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What is the activation principle of Windows? I believe many inexperienced people don't know what to do about it. Therefore, this paper summarizes the causes and solutions of the problem. Through this article, I hope you can solve this problem.

First of all, I must tell you that I personally support the use of genuine copies. Even if genuine copies are not used, piracy should be avoided as far as possible. Of course, this article will try to objectively and comprehensively take you to understand the current Windows10, Windows7 activation information.

Win10+Win7

Activation code

a. Retail (Retail)

All activation codes obtained through this channel can be indefinitely reinstalled or even transferred to other computers (only one can be activated at a time), usually shown as product key activation. This channel is strictly the only formal channel for individual users, and what it sells is the so-called genuine retail Win10.

Official retail: including box (USB,DVD), digital version. Sold at an official price with no discount. You can buy this version from the Microsoft App Store, Microsoft website, or Microsoft stores.

OEM retail: USB,DVD, digital version. The channel is a third party licensed and supplied by Microsoft. In theory, it should be sold at Microsoft's official suggested retail price (original price), but not necessarily. Some merchants will sell it at a price slightly lower than the original price and mark it as an OEM version of retail (in fact, it is only marked with OEM, which is not essentially different from the unmarked ones through this kind of channel activation code). Of course, after getting the original box or activation, the activation code of this channel is the same as that officially sold by Microsoft. Typical third parties such as Amazon,Newegg,CanadaComputers and so on.

Boxed Win10

b. Wholesale (commonly known as OEM channel-official name: batch activation Volume Activation)

Both KMS and ADA are authenticated by the host that controls the activation and is usually shown as the activation service of the organization. MAK and OEM- are pre-installed with a unique hardware Hash, which usually comes with a COA (Certificate of Authenticity), and the COA is printed with a product key (ProductKey) that belongs to the machine. Both are usually shown as digital rights activation, which, officially, should be shown as product key activation.

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KMS (Key Management Service): this version usually serves large and medium-sized enterprises. Explain the principle briefly: a large number of computers in enterprises usually have a special DNS domain name server in front of them to control the network, manage traffic or control services, or provide routing and other services. Deploy the Microsoft official script on the server and enter a CSVLK key (Microsoft Customer Support Volume License Key) to make the server a KMS host. All computers under the same domain name (LAN) of the host can be activated. At the end of the cycle, the computer requests a new activation from the server.

MAK (Multiple Activation Key): this version usually serves small and medium-sized enterprises and some computer manufacturers. The deployment method is flexible, either through the KMS server to convert the Client (the computer that needs to be activated) into MAK activation, or in the pre-installation environment (PE) or the computer after installation (enter the activation code). Some small and medium-sized computer manufacturers or enterprises that use MAK only need to preset the MAK activation code provided by Microsoft in the PE or the computer that has not completed the final installation.

Directory-based dynamic activation (Active Directory-based Activation-- hereinafter referred to as ADA): this version serves small businesses. The method is very similar to KMS. ADA needs to activate the GVLK key on the master computer that manages the computer activation (Generic Volume License Key-- is provided by Microsoft), while other computers in the same security group as the host computer can be activated if they are in the host computer's activation license directory, and the activation is updated every 180 days. The biggest difference with KMS is: 1 the main computer can not be a server, 2KMS can only activate more than 25 computers, ADA is not subject to this restriction.

OEM- pre-install Windows: most of the more formal computer manufacturers use this method of activation, which is characterized by a COA patch containing a product key. At the beginning of Win8, the product key is bound to the only hardware Hash of the computer. If you are not logged in to the Microsoft account, you need to enter the product key provided by COA when reinstalling. If you have logged in before, you only need to log in to the account again. Before Win8, the activation code on COA was actually an inactive OEM activation code in case the computer's original activation failed after reinstallation; that's why someone used to secretly take pictures of the activation code. (please read on for more details.)

COA Label

Crack

KMSpico of A.KMS principle: the software was first written by Github user charygao in 2016, and the latest and last version, V10.2.0, was released in June of the same year. It is used to activate local Windows as a KMS virtual service with a time limit of 180 days, because scripts with AutoKMS are able to achieve automatic activation every 180 days, that is, the so-called permanent activation.

