- Once a system is activated, this activation cannot be removed because the license is stored in the Microsoft servers and not in the user's system. MS checks the hardware ID (HWID) and if a license is found in their database, the system will automatically activate.
- Any significant changes in the Hardware (such as a motherboard) may deactivate the system. It is possible to reactivate a system that was deactivated because of significant hardware changes, IF your activation, was linked to an online Microsoft account.
- For activation to succeed, internet connectivity must be enabled. If you are trying to activate without these conditions being met, then the system will auto-activate later when the conditions are met.
- The system will NOT auto-activate if VL (Business) media was used for the installation. In this case, the user will have to insert that windows edition Retail/OEM key (find keys below on this page) to activate, if the user doesn't wish to activate again using this script.
- In the official upgrade process from Windows 7 to Windows 10, Microsoft provides an HWID (digital license) activation for Windows 10 without any cost.
- In the background, the upgrade process runs a file named `gatherosstate.exe` and it checks the license of current Windows if found activated, it generates a valid GenuineTicket.xml which is sent to Microsoft and in return, MS authorizes a license.
- So if we just convince the `gatherosstate.exe` file that the system is activated by fooling it, it will generate a valid ticket, which can be used to get the valid HWID (Digital license). The script here does exactly that to get the activation for free without any upgrade process.
- Umm.. Yes, but actually no. The signature type can (sort of) be used to determine what utility is responsible for the ticket. There is no way (in a standard environment) for a non-activated Windows 10 installation to generate a ticket. In the normal process, gatherosstate will ask SLC for the entire ticket, but when this fails it will generate and sign it by itself, creating a "downlevelGTkey" signature. For every activated system, a generated ticket will be returned by SLC and thus will have a "clientLockboxKey" signature. Put simply, the signature (should) always be a "clientLockboxKey" one in the case of an activated system, but in this case, it isn't. Microsoft will not take action against it, because of the risk of voiding valid licenses. Besides, they never really cared for consumer piracy; That's not where they get the most money from.
- ServerRdsh edition does not [officially](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/windows-10-multisession-faq#can-i-run-windows-10-enterprise-multi-session-on-premises) support activation on non-azure systems.
- We don't suggest running the Lockbox method on a production system. Hence by default script will choose the Downlevel method and won't show you the option to select the Lockbox method. However, if you want, you can apply it through command line switches.
- To enable LockBox method (not recommended), run the script with /k parameter You need to use this option with either activation or ticket generation. Example,
