I’m looking to test out Windows, but I don’t want to download it without my VPN. I’m trying to use it in a virtual machine with GPU passthrough so I can play all my games. I also obviously don’t want to pay for a copy. TIA!
Just download it from MS directly and use it unactivated (select “I don’t have a key” when prompted). Why anyone would f- around with their OS, of all things…
If you care to activate, it’s trivial to get a grey key or to find an activation script (though I think they patched out the script – even though MS Support themselves used it)
Google massgravel
Or just use ohook
https://massgrave.dev/ohook.html
Used this about 4 times in the past month alone lol
This is the way
That looks like for Office? Not Windows?
It’s both
There’s also Tiny10/Tiny11 on Archive.org.
I use it in VM’s for testing.
How can you ever trust something like that?
That’s why they’re using a VM.
https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php /s, but you can use the offical version for playing games and stuff without paying, and there are easy ways to get around the limitations (remove watermark, change desktop background, etc).
mint is garbage
You don’t have to download pirated Windows. Microsoft offers free versions of Windows (at least 10, not sure about other versions) on their website for making a bootable usb.
Even if I hate to pay for it, the best safe solution get a cheap windows 7 or 10 key and if you want upgrade it. It’s free. Pirating something like an os is high risk I won’t do it.
Win7 keys are done for.
Win10 keys are the only hope.
Haitch tea tea pea colon slash slash double you double you double you dot microsoft dot com
Just download Tiny11. It removes all the bloat and just loads the basic.
I was using TechBench to download ISO’s from MS without having to change my useragent.
Sadly it looks like the project has been retired in favour of their Files project, but trawling through that to find entries that actually have download links is a royal pain in the ass.
If anyone has a tip on easily finding the latest download for each Windows version then I’d love to hear it.
Edit: Massgrave seems to be current best option: https://massgrave.dev/genuine-installation-media.html
I used to just buy a key from Kinguin or similar. It’s usually around 2-3 usd for an OEM key (only usable on 1 computer) and you can pay with PayPal. Never had issues yet.
Next time around I might try this activation script that was mentioned here though.
The fact that this is available on a Microsoft-owned source code repository is bonkers to me.
Because they get your data as long as you install Windows and your data over time is worth more than you would pay for the OS.
Not really as that brings pennies. The logic is the same as WinRar. Basically they don’t care about users pirating since it helps them retain the market share since middle aged or older people aren’t that tech savvy.
The biggest moneymaker in retail sector is laptop manufacturers bundling windows with their laptops and companies/corporations using legit windows copies.
They get ridiculous amounts of money just to provide security updates to windows XP because there are loads of equipment that can’t be run without the specific software that is incompatible with later versions.
And they will get ridiculous amounts of money 20 years down the line for doing the same with windows 10 too as long as they retain the massive market share and middle aged people will be accustomed to win 10.
You are probably talking about future me…
It comes to everyone. At a certain point you just lose the energy to keep learning new tech.
I’ve heard that that’s similar to why Adobe creative cloud was so easy to pirate for years (maybe it still is, idk, I switched to affinity forever ago). Adobe is the industry standard because everyone uses it -> person wants to learn photo/video editing, digital illustration, etc, but can’t afford it -> pirate Adobe instead of trying cheaper/free alternatives, because it’s the industry standard -> person with Adobe skills gets hired by business that pays for Adobe legitimately because that’s what most people know -> Adobe is the industry because everyone uses it, and the cycle goes on…
I heard from someone that MS support just tells people to use this if something goes wrong with their key.
They use it internally as well.
Cos they don’t give a fuck while you keep using their software and consuming your stuff the way they want you to consume your stuff.
This right here. If I remember correctly Gates even said there was no issue as long as people were using Windows.
Billionaires are not stupid people like some people like to pretend they are, there are some of them who have tons of money for a reason and it it’s not dumbness exactly. Yeah they like to evade taxes and do shady shit too but definitely not as dumb as working 9-5 for more than a half of your life yo know.
It’s not dumb to work 9-5 if it’s your only choice. And most people weren’t saying that billionaires are dumb, just that they’re psychopaths.
Hardly ever use Windows myself, but I’m pretty sure you can just download it from Microsoft and refuse all the nags to register it when you are installing it.
You can indeed. You end up with a permanent small water mark on bottom right hand side of the screen as a reminder to activate. Currently you can keep it like this indefinitely,.
Why would you download a “pirated” copy? Just download the dumbass Windows official installer. They give you the images for them.
Download the official iso from Microsoft, install it, then run MAS on it if you really want to activate it.
Does wine have problems with some of your games?
wine has problems with a lot of games unfortunately, especially ones with any sort of anticheat.
The games with client side anticheat install a rootkit. I wouldn’t install any if they paid me to, let alone pirate them.
Most games without anticheat work fine. Sometimes there are issues with DRM, but the pirated version with the DRM bypassed will often work.
