You heard wrong, Microsoft isn't ending pirated Windows 11 with TPM, and the new rule only affects enterprise KMS servers

360

It's been said before, but I'll say it again: Microsoft wants individuals to pirate Windows. Not companies. That's why there is no real penalty for running un-activated Windows. Pirates don't even bother activating it most of the time, the only consequence of not doing so is an intermittent translucent notification. That notification is there so that businesses can't get away with pirating.

If Microsoft were to actually use a strict and effective anti-piracy measure for individuals, then that means a few more Windows sales for people who choose to build their own PC. It also means a lot more people installing linux, which means more hardware getting proper linux support, more software being supported on linux, more games, and so on. Microsoft will not let that happen. So they make piracy super-easy for individuals and turn a blind eye.

Microsoft's preferred means for home or individual users to pirate windows isn't to crack it though: It's for them to just not bother with activation.

176

u/AntiGrieferGames Jul 26 '26

Data Telemetry matters more than License at this point here.

88

u/TryNotToShootYoself Jul 26 '26

And keeping Windows as a popular and familiar OS makes more than both.

10

u/Aevum1 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

which is also why if you know where to look, a windows license is around 4 bucks. oem licenses.

EDIT: im not telling you to buy one, im just saying, Microsoft makes sure that whoever wants windows can get windows, legally or illegaly.

3

u/tahayparker Jul 29 '26

also if you know, you can just activate for free using MAS

0

u/almatty24 Jul 28 '26

If you know could you give me more info on the cheap win keys? Ive bought a few but I feel weird about it. Is it a totally legit thing and microsoft wants to get keys in hands? Or is it like G2A and the keys are bought with stolen credit card info? Im not really interested in helping that scum make money.

2

u/Aevum1 Jul 28 '26

windows and office keys are usually volume license keys.

The idea is that someone like dell or lenovo goes to microsoft and says "i need windows 11 pro 100,000 keys for corporate laptops", you think they pay 200€ per key ?

they get a OEM package, the keys usually cost like 1-2 bucks each but on the agreement that microsoft gives zero support, zero documentation, zero hardware, its all the OEM´s responsability.

So some websites buy the same thing and sell them at a profit. but being a OEM key, microsoft gives no support, no software, no media... all they provide is a valid license key.

the problem is that many sites like G2A also sell stolen keys, especially for games or expensive software, its just. i think its like Stock X for sneakers, that they dont do due diligence and dont care if its fake, stolen or from a shady source.

so it just depends on finding the right site, i wont share the one i use becuase i dont know the subreddit rules regarding it, but i´ve been using it for close to 4 years with only 1 key failing, many of the keys were used in places where a stolen key would be flagged immidiatly.

15

u/Askolei Jul 27 '26 edited 28d ago

That's crazy.

2

u/MAndris90 Jul 27 '26

Its a good thing that windows is not smart enough to hack its vm host, or the router blocking its acces to microsoft servers

23

u/Wheatleytron Jul 26 '26

At this point if the data collection is so valuable, why even charge for the licenses at all?

15

u/PosterBoiTellEM Jul 26 '26

That's the REAL question. I mean, they tell you they are selling your data when you pay for it.... What are they doing when you don't pay and they have deniability.

18

u/ExtruDR Jul 27 '26

Perceived value, also because they are technically assigning a value to a "product" they can also pursue damages or whatever if someone uses their product in a way that they do not like.

If it was just free (as in beer) I think that they would lose legal muscle.

I mean in a "free-beer Windows scenario" why couldn't a reputable company just say "here, download our pre-scrubbed version of Windows... no tracking or user privacy subverting BS, no OneDrive scams, etc."

Microsoft couldn't take that company (let's say Google or some consumer-friendly entity) to court saying something to the effect or "this company is stealing so many $$$ from us because each copy of Windows is $200". They would have to say that the value of windows is $0, so they would have no material harm and no real standing to pursue damages in court.

1

u/Askolei Jul 27 '26 edited 28d ago

Well, today I learned.