According to the information provided by the author, the software is developed based on the KMS Emulator (KMS simulator) source code provided by several authors. The Hash of the software is as follows.

File:KMSpico_setup.exe

Size:3,08 MB

CRC32:683a3351

MD5:a02164371a50c5ff9fa2870ef6e8cfa3

SHA1:060614723f8375ecaad8b249ff07e3be082d7f25

The software has been reported to the virus by Defender since the version before and after 1709. Due to the various versions circulated on all kinds of other websites, this software may be modified or added Trojans except the original version of GitHub and versions from other sources.

PS: KMS activation is not supported for flagship Ultimate, and KMS activation is supported only for home Home and professional Professional.

KMSpico

The pony activator of the B.SLIC/SLP principle: SLIC (System License Internal Code), SLP (System Locked Preinstallation), to sum up, the pony activator loads fake SLIC files before Win7 starts to make Win7 think it is activated by SLP, while SLP activation is the only way to bypass networking or phone activation.

In order to make it easy for you to understand, simply explain that SLP,SLP is an activation technology and SLIC is the key file of this technology. The SLP activation code is provided by Microsoft to the computer manufacturer, which contains the Hash of the corresponding brand machine, and the SLIC file is not only a file to record some information, but also a file for the system to detect its own activation status. This file will be read when it is powered on. PS1: a unique hardware Hash has been added to the new version of SLP3.0 (Win8 and later), and forced networking activation, so SLIC activation is no longer valid (because Microsoft has your Hash, which will be explained later), and the SLP activation code is no longer used. And most of the back machines use UEFI. You don't need SLP at all.

The original origin of the software is unknown.

Pony activation tool

Display information and reinstall

Information collected by Microsoft

Microsoft collects some information about the user's system each time it is activated, as follows:

Activate the collected information

Display information

The forms of activation displayed are basically divided into the following three types: digital license, product key, and organization's activation service. Microsoft itself has put a table in the official answer to explain. As shown in the following picture. Of course, what is actually shown is not necessarily the case. Some Retail product keys are also displayed as digital license activation. MAK channels are usually also displayed as digital license activation after activation.

Microsoft's official explanation of activation mode information

Check your own version

As for how to view your activation code channel and version, you only need to use the slmgr-dlv command in CMD to query, as shown in the following figure.

Enter slmgr-div

Prompt window after input (PS: some product keys are default keys that have nothing to do with the actual key)

About reloading

This is the most complex part of this article, and I have not fully found relevant and reliable information to prove all of the following points. Microsoft officials did not give a specific and accurate answer. The corresponding relationship of the old version of the product key: home version of → Home Edition; Professional Edition, flagship version of → Professional Edition. MAK corresponds to the relative version of Win10MAK. Since all versions of activation Microsoft will collect the user's hardware unique Hash, partial reinstallation may not require key activation.

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About retail Retail product keys: keys from Win7 to Win10 should be able to reinstall Win10 indefinitely (please read this sentence carefully), of course, only one computer can be activated at a time, unless the previous computer has become inactive (reinstall). It is also said that Win10's previous retail activation code can only be reinstalled once, but from my personal test of Win7 activation code, it should be indefinitely reactivated. If you bind an account, you can generally log in again, and if the re-login is invalid, you can solve it according to the following Microsoft official answer.

About MAK product keys: no version of MAK theoretically supports reinstallation, but of course, if a key is still available, you can reactivate it by re-entering the key and consuming a quantity. But do not rule out, one theory is that it will become a digital license, if you bind a Microsoft account to re-log in.

Activation of the KMS version: if it is a genuine KMS, of course it will be activated automatically. It's not authentic. I don't have to explain it.

For systems that use previous versions of SLP3.0, Win7 and previous versions: if your computer is originally activated with SLP, then you usually do not need a second activation to reinstall Win7. But if you need to upgrade and you turn MBR+BIOS into GPT+UEFI, you have to enter a new activation code.

After reading the above, have you mastered the activation principle of Windows? If you want to learn more skills or want to know more about it, you are welcome to follow the industry information channel, thank you for reading!

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