Question about Windows 8.1, activation, and two PC's

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Sarra

Weaksauce
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SO. I have two computers, my LGA 1150 Gaming Rig, with Windows 8.1, and a Dell 790 LGA 1155 system, with no OS, which I just put together.

What I would like to do is buy a legit copy of Windows 8.1 for the Dell, and call it good. However, I'm having trouble finding a legit version of 8.1, and Win 7 is at EOL, and I suspect that Microsoft will stop supporting it fairly soon, a la Win XP, so I would like to avoid that route.

My plan B is to buy a copy of Windows 10 for my gaming rig, and use my existing legal copy of 8.1 on my Dell. The kicker is that I have had several drive failures recently in my gaming rig (let's see, I had a 500 GB HDD die, a 1 TB drive die, and a second 1 TB drive started giving the click of death, but it had the MBR on it, and my OS drive was not in GPT, so I had to reinstall each time). Basically, I'm worried that if I upgrade my gaming rig to Win 10, Microsoft won't let me activate 8.1 if I installed it in the Dell.

This is further complicated by the ancient video card I have in the Dell, it's actually a Radeon 4350 mobile chip on a PCIe 2.0 addin card. I believe it was marketed as HD 5000 Mobile, or some BS like that, and it's actually really difficult to find drivers that work due to how old it is, and the fact that it's a Mobile chip. The only way I can get drivers for it is to install an antiquated ATI (yes, this card predates the purchase of ATI by AMD) program that automatically finds drivers. My fear is that this program will not work with Windows 10, or, if it does work with Win 10, it won't find usable drivers, and therefore, I will be forced to either use onboard, or go buy a new low profile graphics card (which I may end up doing eventually anyway). I'm ALSO worried that this will effect Window 8.1 (why do I keep trying to call 8.1 Windows 9?)...

So, if I upgrade 8.1 to 10 in my gaming system, does it free up my CD key for use on another machine, or am I just going to have to spend a little more (ironic) for a Win 8.1 Pro download from newegg?

And finally... Any advice? The Dell is going to be a file server, as well as a secondary gaming system (I will run a consignment shop 24/7 on it in an MMO that does, in fact, allow such things), and while Linux is a better candidate for server-ey stuff, like file server, I'd rather use Windows, never mind the MMO will not run in Linux (no Linux client, and it will NOT run in Wine/modern equivalents).
 
I wouldn't buy a key for the legacy hardware system and it might be best to keep your server dedicated not dual purpose. There are plenty of options to choose from Plex server, Servio, FreeBSD etc but due to the open source nature of Linux it's always improving/upgrading and may well be worth the learning curve.
For the gaming rig I would Install Win10 using the 8.1 key, yes you can still do that, and enjoy a better OS both are tied to the motherboard. Compatibility with latest hardware and software will force us all to Windows 10 so why compromise. Eventually Windows 10/? will be a subscription based service for everyone and have the same compelling reason to use it.
However M$ is quite liberal at the moment and worth taking advantage of, for example, I used all my 8 keys to upgrade all were retail version and I've been able to upgrade my motherboard on two of them one from z97 to z170 and one from z170 to z270 chipsets. All I had to do was call M$ to explain and activate the key. This indicates to me M$ is quite loose to the letter of their rules where you might think one thing and another is true.
 
owcraftsman said:
I wouldn't buy a key for the legacy hardware system and it might be best to keep your server dedicated not dual purpose. There are plenty of options to choose from Plex server, Servio, FreeBSD etc but due to the open source nature of Linux it's always improving/upgrading and may well be worth the learning curve.
For the gaming rig I would Install Win10 using the 8.1 key, yes you can still do that, and enjoy a better OS both are tied to the motherboard. Compatibility with latest hardware and software will force us all to Windows 10 so why compromise. Eventually Windows 10/? will be a subscription based service for everyone and have the same compelling reason to use it.
However M$ is quite liberal at the moment and worth taking advantage of, for example, I used all my 8 keys to upgrade all were retail version and I've been able to upgrade my motherboard on two of them one from z97 to z170 and one from z170 to z270 chipsets. All I had to do was call M$ to explain and activate the key. This indicates to me M$ is quite loose to the letter of their rules where you might think one thing and another is true.
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So, I actually had the free Win 10 upgrade back when it was offered. I actually liked Win 10 at first, it was pretty responsive, games worked fine in it, and overall, it was pretty easy to get into.