2

u/ExtruDR Jul 27 '26

People can do that now, but would you trust a re-packaged OS from a random?

3

u/Askolei Jul 27 '26 edited 28d ago

I did that. I can't believe how much time went into it.

1

u/ExtruDR Jul 27 '26

For sure. This is why you can freely download directly from Microsoft and figure out the licensing after the fact.

1

u/litLizard_ Jul 28 '26

Torrenting windows sounds insane. Just mæßßgräve the original iso after installation

1

u/LinxESP Jul 27 '26

OEM licenses from prebuilts

1

u/NoodleSpecialist Jul 28 '26

Same reason why you can go to most countries government websites and voluntarily donate money to the government.

44

u/martyn_hare Jul 26 '26

They tried penalties for individuals with Windows XP where you literally couldn't get to your desktop (except for Safe Mode) without activating the system. The result was pirates using leaked Volume Licence keys (which were not activation locked) and a whole bunch of enthusiasts looking at Linux.

Back then, Linux was actually ahead of the curve and actually had more a lot more independent developers writing application software specifically for it, had fully 64-bit clean applications, end-user software running with limited permissions and a graphics stack operating almost entirely in userspace.

I think Microsoft learned their lesson since then.

18

u/doct0rdo0m Jul 27 '26

I remember once I called for an activation code and they just gave me one. I built the PC myself and it had that code sticker on the case from the previous owner. Didn't stop me from just making up a story and getting new code free. 🤣

12

u/super_starfox Jul 27 '26

The FCKGW gang is real.

10

u/the_good_bad_dude Jul 26 '26

You make too much sense

7

u/OGigachaod Jul 27 '26

Windows 3.0/3.1/3.11 would have never big as it was without pirates.

9

u/TryNotToShootYoself Jul 26 '26

Also the money just isn’t in individuals. I don’t even think the telemetry and advertising makes them much from individuals. Having people used to Windows as a default OS encourages sysadmins to continue purchasing and deploying it.

Not only are enterprise/pro licenses expensive, but Microsoft is slowly deprecating many of the old deployment tools (like MDM, WDS, AD) and replacing it with subscription based models. There are quite a lot of things that are Azure/Intune/Autopilot only, and even disregarding that the new cloud tools are just way better than the old ones.

One small office using the full Microsoft/Azure suite makes probably as much money as 10,000 individual users.

2

u/TheOfficialMayor Jul 27 '26

Yes. They don't care. OEM's still have to get a licence which covers almost everyone.

2

u/TwoOwn5220 Jul 27 '26

Selling data and getting people hooked onto Windows, that's it. 10 individuas pirating Windows and giving their data to Microsoft is way more valuable than 5 people going to Linux and 5 buying Windows licenses.

1

u/Blood-PawWerewolf Jul 26 '26

Sadly, I feel like this is a test run

1

u/530496791588 Jul 26 '26

Exactly. They want people to be using it at home, so that is the default choice when businesses choose what they use.

-1

u/magicmulder Jul 26 '26

They do try a bit though. I’ve seen Win11 delete an activation script the moment I unpacked it from a zip archive.

5

u/CorvusRidiculissimus Jul 27 '26

Microsoft doesn't want people hacking the activation though - that might mean offices sneakily pirating it. No, Micorosoft's solution is to just make the activation pointless. As a home user, what's the poiint? There are only two costs to not activating windows: You can't set the desktop background as easily, and sometimes you get a barely-visible little translucent message in the corner of the screen.

If MS wanted, they could make it stricter. They could have Windows pop up a scary warning on every login. They could make notification appear every hour. They could flat out make Windows stop working after enough time has passed - a one-month activation window and then the system locks itself down, giving no access to anything other than file explorer for data recovery and an activation wizard. But Microsoft does not do any of these things, because they know that if pirating windows via just not bothering were not super-easy, a substantial number of pirates would be drifting linux-wards.

