How to Activate Windows 10 For Free Permanently (All Editions)

If you’ve landed on this page, that means you have been searching for how to activate Windows 10 permanently on your computer. Except you have built a custom PC or bought a Freedos laptop, Windows 10 comes preactivated on all new laptops and desktop computers. Even when Windows 10 was released in 2015, users could upgrade from Windows 7 and 8(8.1) to Windows 10 for free and your Windows license would still be valid on Windows 10.

For users whose devices were not eligible for the free upgrade to Windows 10, they could still clean install a fresh copy of Windows 10, however, a license key is required to activate the OS. Fortunately, there are quite a number of ways you can activate a Windows 10 laptop/desktop computer for free and that is what we are going to show you in this guide.

How to Activate Windows 10

Activating your copy of the Windows 10 OS only takes a few easy steps. We’ll show you how to activate Windows 10 legally and for free. Whether you’re running a 32bit or 64bit version of Windows 10, the Windows 10 activation methods we will be sharing works on the following edition of Windows 10:

• Windows 10 Home
• Windows 10 Home (N)
• Windows 10 Home Singe Language
• Windows 10 Professional
• Windows 10 Professional (N)
• Windows 10 Enterprise
• Windows 10 Enterprise (N)
• Windows 10 Education (N)

Before we dive into the methods of activating Windows 10 for free permanently without a product key, you may also be interested to read how to activate Windows 10 with a product key and a digital license. But if you don’t want, you can skip to the free methods for activating Windows 10 ahead.

How to Activate Windows 10 With Product Key

If you have a computer that is not eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10 or just bought a Freedos computer, you can always use Windows 10 on your device without a licence key for free, however, without the activation, you’ll be limited to some personalization features on the OS.

If you don’t want any limitations and want to activate Windows 10 fully, then, you’ll have a choice of activating Windows using the legal means by purchasing a license key from the Microsoft store. While that can be a bit expensive, you can’t as well get a product key from online retail stores for as low as $10 (4,115) depending on the store. You can get a cheap Windows 10 license key on Konga using the link below.

Steps to Activate Windows 10 Using Product Key

If you purchased a license key, then follow the simple guide below to activate Windows 10:

1. Open settings on your computer and click on update and security option.
2. In the update and security section, click on Activation on the left panel of the screen.
3. On the Activation screen, click on the change product key option.
4. A pop-up Window will appear for you to enter your product key. Enter your product key and click on next.
5. Windows will then verify the license key you just provided and once validated, you’ll see a new screen that prompts you to activate Windows.
6. Click on the Activate button and wait for a few seconds for the activation process to complete.
7. Once done, you will get a message on your screen saying Windows activated.
8. Now, if you go back to the main activation screen, you’ll also see that Windows is now activated.

You can now enjoy the full features of Windows 10 without any limitations. But assuming you already have a computer preactivated with Windows 10 and for some reason – say a virus attack and you decide to format your computer or maybe your hard drive crashed and you added a replacement drive and installed Windows 10. In any case, you can re-activate Windows 10 on your computer for free using a digital license linked to your Microsoft account (if you have one). Follow the steps below to activate using a digital license.

How to Activate Windows 10 With A Digital License

It is important you know that activating Windows 10 using a digital license is only possible when you re-install the same version of Windows that was on your computer before formatting or swapping hardware parts. If you were running Windows 10 Home previously, then the new installation of Windows 10 should be the Home version too, otherwise, the digital license won’t work. If you want to switch from Home to Windows 10 Pro, then, you’ll need to purchase a product key for the Pro version you have just installed.

Steps to Activate Windows 10 With A Digital License

The steps for activating Windows 10 with a digital license is almost the same as with a product key, however, here, you don’t need to enter a product key to activate Windows.

1. Go to the update and security section in Windows.
2. Click on Activation on the left panel of the screen.
3. Now, click on the the troubleshoot option that is a the end of the Windows activation screen.
4. Once the troubleshooting is complete, you’ll get a pop-up with an option to actiavte Windows. Click on actiavte Windows and click next on the following screen.
5. When the activation process is complete, you can close the pop-up.

On the activation screen, you will now see that your copy of Windows 10 is now activated with a digital license. But if you don’t have a product key or have a digital license and want to change your version of Windows, you can still activate Windows using alternative methods for free.

Read also: How to Speed Up a Slow Hard Drive And Boost PC Performance

The free methods of activating Windows 10 that we’ll be sharing with you are for personal use and educational purpose only. If you can afford a retail product key, I recommend you get one for yourself or continue to use the current version of Windows 10 you have linked with your Microsoft account. See the guide below

How to Activate Windows 10 For Free (No Product Key)

You can activate Windows 10 for free with CMD (command prompt) or using third-party tools like KMSpico and Microsoft toolkit. We will show you how to any of these three methods to activate Windows 10.

Method 1: Using CMD

This method makes use of the KMS client key for activation and also requires an active internet connection. Below is the KMS client key for all Windows 10 editions.

Winows 10 Product Key All Editions (KMS client key)

Steps to Activate Windows 10 With CMD

1. Run CMD as an administrator. You can do that by searching for CMD using the Windows search. Once found, right click and select run as adminstrator.
2. In command prompt window, install ksm client key with respect to your Windows version. Type ‘slmgr /ipk yourlicensekey‘ and hit enter. For example, if you’re running Windows 10 Home, then copy the Windows 10 product key on the table above and replace it with yourlicensekey in the CMD command. You code should look like this – slmgr /ipk TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99.
3. Once you have successfully installed the product key, the next thing is to activate Windows.
4. Now, typ in the command slmgr /ato and hit enter to activate.
5. If everything goes well, you will get a windows pop-up with the message that you have succesfully actiavted Windows.
6. Close command prompt and go to the Windows activation screen in your settings. You should now see that ‘Windows is activated using your organizations service‘.

Method 2: Using KMSpico

1. First off, download KMSpico software here.
2. Now, you need to disable Windows defender Real Time Protection.
3. Once Windows defender Real Time Protection is disable, extract KMSpico zip file to get the executable file and a password.txt file.
4. Open the password.txt file and copy the text to your clipboard.
5. Now, run kmpico.exe as an administrator. You will get a prompt to enter a password, paste the password you copied and hit enter.
6. KMSpico will now run the software setup. Follow the screen prompts to install.
7. Once the installation is complete, close kmspico software and reboot your system.
8. Now, check Windows activation state, Windows 10 should already be activated.
9. You can now enable Windows defender Real Time Protection.

Method 3: Using Microsoft toolkit

1. Download Microsoft Toolkit here.
2. Now, you need to disable Windows defender Real Time Protection.
3. Extract Microsoft toolkit software to get the executable file.
4. Run the software, on the main screen, click on the Windows icon as shown in the screenshot below.
5. Now, click on the product keys tab, select the version of windows you want to activate, edition and click Install.
6. Once the product key has been installed successfully, click on the activation tab, select KMS Server Service and click Install then click Activate. (Don’t close the software yet)
7. Now check your Windows activation status, your copy of Windows 10 should now be activated.
8. If Windows is still not activated, go back to the toolkit activation screen and click on E-Z activator.

That’s it, these are the ways you can activate Windows 10 for free. If you find this guide on how to activate Windows 10 for free helpful, kindly use any of the buttons below to share with friends. All queries are welcomed in the comment.