However, I ran into some rather frustrating problems with it. A friend of mine was working on a college project that required her to render a project, and her PC wasn't up to the task, a Core2 based system, and asked me to render it for her. I agreed. I installed the software, set up the project files, and started the render. On her PC, it was going to take a few days to render, on mine, it showed 22 hours. I disabled my screen saver, adjusted my case fans, and went to bed. In the morning, I came out to find that Win 10 had force installed Windows Updates, and force restarted my PC, and the render project was no longer running. In fact, it corrupted the project files on my PC, and I had to restart the project from scratch. There was NO option to disable automatic updates, in fact, I had gone through and attempted to fully disable those myself, since I'm in the habit of doing Windows Update manually once a week anyway. Microsoft felt that allowing me to not let Windows Update **** with a 22 hour long render was too much, and that updates were mandatory. The same thing happened to me multiple times, with varying levels of annoyance, so when I had a chance to move hardware around and do a fresh install of 8.1, I took it. I do understand that this has been fixed, but I don't know if I can trust Win 10...

As for the Dell Optiplex. It's going to get Windows, I really don't feel like learning Linux jsut to set up a file server. Running the consignment shop was half the reason I bought the system... Maybe I'll take a risk and just get Windows 10 for it. I seriously hope it doesn't decide to reboot itself because of Windows Update if I'm doing a major file backup to it.
 
For the Dell, you should be able to find a Dell branded OS DVD to install Win7 or Win8
But Win7 keys still work to activate Win10
 
Sarra said:
I really don't feel like learning Linux jsut to set up a file server.
Click to expand...

It's really not that hard, you can even use a GUI just like Windows if you can't handle typing or run a webGUI based install like FreeNAS.

I can't imagine purchasing a Windows license just for a file server.
 
dbwillis said:
For the Dell, you should be able to find a Dell branded OS DVD to install Win7 or Win8
But Win7 keys still work to activate Win10
Click to expand...

Eh. The Dell was used at a medical research company, and there's no key on the case. It got removed before they recycled it. Not sure I want to try and find a legit key floating around...

And it's more than just a file server. It's more a secondary use system that has a 3TB drive in it for storing crap that I don't want to lose... On that note, I just ordered 8 GB of RAM for it, and a thumb drive for a disc free install option in the future.

BulletDust said:
It's really not that hard, you can even use a GUI just like Windows if you can't handle typing or run a webGUI based install like FreeNAS.

I can't imagine purchasing a Windows license just for a file server.
Click to expand...

I've used Ubuntu, Red Hat, uhhhhhh... Geeze, a few others, but I cannot remember. They mostly don't exist anymore. Red Hat was in the 1990's, early 2000's, so not current.

My main issue with Linux comes from both Debian and Ubuntu/XUbuntu. I had a PC I set up a few years ago as an experiment to see if I could figure out how to do basic stuff in Ubuntu, and while I really did like using it, every now and then, I'd wake up and half the OS was just missing. o.x Good drive, good hardware, but half my crap would just not be there anymore. I mean, OS features, not programs. And it's not just like I switched GUI's or anything, I mean the OS needed a complete reinstall to get basic stuff back. For something that has backups that I really don't want to lose, I'm not sure I'd trust it.

Half of the problem is that I'm really a n0b when it comes to Linux, and when, say, the entire network protocol part of the OS just f***s off into the nether, I don't know how to fix it without reinstalling the entire OS. That was fine on the old system I had, because nothing critical was on it. The other thing is, I've had incredible uptimes with Windows. Very rarely do I ever have a problem in Windows that I can't either fix myself, or that requires a reinstall. Hardware failures not withstanding. I had an XP system that had a little over 9 months of up time, never once did I restart or shut it down. Only when one of the drives failed in it, did I actually shut it down... And then spent like 5 hours updating and patching it after it came back up. I can't say I've ever had anywhere near the uptime on Linux, and not because it's not good, but because I suck with Linux.