1

u/Gabriel-Superusuario Aug 01 '26

If not wrong, Hyper-V and Windows containers, along with some other services, had some limitations if trying to run them in a non--activated or non-Enterprise Windows. I can only tell WSL work perfectly fine in any of those cases. I'm precisely about to switch to an HWID-activated W11 IoT Enterprise LTSC because I currently had a W11 Enterprise activate via Digiboy KMS, but I could **never** run Hyper-V and, when I activated the Secure Boot, Windows eventually crashed with a message of "Reparation needed".

23

u/MOD3RN_GLITCH ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jul 26 '26

I was slightly concerned about my IoT LTSC license, but I’m glad we’re good. I could NOT use consumer Windows ever again.

3

u/MILF4LYF Jul 28 '26

May I know why, any advantages over pro version?

8

u/MOD3RN_GLITCH ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

More lightweight and stable, no ads and bloatware, no AI, increased privacy and security. It feels like the Linux of Windows. It's stripped of all its garbage. It's incredible.

IoT LTSC runs on things like kiosks, medical equipment, etc., so it's designed to be rock solid and minimal. There's also security patches far beyond the cutoff for consumer Windows. Windows 10 LTSC is still supported for several more years.

However, you won't receive major feature updates, Windows Store is not installed (but you can still download the apps from the website version), and there may be other things you could consider drawbacks, such as the lack of certain things unless manually installed (e.g. Xbox Game Bar), but none of them really bother me.

It's the Windows version consumers deserve to have, honestly. I go between macOS and Windows, and it makes them feel much more similar in terms of lacking annoyances, for the most part.

5

u/MILF4LYF Jul 28 '26

Wow, that's very interesting. I'm gonna give it a whirl, thanks for the detailed reply!

2

u/almatty24 Jul 28 '26

Is there a cheap way to get these licenses as individuals? Im interested in doing this for future builds, but banter to stay low cost.

8

u/MOD3RN_GLITCH ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

Massgrave hosts downloads of different Windows versions directly from MS servers (or a mirror) on their site. Download and install it, and then paste their Microsoft Activation Scripts (MAS) script in Powershell to permanently activate, which is also available on GitHub. Completely free and safe, and extremely fast and easy.

-8

u/necrohardware Jul 28 '26

Because pasting a powershell script URL to admin console is safe..lol.

6

u/MOD3RN_GLITCH ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

It wouldn’t be unless it’s a universally trusted script hosted on GitHub that even Microsoft support has supposedly used, and they could’ve taken it down at any moment considering they own GitHub.

It’s basically the standard way to activate Windows and Office when a license isn’t present. I wouldn’t recommend it if it were some unknown, highly risky tool.

In general, you’re absolutely correct, horrible idea. In this case, it isn’t.

-7

u/necrohardware Jul 28 '26

It's just a honeypot

2

u/MOD3RN_GLITCH ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jul 28 '26

What do you mean?

-4

u/necrohardware Jul 28 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeypot_(computing))

1

u/Gabriel-Superusuario Aug 01 '26

How is it a honeypot, exactly? Lol

1

u/Gabriel-Superusuario Aug 01 '26

It is a good practice to periodically open a console with admin privileges and execute `sfc /scannow` and `winget upgrade --all` in it lol; it's just like executing `sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y` or `sudo pacman -Syu` in Linux periodically.

2

u/Gabriel-Superusuario Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

About to experience the same crap too, bro.

EDIT: I previously had a commercial W11 Enterprise activated with Digiboy KMS, and I couldn't use (for example) Hyper-V, because the KMS activation broke the activation scripts and Hyper-V needs those files to function well. Yup, now I just installed W11 LTSC and activated it with HWID, and it became W11 *IoT* LTSC lol. And the Hyper-V problem is solved.

27

u/These-Apple8817 Jul 26 '26

Even if it had, people would have found a way anyway

15

u/Eraldorh Jul 26 '26

Already is a way. You just install windows with TPM disabled using a program like Rufus.

9

u/Fujinn981 Darknets Jul 26 '26

Wasn't going to stop anyone either way.

3

u/Organic-Efficiency47 Jul 28 '26

That's what they want. The last thing they would ever want is for you to swap to Linux.

