Backup Windows and Office Activation tokens
Advanced Tokens Manager is a free program for Microsoft Windows devices that enables you to backup Windows and Office activation tokens.
The main purpose of the program is to restore the activation tokens after you install Windows anew, run into activation issues after the system activated successfully, or restore backups.
If a system won't activate anymore, you may be asked to contact Microsoft by phone, or run an online activation to activate the product again.
Advanced Tokens Manager may be used to restore the activation data instead, so that the operating system activates without having to activate it online or by phone.
Backup Windows and Office Activation tokens
The program itself is dead easy to use. You can start it directly from the location you extracted it to. It displays Windows Activation information right on start including the license product key, license status, and token information.
You can hit the Activation Backup button right away to save the activation tokens to the program folder.
The following limitations apply:
- Restore works only if major hardware has not been changed.
- Only permanent activations are supported. Limited activations, e.g. test copies are not supported.
- The installation of a retail copy of the operating system is required for upgrade activations.
- The author suggests that the driver status at the time of the creation of the backup is used to avoid activation problems.
Advanced Tokens Manager creates a new folder called Windows Activation Backup in the root of the program folder.
You may use the backup to restore the activation of the operating system at a later point in time. This is done in the same way, but works only when the program detects that the license status is not activated.
The Office activation backup works in pretty much the same manner. Click on Office Activation Backup in the interface, and information such as the Office product key and license status are displayed.
Click on the activation backup button, confirm the prompt, and wait for the activation tokens to be saved to Advanced Tokens Manager's program folder.
The application ships with some handy features. It checks the integrity of backups, and whether the backup is valid for the operating system that is loaded. Also, it may be used to activate the product from x86 to x64 and vice versa if the same edition is used.
The program is available as a release candidate currently. Windows 10 is not listed as a supported operating system yet, and for Windows 8.1 only activation data that was activated by phone will be restored properly according to the developer's website.
The program has not been updated in a while unfortunately, and it seems dead right now. So, if you want to use it, only use it for Windows 7 or older versions of Windows, or phone activated windows 8.1 and maybe also Windows 10 operating systems.
OPA Backup for Office activation backups, and ABR have the same limitations. Windows 10 users may link a Microsoft Account to a Windows 10 license.
Now You: Did you ever run into activation troubles? How did you resolve them?
I had this installed on my computer then one day it’s been deleted but not by me and suddenly windows is no longer activated.
I read the MS forcibly deletes some programs from your PC, this is the only explanation that makes sense.
I tried this, but had nothing but the “scanning” window when it started. I left it, for an hour, only to return to the same window!
I was hoping this would work as I have a reactivation issue with Windows 10, but alas my hopes were dashed.
What use is it, if it works only provided no major hardware changes have been made ? It’s only in case of major hardware changes that activation is supposed to fail, and require a phone call to Microsoft.
Unnecessary with Windows 10, I’ve found. Once activated a Windows install activation seems permanent.
No need to even use a product key for future installs/reinstalls. As soon as your new install connects, Microsoft servers remember it and activate the new install.
Have done dozens of reinstalls, same result every time.
Do you have to use a Microsoft account to have that feature? Or can local account work too? I know I’ll do a full Windows 10 reinstall in the future (wipe/format drive and install fresh Windows 10 Pro x64), and hope it’s as hassle-free like you said for activation.
Yeah, you don’t need a MS account. I’ve never had one.
My purpose for the re-installs came from in place upgrading from windows 7.
Then not wanting all the crap from the old install, or to change from 32 bit to 64, reinstalled fresh after the upgrade.
The only thing that has to match is the version (home, pro, enterprise), the bit (32 or 64) version doesn’t matter.
Microsoft Toolkit can do this as well, both for Windows and MS Office. It supports all versions of Windows since Vista and newer, their Server counterparts, and all versions of Office 2003 and newer. Note that it requires NET Framework 4 or newer. Also note that it can act as a KMS server emulator, but only if you want it to, so if you have even the slightest doubt that it might void your permit of entrance to Heaven, avoid it. Other than that it works perfectly. Program is portable too, no need to install it.