If I could run my MMO client in Linux, I'd actually give it a shot, but the Optiplex is getting new RAM, and I'm going to be putting a low profile 1050 TI in it in a few weeks, as well.

I think I'm going to buy a copy of Win 10 for the Dell and just chance the graphics drivers. If they don't work, then oh well, the onboard will work sufficiently until I can get a 1050 TI.
 
Sarra said:
Eh. The Dell was used at a medical research company, and there's no key on the case. It got removed before they recycled it. Not sure I want to try and find a legit key floating around...

And it's more than just a file server. It's more a secondary use system that has a 3TB drive in it for storing crap that I don't want to lose... On that note, I just ordered 8 GB of RAM for it, and a thumb drive for a disc free install option in the future.



I've used Ubuntu, Red Hat, uhhhhhh... Geeze, a few others, but I cannot remember. They mostly don't exist anymore. Red Hat was in the 1990's, early 2000's, so not current.

My main issue with Linux comes from both Debian and Ubuntu/XUbuntu. I had a PC I set up a few years ago as an experiment to see if I could figure out how to do basic stuff in Ubuntu, and while I really did like using it, every now and then, I'd wake up and half the OS was just missing. o.x Good drive, good hardware, but half my crap would just not be there anymore. I mean, OS features, not programs. And it's not just like I switched GUI's or anything, I mean the OS needed a complete reinstall to get basic stuff back. For something that has backups that I really don't want to lose, I'm not sure I'd trust it.

Half of the problem is that I'm really a n0b when it comes to Linux, and when, say, the entire network protocol part of the OS just f***s off into the nether, I don't know how to fix it without reinstalling the entire OS. That was fine on the old system I had, because nothing critical was on it. The other thing is, I've had incredible uptimes with Windows. Very rarely do I ever have a problem in Windows that I can't either fix myself, or that requires a reinstall. Hardware failures not withstanding. I had an XP system that had a little over 9 months of up time, never once did I restart or shut it down. Only when one of the drives failed in it, did I actually shut it down... And then spent like 5 hours updating and patching it after it came back up. I can't say I've ever had anywhere near the uptime on Linux, and not because it's not good, but because I suck with Linux.

If I could run my MMO client in Linux, I'd actually give it a shot, but the Optiplex is getting new RAM, and I'm going to be putting a low profile 1050 TI in it in a few weeks, as well.

I think I'm going to buy a copy of Win 10 for the Dell and just chance the graphics drivers. If they don't work, then oh well, the onboard will work sufficiently until I can get a 1050 TI.
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The only advice I can offer you is don't generalize based on experiences from a decade or more ago. Modern Linux is absolutely, totally and utterly nothing like you're describing here - Posting from my daily driver Linux PC that I never turn off or suspend, it never gives me grief with amazing uptime.

I also run a Linux server that runs TV server software as well as a raid 5 array containing media shares without a single issue - Most of the Internet runs on Linux.

If you can run macOS, you can run a modern Linux distro. Although, as a point of interest as a PC tech, not aimed at you specifically, but more and more I'm finding there's an entire generation that can't even use macOS - As tech's many refuse to work on anything but Windows as they simply cannot use anything else!
 
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I have a linux box with 800 days of uptime as we speak. The need for a reinstall when something is haywire results from not understanding what happened, how to fix it and most importantly, thinking in the windows way. A typical Windows user never understands what happens to his computer and why and the only way to fix things is to reinstall.

A couple days ago a collegue edited the sudoers file using nano and made a format error. This resulted in not being able to use super user privileges at all - so no way to fix the OS, right? Wrong. Just boot into the rescue mode, use visudo to edit the sudoers file and fix the formatting error, reboot and you're back to business.

If an average windows user would have confronted a problem where he couldn't use any administrative functions anymore while logged in he would have 100% sure just nuke the installation and start from nothing... And most importantly never even learn why the system got broken.
 
My issues with Ubuntu are more recent, I think I was having those issues in 2013 or so, was the last time I tried Ubuntu.

