so whatever reason you may have had to use phone activation, it likely doesn't exist anymore.
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There were two separate occasions when my Windows license was de-activated due to hardware changes, and I wasn't able to re-activate over the Internet. I had to call Microsoft over the phone and talk to some guy with a thick Indian accent that talked to me like I was 5 years old, trying to make sure I wasn't an evil thief... I mean, victim of non-genuine software.
When "product activation" was announced for XP, everybody told me it was no big deal. After my experience proved otherwise, I never did piecemea
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This impacts virtually no one so virtually no one will be convinced by you that they are using some kind of dystopian abomination.
Except those that air gap, which, admitted, if you're that worried about security, you already don't use Windows.
Find a better way to market Linux.
Unnecessary. Microsoft themselves are the best argument for leaving Windows, followed by their technology.
Where the driver in the change of OS comes from will be when Microsoft starts charging per inhale and per exhale per seat per day on the user side. When the question is "Why does/doesn't business do ...." the answer is always, always the same. MONEY. Microsoft is driving the use of their OS t
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True. Microsoft's new model is that the OS comes free w/ the box - the price having been paid by the OEMs. One needs a Microsoft Account to log in, and the moment one does, that device is recorded as being one of that user's devices. Just go to accounts.microsoft.com and log in, and one will see that - down to the Bitlocker keys
I doubt that Windows 11 could ever be activated by Phone. Not sure about Windows 10
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Just go to accounts.microsoft.com and log in
Product tying. Paging Judge Jackson.
Re:For the fastest and most convenient way... (Score:5, Interesting)
Indeed. But I still think MS needs to keep the no-account open, because the GDPR does not actually allow forced sign-up unless it is necessary for the nature of the service. MS is trying to give that appearance (via one-drive, for example), but it is not going to hold up in court.
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Errr false. I don't know if you know what a sign-up is or how the GDPR works, but online activation is most definitely permitted as a requirement for purchasing a product, as does forced accounts to use a product. What the GDPR does provide is a requirement that you aren't forced into an online account / activation process after purchase that didn't exist at the time of the purchase. E.g. Meta requiring Oculus users suddenly migrate to a Facebook account or have their devices unusable was a GDPR violation.
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Sounds great... I didn't want to use any of the software or games I bought.
Better to run Windows in a VM just to run the new game or program, and take a performance hit.
Now... if someone made a version of *Nix that could natively install Windows programs and whatnot _without using WINE or a VM_ (the way Windows handles it), that might push more people to *Nix, otherwise it's just a hobby thing.
It should be relatively easy to reverse engineer the way that Windows installers are put together and processed so
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https://hackaday.com/2026/01/1... [hackaday.com] -- There we go... a real solution. Not sure you could package an entire installer with all the other stuff from an installation media, but at least someone is trying to make it easier to switch.
Microsoft writing off "air gapped computers"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure seems that way, if the only way you can activate Windows is to have an active internet connection.
Now I suspect DoD and other large scale accounts can cut a deal to get a "gold master" that doesn't contain a requirement for on-line activation. But it seems to me that there are good reasons to have air-gapped systems in manufacturing or similar process control situations, as one example domain. Previously, you could obtain and transfer updates through a physical device (which, of course, you'd have to verify and trust the device and its contents.)
I guess Iran won't be using this version of Windows for uranium processing...
Re: Microsoft writing off "air gapped computers"? (Score:3)
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Re:Microsoft writing off "air gapped computers"? (Score:5, Informative)
I'm guessing you don't know all the ways to activate Windows then.
Standard Windows keys require Microsoft for activation. MAK (multi-activation keys) also require MS. However, KMS (Key Management Service) however does not. KMS uses a locally controlled server for activation. This is quite common in large organizations that deal with a high quantity of machines (think fortune 500 orgs w/ 100k+ employees w/ laptops). This would of course also cover the military. Do you think the DoD was using phone activation this entire time for their air-gapped machines? No, they have the private DoD network w/ this type of infrastructure (at least, this is my assumption)
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I'm guessing you don't know all the ways to activate Windows then.
Standard Windows keys require Microsoft for activation. MAK (multi-activation keys) also require MS. However, KMS (Key Management Service) however does not. KMS uses a locally controlled server for activation. This is quite common in large organizations that deal with a high quantity of machines (think fortune 500 orgs w/ 100k+ employees w/ laptops). This would of course also cover the military. Do you think the DoD was using phone activation this entire time for their air-gapped machines? No, they have the private DoD network w/ this type of infrastructure (at least, this is my assumption)
I ran several smaller SCIFs for years at my last job.