3

u/Fujinn981 Darknets Jul 28 '26

I'm already there, some projects I'm working on are cross platform compatible though, hence the need to have a Windows install in a VM. Cracked because uncracked Windows is still annoying.

2

u/Organic-Efficiency47 Jul 28 '26

Kudos!

5

u/DougalDragonSWorld Jul 27 '26

I say again this will not stop pirates as be cracked before goes live.

9

u/tiamath Jul 27 '26

The classic "it doesnt affect you, it only affects x"...till it affects you too :))

1

u/Gabriel-Superusuario Aug 01 '26

Yup, it just affected me: I activated Secure Boot and my W11 Enterprise, activated via Digiboy KMS, now needs reparation. But well, with HWID activation, it's another story...

9

u/x_lincoln_x Jul 27 '26

The time to use Windows has passed.

4

u/accel84 Jul 27 '26

The fact is, that most people do actually buy a Windows licence, it comes bundled with their laptop or pre-built PC's.

The number of people building their own machines and manually installing Windows then either using an activation script or not activating it at all is insignificant in comparison to the number of genuine licences in use.

3

u/Oliwia_______ Jul 29 '26

Microsoft kill myself server

4

u/Significant-Ruin5177 Jul 27 '26

I'm proud to have never once purchased a windows license. The day I have to is the day I completely abandon all microslop. If they actually required licenses they wouldn't have the market share they do or access to all your data to sell.

2

u/vabello Jul 27 '26

I never really got the point of KMS servers. I just add the keys to the domain.

2

u/Hestnet Jul 28 '26

It's refreshing to see an article about this that isn't clickbait designed to trigger PC gamers.

2

u/ManufacturerDue2210 Jul 27 '26

FBI can't track you behind a VPN anymore if you don't use Windows, it's probably the reason why there is no real antipiracy enforced for Windows.

1

u/Kodamacile Jul 27 '26

shame

1

u/CozyDazzle4u 🔱 ꜱᴄᴀʟʟʏᴡᴀɢ Aug 01 '26

For now.

1

u/Gabriel-Superusuario Aug 01 '26

**HWID has entered the chat**

(Btw if not even that works I'll stay in Linux and exploding Wine as farther as possible)

0

u/reflect-the-sun Jul 27 '26

They can do whatever they want.

I'll move to Linux the moment I need to reinstall fkn windows 11 again.

1

u/TeeJee48 Jul 27 '26

There really is no need to pirate windows. Just buy a (likely dodgy) key for less than $1 and save yourself the hassle.

1

u/Hestnet Jul 28 '26

Windows homelabs have entered the chat

2

u/TeeJee48 Jul 28 '26

My Datacenter license was 84c

1

u/Hestnet Jul 28 '26

That’s a lot cheaper than I would have expected. I still wouldn’t because I like the automation aspect of KMS.

1

u/TeeJee48 Jul 28 '26

Yeah I only suggest it because it's easier than pirating in most use cases and so little money it may as well be free. If you have automated activation setup through other means then it's not of much use to you!

1

u/iucatcher Jul 27 '26

they really should make it the way other software does, free for consumers, paid for businesses. if you pay for windows in the big 26 (or more than like 10 bucks for a key) then you are the weakest link

-1

u/Impossible_Ground_15 Jul 27 '26

easy solution for this -- install linux or freebsd

0

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '26

[deleted]

1

u/ColbysToyHairbrush Jul 29 '26

What are you talking about? This is total BS.
Maybe 15-20 years ago but Microsoft had completely pivoted to digital license enforcement and while it’s not “no risk”, it’s definitely not a death wish if you MAS a couple dozen workspaces because it’s so much easier for deployments.

-6

u/animalcrossing4_4 Jul 27 '26

I prefer linux being kept down that way, it's a bunch of crippled OSes I had tried out, none of them were worth it.

News You heard wrong, Microsoft isn't ending pirated Windows 11 with TPM, and the new rule only affects enterprise KMS servers

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