And no... I generally try to fix things before nuking and paving. I had a serious problem with a graphics driver many months ago, and instead of reinstalling, I used safe mode to uninstall my graphics driver, revert to an older version, and got my system running just fine in 10 minutes or so. I've reinstalled recently several times due to hard drive failures. Hard drives I bought before 2010. In fact, some of them I had purchased in 2007 or 2008. The last one was due to my Windows install being on a MBR partition, and the actual drive with the MBR failing, and being unable to get my system to boot to a drive that wasn't in GPT format. I googled, binged, and facedesked for 2 hours before giving up and reinstalling on a new SSD. First time I've had an OS on an SSD.

Regardless, I'd rather use a system I'm familiar with for critical data, opposed to risking my data with a system I'm not familiar with. Risking critical data in a learning process is not okay. If this was a secondary system that I had nothing critical on, I would try Linux in a heartbeat.

I got a fresh copy of Windows 10 on the way... I'll just put Win 10 on the Dell, and if the graphics card doesn't have drivers, I'll use onboard for a week or so and get a GTX 1050 TI to replace it.
 
If it had Windows 7 on it (the Dell machine, the 790 I presume) then you don't need an actual Product Key, you just need a Dell Windows 7 installation DVD or ISO and that'll be enough as the Royalty OEM Product Key will be embedded in the installation files, it's not even a concern really. If you can get Windows 7 installed on it (using the real Dell OEM DVD or ISO) you can then use the accessibility upgrade (still available) to bounce to Windows 10 directly without any issues at all.

Not really sure about all that muss with the Radeon video chip or card or whatever the fuck it is, never heard of a mobile GPU being placed on a PCI card, that's usually what you call "a video card" actually. :)

As for the drive failures on the gaming rig, I would suspect your power supply is either not working properly, not providing the necessary "juice," or there's an issue with the power circuit on the motherboard or the voltage regulators which will cause hard drives and sometimes other peripherals to die prematurely.

This whole situation sounds a lot more complex than I suspect it really is but I suppose you'll figure it out soon enough and since you say you purchased Windows 10 already then what I just said about using the Windows 7 Dell OEM DVD or ISO (easy to track down online or you can even make one with some files that are a few kilobytes in size like I've been doing for the better part of a decade now, I just make my own OEM media when needed) would still be useful as you could just keep that Windows 10 license unused until needed and still take advantage of the accessibility upgrade and get Windows 10 "free."

It's up to you at this point. As for the Linux side of things, I'm not going to touch on that since you've made it clear you're into Windows more than anything else - if you want to play around with Linux, get the Dell machine up and running and set up VirtualBox or even VMware Player (both completely free of cost) and do some experimentation there. You won't be risking anything and getting rid of it if you don't want it around anymore is a mouse click or two and poof, all gone. ;)
 
Dual booting any Windows version newer than 7 and Linux is fraught with issues, Windows keeps screwing with the Linux partition, best to keep them totally separate and select the boot device using your devices boot menu.

Use whatever works for you. But I can assure you, in terms of uptime and reliability, Linux is generally just as good if not better than Windows.
 
The Dell didn't have a hard drive when I got it, it didn't come with a DVD drive, nor did it come with a Win 7 installer disk. The company that owned the Dell was a medical research company, and it has a custom BIOS on it, including built in diagnostic tools. As far as I know, there is no way for me to put Win 7 on it and activate it...

I don't really want Win 7, since it seems like Microsoft is going to end all product support for it fairly soon anyway.

I'll put Win 10 on it for now. If my gaming PC died, I could actually play some older games on it as it is, but I'm going to put in 8 GB of DDR3, a new 1050 TI, and maaaaybe even a SSD (it's a SFF system, so I'd have to either get a SATA power extension, or mount the SSD with double sticky tape where the Slimline DVD drive originally went).

In a few months, I'll be starting a new gaming PC build, and I might just put Linux on my current gaming PC to experiment with it.
 
It's weird, because the sticker on the back of the card says 4350. However, the driver loaded in Windows reads HD 5000.

It's a mobile GPU on a PCIe addin card, so it's funky all around. Only reason it works is it's low profile, and has no 6 or 8 pin PCIe power plug.

