this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026
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Who was calling MS in the first place?! If you want it activated with a local account, do the
OBE\\bypassnrothing. Who would this really affect?I don’t think I called Microsoft to activate windows since 2012 at the latest to activate a copy of XP SP3. I’d be surprised if they got 100 calls the last decade to activate a copy of windows legitimately. Their amount of airgapped or remote systems that run windows that can’t be activated over the internet has to be miniscule
I've done this at some point. Didnt look up the source, but this might affect other ms sw as well, namely older office. If activated lets say within 90 days twice for a certain cd key, you were easier to call the number to get the windows activated (legally).
Yeah I use linux myself so dont give a fuck all, but I've offered support for small companies which can be affected.