{"id":14626,"date":"2026-01-05T15:46:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T14:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/?p=14626"},"modified":"2026-01-05T09:50:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:50:00","slug":"windows-activation-is-now-online-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/2026\/01\/05\/windows-activation-is-now-online-only\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows activation is now online-only…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you needed yet another reason to leave Windows, Slashdot tells us that Microsoft has “quietluy” discontinued the offline activation of Windows<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Neowin reports that<\/a>: Offline Windows activation has been possible to do using the phone. However, it looks like Microsoft has quietly killed off that method as users online have found that they are no longer able to activate the OS using it… [As documented by Windows user Ben Kleinberg on his YouTube channel<\/a>], Now when trying to activate the OS by attempting to call the phone number for Microsoft Product Activation, an automated voice response says the following: “Support for product activation has moved online. For the fastest and most convenient way to activate your product, please visit our online product activation portal at aka.ms\/aoh”

If you are wondering, that link takes users to the Microsoft Product Activation Portal for online activation. Thus it appears that offline ways to activate Windows may no longer be available even though the official support documentation<\/a> by the company may not reflect it yet.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

People needing or wanting full control of their machines will need using free-as-in-freedom operative systems, such as Debian GNU\/Linux, ghostbsd.org<\/a> (for a fairly approachable desktop experience see other BSDs such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD and others<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you needed yet another reason to leave Windows, Slashdot tells us that Microsoft has “quietluy” discontinued the offline activation of Windows. Neowin reports that: Offline Windows activation has been possible to do using the phone. However, it looks like Microsoft has quietly killed off that method as users online have found that they are…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[490],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yet-another-reason-to-avoid-microsoft"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/01\/image.png?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6daft-3NU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41,"url":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/2014\/09\/12\/bye-bye-nokia\/","url_meta":{"origin":14626,"position":0},"title":"Bye bye Nokia","author":"Paolo Redaelli","date":"2014-09-12","format":false,"excerpt":"I was sure that Microsoft would have dropped Nokia brand. They seems to be in hurry to erase Nokia brand from memory and brains of people. As usual Microsoft buys brands and companies, sacks and plunder whatever they want and throw away the bought brand like an empty skin. Farewell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Senza categoria"","block_context":{"text":"Senza categoria","link":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/category\/senza-categoria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lumia Branding","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geekongadgets.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Lumia-Branding.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geekongadgets.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Lumia-Branding.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geekongadgets.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Lumia-Branding.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geekongadgets.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Lumia-Branding.png?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geekongadgets.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Lumia-Branding.png?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geekongadgets.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Lumia-Branding.png?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":492,"url":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/2015\/06\/28\/growing-your-virtualbox-virtual-disk\/","url_meta":{"origin":14626,"position":1},"title":"Growing your VirtualBox Virtual Disk","author":"Paolo Redaelli","date":"2015-06-28","format":false,"excerpt":"Most people simply had to deal with proprietary software that more or less runs exclusively on Microsoft OSes. For example when I bought my Dell laptop I used the Microsoft license that I grudgingly had to bought to create a fully legal installation into a virtual machine as the physical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"low-disk-space","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/06\/low-disk-space1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13890,"url":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/2025\/08\/20\/13890\/","url_meta":{"origin":14626,"position":2},"title":"Windows Power Users Frustrated as\u2026","author":"Paolo Redaelli","date":"2025-08-20","format":"status","excerpt":"Windows Power Users Frustrated as Microsoft Forces Automatic App Updates or yet another reason not to use Windows and other proprietary programs","rel":"","context":"In "Ethics"","block_context":{"text":"Ethics","link":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/category\/ethics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4452,"url":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/2018\/07\/31\/with-daas-windows-coming-say-goodbye-to-your-pc-as-you-know-it-slashdot\/","url_meta":{"origin":14626,"position":3},"title":"With DaaS Windows Coming, Say Goodbye To Your PC As You Know It – Slashdot","author":"Paolo Redaelli","date":"2018-07-31","format":false,"excerpt":"Knowing how lazy and ignorant are people this is not a good news: With DaaS Windows Coming, Say Goodbye To Your PC As You Know It - Slashdot people are too much accostumed to rent things to understand how crippled they will be. Ostracus shares a report from Computerworld, written\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mood"","block_context":{"text":"Mood","link":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/category\/mood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13954,"url":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/2026\/02\/16\/first-came-wine\/","url_meta":{"origin":14626,"position":4},"title":"First came Wine\u2026","author":"Paolo Redaelli","date":"2026-02-16","format":false,"excerpt":"First came Wine, i.e. Wine Is Not an Emulator, a free-as-in-freedom re-implementation of Windows API, allowing to run Windows application with various grade of effectiveness. Then came those: WinBoat Run Windows apps on \ud83d\udc27 Linux with \u2728 seamless integration, which uses WinApps Run Windows apps such as Microsoft Office\/Adobe in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wine"","block_context":{"text":"Wine","link":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/category\/wine\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/winboat_logo.svg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/winboat_logo.svg 1x, https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/winboat_logo.svg 1.5x, https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/winboat_logo.svg 2x, https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/winboat_logo.svg 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3712,"url":"https:\/\/monodes.com\/predaelli\/2018\/01\/27\/disk2vhd\/","url_meta":{"origin":14626,"position":5},"title":"Disk2vhd","author":"Paolo Redaelli","date":"2018-01-27","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes you are just forced to use proprietary software. 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