Either way, I'm getting a 1050 TI for the thing in around 2-3 weeks, so it's sorted anyway. When I get Win 10, I'll just pull the card after making sure the onboard is enabled, and re-disable the onboard when I get the 1050 TI.
 
Sarra said:
It's weird, because the sticker on the back of the card says 4350. However, the driver loaded in Windows reads HD 5000.

It's a mobile GPU on a PCIe addin card, so it's funky all around. Only reason it works is it's low profile, and has no 6 or 8 pin PCIe power plug.

Either way, I'm getting a 1050 TI for the thing in around 2-3 weeks, so it's sorted anyway. When I get Win 10, I'll just pull the card after making sure the onboard is enabled, and re-disable the onboard when I get the 1050 TI.
Click to expand...

How very interesting, can we see some pics? Sounds like some form of Radeon card, but if it is an Intel GPU on some form of pcie card it would be very interesting.
 
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BulletDust said:
How very interesting, can we see some pics? Sounds like some form of Radeon card, but if it is an Intel GPU on some form of pcie card it would be very interesting.
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Yeah, it's a Radeon card. Device Manager has it listed as a Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series... I gotta pull the system apart in a day or two to install new RAM, so I'll grab pics of the card.

Edit: Wow. I am quite confused... So, I've been looking at the specs on Wikipedia's Mobile ATI GPU page, and this card is either a modified chip, or it's... Just wrong.

Core clock of 650 MHZ, memory clock of 600 MHZ (I'm guessing it's DDR, so effective clock of 1.2 GHZ?), PCIe 2.0, and it says in the driver that it has 2GB of memory? The Mobile Radeon 4xxx series came with 512 MB of memory, and I can't find a card with 650 MHZ GPU clock and 1.2 GHZ memory (or 600 MHZ, either), and even the 5xxx series had 1GB of memory, and lower/higher clocks... I wonder if this card had some tinkering done to it by the manufacturer? I think it's a MSI product... It was a trade from a friend a long time ago, I never had any need for it until now, when I needed a low profile card.
 
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You can always get a Windows license cheap from several of our forum members in the FS/FT area, then use it as is, or upgrade it to 10 for free.
 
I have a Fujitsu-Siemens laptop Windows7 install DVD that installs without product key to any computer lol.
 
Sarra said:
SO. I have two computers, my LGA 1150 Gaming Rig, with Windows 8.1, and a Dell 790 LGA 1155 system, with no OS, which I just put together.

What I would like to do is buy a legit copy of Windows 8.1 for the Dell, and call it good. However, I'm having trouble finding a legit version of 8.1, and Win 7 is at EOL, and I suspect that Microsoft will stop supporting it fairly soon, a la Win XP, so I would like to avoid that route.

My plan B is to buy a copy of Windows 10 for my gaming rig, and use my existing legal copy of 8.1 on my Dell. The kicker is that I have had several drive failures recently in my gaming rig (let's see, I had a 500 GB HDD die, a 1 TB drive die, and a second 1 TB drive started giving the click of death, but it had the MBR on it, and my OS drive was not in GPT, so I had to reinstall each time). Basically, I'm worried that if I upgrade my gaming rig to Win 10, Microsoft won't let me activate 8.1 if I installed it in the Dell.

This is further complicated by the ancient video card I have in the Dell, it's actually a Radeon 4350 mobile chip on a PCIe 2.0 addin card. I believe it was marketed as HD 5000 Mobile, or some BS like that, and it's actually really difficult to find drivers that work due to how old it is, and the fact that it's a Mobile chip. The only way I can get drivers for it is to install an antiquated ATI (yes, this card predates the purchase of ATI by AMD) program that automatically finds drivers. My fear is that this program will not work with Windows 10, or, if it does work with Win 10, it won't find usable drivers, and therefore, I will be forced to either use onboard, or go buy a new low profile graphics card (which I may end up doing eventually anyway). I'm ALSO worried that this will effect Window 8.1 (why do I keep trying to call 8.1 Windows 9?)...

So, if I upgrade 8.1 to 10 in my gaming system, does it free up my CD key for use on another machine, or am I just going to have to spend a little more (ironic) for a Win 8.1 Pro download from newegg?

