Microsoft has closed the door on one of the most widely used tricks for activating Windows 11 without paying for it. The company pushed out new security updates this month that permanently disable a set of PowerShell scripts known as MAS, short for Microsoft Activation Scripts. The tools, created by a group called Massgrave, had been circulating on GitHub for years and gave users a quick way to unlock Windows or Office without a valid license.
Interest in these scripts spiked as Windows 10 reached the end of mainstream support and more people weighed the jump to Windows 11. Many wanted a shortcut. MAS offered one. Earlier this year, independent testing showed the scripts could flip a system into activated status and even grant multiple years of Extended Security Updates meant for paying customers. The same held true for Office. The scripts worked quietly, and for most users carried little risk of detection, which made them even more appealing.
The real danger sat elsewhere. Even if Massgrave’s original files were clean, the open distribution model made them a magnet for tampered copies. Earlier incidents proved how easy it is for malicious actors to slip malware into tools that promise to bypass Windows checks. The MAS scripts were no exception. Piracy aside, anyone pulling a modified version from an unofficial mirror could end up with far more than a free activation key.
The group behind MAS confirmed this week that the method, known as KMS38, stopped working after the November 2025 Patch Tuesday rollout. Microsoft appears to have targeted the loophole directly. The move marks a rare moment where the company blocks something that many users openly rely on, but the context is different. MAS existed for one purpose: getting around paying for software. With that in mind, Microsoft’s decision is predictable.
This change lands at a moment of larger transition. Windows 11 still has strict hardware requirements, and plenty of older systems cannot run it. Some users will refuse to buy new machines or pay for licenses, which raises interest in alternatives like Linux or ChromeOS. The rise of Windows-centric Linux distributions hints at a growing appetite for something outside Microsoft’s ecosystem. Whether this shift becomes a real migration or just more online chatter remains to be seen, but Microsoft’s crackdown on free activation removes one of the easier paths forward for holdouts.