Yes. We had to do offline activations. Office too. Via phones that also needed temporary approval in SCIFs. Yes. Other larger shops might have been approved for a local KMS server inside a SCIF. Assuming you can actually maintain a KMS server permanently offline. Since part of SCIF mandates also require OS patching with read-only media, it can become a lot more complex to maintain.
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Do you think the DoD was using phone activation this entire time for their air-gapped machines?
Well, it was that way when I worked that environment.
Re:Microsoft writing off "air gapped computers"? (Score:5, Informative)
Now I suspect DoD and other large scale accounts can cut a deal to get a "gold master"
Literally no corporations DoD or small enterprises rely on Microsoft for activation. They use a Key management Service to activate locally provisioned windows systems without any need to reach the internet outside the organisation. This has been the case since the days of Windows Vista.
Heck KMS is the default piracy workaround for windows in general. Pirated copies of Windows and Office are activated by running KMS locally on the machine.
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KMS is what I want to do after using Microsoft products.
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Sure seems that way, if the only way you can activate Windows is to have an active internet connection.
Now I suspect DoD and other large scale accounts can cut a deal to get a "gold master" that doesn't contain a requirement for on-line activation.
Hate to burst your bubble on that, but at my previous (defense contractor) shop, the best Microsoft could offer is LTSC variants to be used in our air-gapped (classified) rooms, which we had to activate offline via phone many times when hardware or license issues came up (Office offline activation is no picnic either). I don’t see how this latest action is going to fly in those environments. Wiping the drive and rebuilding from scratch online isn’t always an option, which now seems to be the o
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For the updates, you could just run WSUS on a machine with an outside connection, and the inner office network would download updates from that one machine which has something like 'the Great Wall of China' as a firewall that prevents the office from touching the dirty outside world... or, let the Windows Updates through, but that's it, and filter all other traffic with firewalls. In an environment like that, the desk workers shouldn't be able to download anything any, and the websites they can access shou
Before long ... (Score:1)
Activation will be tied to your Microsoft Account, and a subscription will also be assigned to it.
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I see where you are going, Adobe could buy windows and the new AI Improved Adobe Windows could come with a lot $49.99 monthly sdudscription fee.
It's coming (Score:2)
They're going to do it. It's not going to be a success. Everyone will riot. Satya Nadella will have to flee the country.
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This already is the case. Your license is tied to your account as is your PC. You can use your Microsoft account to move a windows activation license from one PC to another. And if you subscribe to Microsoft 365 that is also tied to your account.
I'm not sure what you think the purpose of these accounts are, but this is literally why they exist. Tie products and hardware to people.
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Thought they already store the key in your MS account, they were talking about doing a cloud-based Windows (Windows doesn't exist as an installed thing on your computer, functions like booting a PXE).
Hence, why I'm staying on Win10.
Will Terminal Service phone licensing be affected? (Score:1)
The only time I've had to do phone activation is for activating Terminal Service Licenses for Citrix clusters in enterprise. I wonder if that will also be affected or not.
Continuing the F'ing (Score:2)
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It is kind of a Stockholm Syndrome type of effect. That and a quasi-monopoly maintained by illegal business practices. Both factors are reeeeeally bad for quality.
This will be interesting for industry (Score:5, Interesting)
Large industrial machines have an EOL measured in decades. You do not replace a lathe the size of a bus or a container ship because a Windows version changed
I have to maintain a variety of air-gapped boxes that run win 7, and two even still on XP.
After that date, manufacturers got smart and most everyone shipped Linux based control systems, but it took them a while, and still to this day not everyone has.
They are going to have to have some way to allow new installations of legacy versions.
Re:This will be interesting for industry (Score:4, Interesting)
Did they ever fix the McLaren F1 dependence on a Compaq LTE 5280 to perform maintenance?
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Got a link to the solution they came up with?
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To answer my own question, it appears that the answer is "No" [interestin...eering.com].
So much for the ChatGPT 'bot answer above.
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The Vortex86 CPU implements the 486 (and some later ones Penti
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Well, I know people that had to move off Windows as an industrial controller (which is pretty stupid anyways), because they need a network connection and Windows update was slow enough to kill the bio-rectors controlled.
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They are going to have to have some way to allow new installations of legacy versions.
They will not. A non-activated offline Windows presents no problem for such machines. The fundamental limit to an inactivated version of Windows was that it was blocked from updates and that it set your wallpaper black. The former doesn't matter (out of support), and the latter ... whop-de-fucking-do.
