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A group of developers who call themselves Massgrave have successfully hacked Microsoft's activation tools for Windows and Office. The collective has uploaded a set of PowerShell scripts to their repository on GitHub, where anyone can download and use the tools to activate any edition of Windows or any perpetual-license Office edition without paying Microsoft's licensing fees.
The most recent update includes a module that the group claims will allow users to install Windows 10 security updates after the end of support in October 2025, without paying the hefty fees that Microsoft charges for an Extended Security Update subscription.
Also: Can't quit Windows 10? Microsoft will charge for updates next year. Here's how much
In a long blog post, a Massgrave developer explained how the group was able to reverse-engineer Microsoft's antipiracy mechanism, the Software Protection Platform. Using a variety of techniques, the scripts can activate PCs running Windows 7/8.x/10/11 and their corresponding server versions. The scripts also support activation of Office 2010 and later versions, but only for the perpetual-license products and not for Microsoft 365 subscriptions. This chart includes details of how each activation method works.
Running the script requires only the barest of technical knowledge. If you can open a PowerShell window and paste in a command, you can use the tool's simple menu-driven interface, which is shown below:
This menu includes activation methods that work with old and new versions of Windows and Office. Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
I tested the software with a fresh installation of Windows 11 in a virtual machine, without using a product key, and used the MAS script's HWID mechanism to create what appeared to be a valid digital license. Next, I transferred the virtual hard disk to a new virtual machine, simulating the kind of casual copying that product activation is designed to prevent. Windows reported that the PC wasn't properly activated, so I ran the MAS script and upgraded using the TSForge method. It worked perfectly.
Next, for good measure, I fired up a fully updated and activated Windows 10 machine and used the TSForge method to grant this virtual PC three years' worth of Extended Security Updates for free. That subscription should have cost me $427. (However, I won't know until the end of this year whether that subscription works.)
Also: Is your Windows license legal? Should you even care?
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