Digital License (HWID) Generation without KMS or predecessor install/upgrade
s1ave77 (known from MDL forums) wrote another little utility in order to activate any Windows 10 version, for Volume license versions this means it doesn’t require KMS in order to activate it. It’s also not depending to install an older Windows Version in order to ‘upgrade’ your Windows to a newer version (upgrade ‘trick).
Introduction
The little program hwidgen.mk3 (.mk3 extension stands for the AutoHotkey program extension) enables your Windows Update services in order to function properly after it does its ‘magic‘ it will deactivate the service. This step is needed in order to activate your Windows and to verify the license status (the watermark will disappear). However, the program doesn’t require any KMS for Volume license SKU’s.
The program works via slshim and Windows 10 own GatherOsState.exe (which you can extract from the ISO). The activation keys are used from the products.ini, these keys are generic ones and a legal to post/share – in other words, these are the keys you can temporarily use during setup (usually).
In Windows 10 all systems no matter how they were activated (be it via Upgrade from Windows 7/8.1 or by using a bought Retail or an embedded BIOS aka MSDM license) will be converted to a Digital License which is based on the Hard Ware ID (HWID) of the respective machine. This License is stored at MS Servers and will activate this machine every time it's freshly installed. Only hardware changes will cause the License being invalidated. By binding it to a Microsoft Account (MSA) you will be able to transfer it in latter case.
The process only needs to be performed once per machine. In later installs just skip any key prompts (choose 'I have no product key' during setup) and at first online contact the MS Server will regocnize the HWID and grant activation automatically.
NOTE : When a Volume License version is installed from VLSC or MVS Business ISO, the default Retail/OEM key needs to be inserted to regain acticvation.
It's actually quite simple and doesn't mess with any system files and leaked (*errrm stolen) keys.
The ticket creation has been appropriately refined for each MS SKU edition so that the Manual Method below is fully applicable to all of them. The Automated Method has been included as well for an easiest activation and works with all MS SKU editions and was specifically devised for the following ones:
Supported Windows 10 editions (SKUs):
Core (Home) (N)
CoreSingleLanguage (N)
Professional (N)
ProfessionalEducation (N)
ProfessionalWorkstation (N)
Education (N)
Enterprise (N)
EnterpriseS (N)
File: hwidgen.mk3.exe
BLAKE2sp: 5b07279fcb5601b43b62d1bdf686dd9ec822afe022e9791556d3760fd00eabfa
CRC64: 04854a5bf82ea9f3
MD5: e18c5191ff5e28516292e2c1a2db042c
SHA-1: 5c0f50125c9651e1acb3468e7460381ef3aa7917
SHA-256: 4d7b8701a8de74b6192d6946d8040ea79546314bc2b12babbc873d89e6a16ec0
SHA-384: ebcf946c126ad8b09114a330171ce94771bf2cbfb37d9ea556ee111a21b9cd3cdbf761d89311ddf275279a1cf4ff0711
SHA-512: 376eedb48ef201ced43d5e54aa10912597480e50e50e5c38e60e53460f9a760a10914e8016b409e62a2b2430e6ac8c8d1bd8037888cbbc9c5ac3a1839e612e0e
SHA3-224: ae3775dda001aae20820a1402803ba8ddd9e5d9a11a3a423e211ca7b
SHA3-256: e8bf788eb2dc4f67b26d5ad3d17e04a9d66ba308711d33d4886d49973b4bec67
VirusTotal Result:3/65:
https://www.virustotal.com/#/file/4d7b8701a8de74b6192d6946d8040ea79546314bc2b12babbc873d89e6a16ec0/detection
Changelog :
v10.24 fixed incorrect reg delete (thanks to angelkyo for the hint)
v10.21 corrected the Win 7 compat entry (thanks to the alert source)
v10.18 fixed broken LTSB 2016 process
v10.15 added Enterprise LTSB 2015 (N) support (tested on non-N version) (thanks to hwidmod for the gatherosstate.exe needed)
v10.08 added Key-Install-Mode (Drop-Down-Menu) to allow fast switch to Retail/OEM on re-Installs with VL ISO, which already have HWID and don't need the whole process, tool will show this key in System Info if not installed
