Does MAS still work on Windows 11 25H2?
Yes. HWID, KMS38 and TSforge all activate 25H2. The update did not remove the digital-license mechanism HWID depends on, and gatherosstate — the component KMS38 manipulates — is still present.
What did change is how aggressively the Software Protection Platform re-validates after a feature upgrade, which produces a handful of new-looking (but familiar) errors.
HWID is still the right default
HWID registers a genuine digital license against your hardware ID on Microsoft's servers. On 25H2 the flow is unchanged: one internet connection, one run, permanent activation that survives a clean reinstall on the same board.
The practical difference is timing. On 25H2, activation status can lag several minutes behind the script's success message because the licensing service defers its check. Do not re-run the script when the Settings page still shows "not activated" — wait, then run:
slmgr /ato
slmgr /xpr
The errors people hit after upgrading
0xC004F074 — the client could not reach a key management server. After a feature update this usually means the Software Protection service is still starting. net stop sppsvc && net start sppsvc, then retry.
0xC004C003 — the server refused the request, typically because a previous generic key is still cached. Clear it with slmgr /upk followed by slmgr /cpky, then re-run HWID.
0x80070005 — access denied. The console was not elevated, or Controlled Folder Access is blocking writes to the token store. Temporarily disable Controlled Folder Access under Windows Security → Ransomware protection.
Feature updates and existing activation
If you were already HWID-activated before upgrading to 25H2, you do not need to do anything. The license lives server-side and re-binds automatically once the upgraded install phones home.
KMS38 is different — an in-place feature upgrade replaces the licensing files, so the 2038 expiry resets to a 180-day grace. Re-run KMS38 after any feature update and confirm with slmgr /xpr that the expiry reads 2038 again.
Enterprise, Education and LTSC on 25H2
HWID covers Home, Pro, Education and Enterprise. If your edition reports as unsupported — most commonly on some N variants — use TSforge, which writes licensing data directly and does not care what the digital-license service thinks of your SKU.
Verify like an administrator
slmgr /dli
slmgr /xpr
/dli shows the license name and partial key; /xpr shows the expiry. "The machine is permanently activated" is what you want from HWID or TSforge. A 2038 date means KMS38 is in place.
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.