KMS38 vs HWID: Which Windows Activation Should You Pick?
Both activate Windows and both are free of scheduled tasks and renewals. The difference is where the license lives — and that changes everything downstream.
The one-line difference
HWID stores a digital license on Microsoft's servers, tied to your hardware ID. KMS38 stores a local activation state that expires on 19 January 2038.
Everything else follows from that.
Side by side
| HWID | KMS38 | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the license lives | Microsoft's servers | Locally |
| Internet required | Yes, once | No |
| Duration | Permanent | Until Jan 2038 |
| Survives clean reinstall | Yes, automatically | No |
| Survives feature update | Yes | No — re-run |
| Works on Server editions | No | Yes |
| Works in VMs | Yes (per VM) | Yes |
| Hardware change | Re-run after major swaps | Unaffected |
Pick HWID when
You have a normal desktop or laptop with an internet connection, you plan to reinstall Windows at some point, and you want to never think about activation again. After one successful run, a clean install of the same edition on the same board activates itself before you have finished setting up your user account.
This is the right answer for probably 80% of people.
Pick KMS38 when
- The machine has no internet, and will not get one.
- You are activating Windows Server, where HWID does not apply.
- You are building a golden image or a VM template that should not register a digital license per clone.
- You explicitly want zero contact with Microsoft's activation servers.
The reinstall trap
The most common complaint about KMS38 is "it stopped working after I updated Windows". It did not fail — a feature update replaces licensing components, resetting the expiry. Re-run KMS38 and slmgr /xpr reads 2038 again. Cumulative monthly updates do not affect it; only feature upgrades do.
HWID has the mirror-image trap: swap the motherboard and the hardware ID changes, so the stored license no longer matches. Re-run it once on the new board.
Can you use both?
You can run HWID first and KMS38 after, and many people do on machines that are usually offline: HWID gives the server-side record for future reinstalls, KMS38 keeps the machine activated in the meantime without connectivity. They do not conflict.
Verifying either one
slmgr /xpr
"Permanently activated" → HWID or TSforge. A 2038 expiry date → KMS38. A date roughly 180 days out → you are on Online KMS, not either of these.
Get the script
Open Terminal (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin) and run:
irm https://get.activated.win | iex
Prefer offline? Grab the archive from the download page and run MAS_AIO.cmd as administrator. More help: troubleshooting guide · error decoder · all guides.
Get MAS from the official project
This site does not host its own build of the scripts. The buttons below go to the project’s own repository and mirrors, so what you get is what the developers published.
PowerShell one-liner published by the project:
irm get.activated.win | iexCheck the domain before running it, and see how to verify what you run.
Activation tooling is routinely classified as riskware by antivirus software. That is expected for this category and is not by itself evidence of malware — nor proof that a particular copy is clean. Verify the source before running anything.