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!
These days the best way is to download the official ISO, install without key, open powershell with admin rights and run the massgrave one-liner script with a quick copy/paste.
Why would you download a “pirated” copy? Just download the dumbass Windows official installer. They give you the images for them.
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.
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…
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 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.
Download the official iso from Microsoft, install it, then run MAS on it if you really want to activate it.
Just use quickemu, it will download the ISO and setup the VM for you in less than 10 minutes. If it doesn’t download the ISO you can get it from M$'s website.
Also if you don’t wanna pay and don’t absolutely need windows just use any one of the many free Linux distros honestly.
You don’t download pirated copies for your your safety.
Download official ISOs from https://massgrave.dev/ (preferably the business editions and install Enterprise,… or Pro) and then use the provided activator on the same website.
Side note: Enterprise is the same as Pro without some telemetry / garbage by default or that can be further disabled, so you can safely use it.
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,.
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.
You only need a key to activate Windows. Windows 10 and later will install and run just fine without activation.
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
For the actual Windows image you can download ISOs for most every version of Windows from Microsoft directly, you just need your browser’s user agent to say you’re using a non-Windows OS. Since you say you’re looking to “test Windows” it sounds like you’re on another OS, so you should be able to just download an ISO normally.
The easy way to get a clean copy is to download it directly from Microsoft. You can generate a valid download link using the follwing website (just make sure the domain of the generated link points to Microsoft and nothing bad can happen)
https://tb.rg-adguard.net/public.php
As for the activation, I have found that the My Digital Life Forums have good activators available usually:
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.