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No network card (Score:3)
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I still have some old machines that have no network card. They might still have dial-up modems. Does a drive failure then "destroy" those machines from being what they were. I want to keep them exactly as they are (they are backed up)--I don't want to put Linux on them, for example.
What are you doing wrong that windows phone activation comes into play when you replace a failed drive and restore a backup to it?
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A user-only revenue model might solve this problem (Score:2)
At some time they will collide with the GDPR (Score:5, Interesting)
Because the GDPR forbids a need to create an account unless it is needed. Windows does not need an account.
Well, maybe another $500M fine will remind Microsoft that the law applies to them...
Re: At some time they will collide with the GDPR (Score:3)
They'll just eat the fine and continue. If they get fined they can also state EULA violation and shut off all M$ logins in the EU combined with a bitlocker key change that isn't registered in the TPM and ask for a recovery fee of $10k per computer and login.
Re: At some time they will collide with the GDPR (Score:5, Interesting)
They'll just eat the fine and continue.
Haahahaha, no. If the illegal behavior is not stopped, there will be a 2nd fine and after that a prohibition to process personal information of any kind. That would mean their accounts become illegal in Europe. If they still continue, company representatives can get arrested and infrastructure seized and switched off. At least step 3 has happened to some company, I think in Greece. They are not even allowed to do their own HR anymore.
MS has no choice but to comply.
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There'll be zero fines, because your fantasy version of the GDPR in your head is irrelevant.
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False, it does no such thing. You seemingly have no idea how the GDPR works. What it does do is set a sunset time on any user related data assigned to an account, kept "no longer than necessary". It also prevents the requirement to force an account on a user at a later date that didn't exist at the time of purchase.
Not only does GDPR not preclude the requirement for an account to use a product, given several of Window's advertised features don't actually work without an account you're wrong about the "need"
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No recourse for when online activation breaks (Score:2)
There is no recourse for when online activation breaks. I used to call that number and explain: my effing hard drive died // or Windows cruft crashed so I need to reinstall on the same pc -- and they'd say, ok, use this new code instead. Now I have to buy a whole new motherfucking license.
Yes I also use Linux but sometimes I need to use Windows Apps because they're the ones that can access my data.
You can still offline activate (Score:5, Informative)
I just activated an offline windows 10 system a couple weeks ago
Yes the phone menu is gone. It directs you to online
But you can offline activate using their website and type in the code directly on the offline system
And it works
Please read what you just wrote... (Score:2)
can offline activate using their website
Is that the offline version of their web site?
This is why I don't use windows anymore (Score:3)
Oh hey, I actually know why they did this. (Score:5, Informative)
The writing's been on the wall for phone activation since then. I don't think they're going to bother patching it out of old versions of Windows but it was pretty obvious they were going to drop support for it at some point since it's so completely and utterly busted open.
300,000 offline virtual machines (Score:3)
I'm guessing Microsoft has provided us some sort of offline license activation server because there only legal method of moving data on or off this network is to copy it to a USB device, send it to a department who then scans its contents on a machine which is read-only and boots from network freshly for each task. Once the content is validated as safe, it is sent to the next machine which is virus and malware scanning. You can't send data in unapproved container formats like RAR. And then the USB drive is moved to the correct isolated virtual network and transferred into the isolated storage.
We are far from extreme compared to other environments I've encountered. I have worked in a place where, by Cisco's guidance, we were forced to fill the USB ports of Cisco equipment with epoxy because there was no way to disable the ports otherwise.
I think that either Microsoft has decided that they would issue offline licensing methods for special cases or that they wouldn't mind losing this kind of business.
This is also effecting Ms Office (Score:1)
I noticed this last year when trying to activate an old copy of MS office 2013.
I guess you could argue that I shouldn't be using an old unsupported copy, but this is for use in a non internet connected system.
I ended up downloading a crack and that worked.
Obligatory (Score:1)
Digital Fairness Act (Score:2)
I am looking forward to the European Digital Fairness Act that will be presented as a draft by end of January 2026.
For the time being it may suffice to file a complaint to antitrust
https://competition-policy.ec.... [europa.eu]
This kind of abuse of a monopoly needs to be checked.
Air-gapped Networks? (Score:2)
Not going to work very well on air-gapped networks.
Follow the link (Score:2)
I had a look at the link provided. It looks like MS is providing an offline activation via a web portal, rather then a phone number.
if you have an air gaped machine, you can use the website from your phone (it looks optimized for mobile, even on my desktop) to do the offline activation.
This has to be way better then doing it via phone.
Put the pitchforks down, MS isnt forcing machines to connect to the internet to activate, and they arn't really ending the service, just making it less dumb.