Microsoft-Activation-Scripts VS vlmcsd

LTSC eliminates so many antifeatures present in 11 and 10 Home, and also solves the problem of the EOL for 10 next year - Win10 IoT Enterprise LTSC is good through 2031.

Grab the "en-us_windows_10_iot_enterprise_ltsc_2021_x64_dvd_257ad90f" ISO, sha1 begins 76c3c10e, from Microsoft:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

(Note that you have to set your user agent to something other than Windows.)

Run the activation script from Github:

https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts

And enjoy a Windows that feels like your own PC again, not Microsoft's.

I have to run a number of CAD programs and proprietary IDEs in a Win10 VM, this is the only way it's usable for me.

I upgraded my Windows 7 to 10 (due to Chrome-based browsers weren't being updated anymore for Windows 7, and there was the WebP exploit) using DISM, and I learn that you can also upgrade Windows 10 to Enterprise, which is a little less car-salesman-ly than Pro (no web stuff on the Start Menu/search for example):

https://woshub.com/upgrade-windows-10-edition-without-reinst...

On this Windows edition I haven't seen any nudges to upgrade to 11.

There's even a "curl $URL | sh"-esque command to get Windows activated, hosted on Microsoft's own Github: https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts

Or MAS[0]

[0] https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts

this GitHub tool will do it for you in like a few mouse clicks

>! Hey you, want to activate your windows quick and safely? Use MAS https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts I’ve used it before and my computer hasn’t exploded, look it up if you’re worried. !<

There is no github script that fixes this, there are scripts that redirect the activation mechanism to pirate activation servers that validate every incoming request. Not knowing this mechanism beforehand, I was very surprised by this, because this is what even many activator software do as well.

I consider it a major breach of trust from the authors. Maybe there can be an exploit that uses the activation mechanism as a vector, and then, many of such machines will be compromised. This is a risk, and it's something that a user needs to evaluate before going into it.

I personally solve this for myself by running the activation server emulator myself. It's open source software and really easy to set up as well.

https://github.com/Wind4/vlmcsd

I routinely downloaded it from a pirate site, but I see that it's available here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/download-windows-...

Works well without activation, if you don't mind the overlay. But what I did is that I pointed it at a KMS emulator, which is a piece of software that responds to every activation request as a positive. The internet is full of lists of servers like these, but I host it myself - basically just built and compiled this one: https://github.com/Wind4/vlmcsd

I personally run my own activation server (https://github.com/Wind4/vlmcsd), and just point the Windows installation there. Or you can use one of the many servers that are floating around the internet. Either way, it's a bit annoying unfortunately.

/This is not an advertisement for vlmcsd

In AUR: https://github.com/Wind4/vlmcsd