Activation Methods Chart

Below is a comparison of activation methods offered by Microsoft Activation Scripts.

Basics

	HWID	Ohook	KMS38	Online KMS	TSforge (ZeroCID)
Does not require internet connection	❌	✅	✅	❌	✅
Activation is permanent	✅	✅	✅1	✅2	✅
Does not leave any files in the system to keep the activation status	✅	❌	✅	❌	✅

Persistence

	HWID	Ohook	KMS38	Online KMS	TSforge (ZeroCID)
Persists between hardware changes	❌	✅	❌	✅	✅
Persists between clean installations on the same hardware	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Persists between Windows 10 / 11 feature upgrades	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌

Support

	HWID	Ohook	KMS38	Online KMS	TSforge (ZeroCID)
Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1	❌	❌	❌	✅3	✅
Windows 10 / 11	✅	❌	✅3	✅3	✅
Windows Server 2008 R2 / 2012 / 2012 R2	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Windows Server 2016 and later	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Office 2010	❌	❌	❌	✅3	❌
Office 2013 and later	❌	✅4	❌	✅3	✅5
Windows / Office KMS Host	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Windows Extended Security Updates	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
OCUR / RP / APPXLOB addons	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅

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Footnotes

1. Valid until the year 2038. ↩

2. Valid for 180 days by default. Permanent with renewal task installed. ↩

3. Volume activation capable editions only. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Supported only on Windows 8 and later. ↩

5. Supported only on Windows 8 and later; subscription editions are not supported. ↩