And finally... Any advice? The Dell is going to be a file server, as well as a secondary gaming system (I will run a consignment shop 24/7 on it in an MMO that does, in fact, allow such things), and while Linux is a better candidate for server-ey stuff, like file server, I'd rather use Windows, never mind the MMO will not run in Linux (no Linux client, and it will NOT run in Wine/modern equivalents).
Click to expand...

Your Dell Optiplex 790 has a Windows 7 Pro key with that. Just use that to install Windows 7 Pro on it and if you want, upgrade it to Windows 10.
 
Sarra said:
The Dell didn't have a hard drive when I got it, it didn't come with a DVD drive, nor did it come with a Win 7 installer disk. The company that owned the Dell was a medical research company, and it has a custom BIOS on it, including built in diagnostic tools. As far as I know, there is no way for me to put Win 7 on it and activate it...

I don't really want Win 7, since it seems like Microsoft is going to end all product support for it fairly soon anyway.

I'll put Win 10 on it for now. If my gaming PC died, I could actually play some older games on it as it is, but I'm going to put in 8 GB of DDR3, a new 1050 TI, and maaaaybe even a SSD (it's a SFF system, so I'd have to either get a SATA power extension, or mount the SSD with double sticky tape where the Slimline DVD drive originally went).

In a few months, I'll be starting a new gaming PC build, and I might just put Linux on my current gaming PC to experiment with it.
Click to expand...

Install Windows 10 Pro and activate it using the Windows 7 Pro key that should be on the computer.
 
I have an old copy of Windows 7 Pro, and after installing, it did NOT activate, and in windows, reported an invalid key. My guess is that the company that owned the machine got rid of all of their Win 7 hardware, and deactivated the keys so that nobody else could use them.

Does not matter, as I now have a valid copy of Win 10, complete with a key.
 
Sarra said:
I have an old copy of Windows 7 Pro, and after installing, it did NOT activate, and in windows, reported an invalid key. My guess is that the company that owned the machine got rid of all of their Win 7 hardware, and deactivated the keys so that nobody else could use them.

Does not matter, as I now have a valid copy of Win 10, complete with a key.
Click to expand...

You can't really deactivate a key. What happens is individuals, like the ones selling keys on various enthusiast sites pinch the keys off OEM machines and resell them. Chances are someone else is using that key at this point in time.
 
BulletDust said:
You can't really deactivate a key. What happens is individuals, like the ones selling keys on various enthusiast sites pinch the keys off OEM machines and resell them. Chances are someone else is using that key at this point in time.
Click to expand...

That's not entirely true. Microsoft has blacklisted several product keys that have been flagged for pirate installations so it's possible if Microsoft wants it. They'll probably not bother to do it on request of some company though.
 
For Windows XP SP2 through Windows 7, the keys affixed to the sides of the cases do not activate royalty OEM systems (i.e. Dell, HP, Acer, etc). so they don't really matter except as proof that a license was issue for that machine.

With Vista and 7, there is an electronic license (not a key) embedded in the BIOS ACPI tables that is signed by the manufacturer. There's is also a matching certificate embedded in the manufacturer branded install media. The two combined auto-activate Windows, and Microsoft is never contacted. The install key actually has no part in activating on these system; it only determines which version you get to install.

On non-branded media, there's a generic key embedded to let you install without entering a real key, but it will not activate. That's what you're seeing now.


If I remember right, with Windows 8 and up, they embed a unique key into the BIOS of each machine and did away with the keys on the COA stickers.

If you want to get 7 back on the Dell and activated to be upgraded to 10 using the accessibility method (which is ending after December), you'll need to get Dell branded install media for the auto-activation to work. There is another method, but it's a bit convoluted and requires hunting for files from potentially shady sources.




As far as moving your gaming system's copy of 8.1 to the Dell, it depends on what you bought. IF it's "system-builder" or OEM licensed, then MS's license does not allow you transfer the license. It will be a 50/50 shot whether it activates online, and another 50/50 shot if they allow an exception on the phone.
 
ryan_975 said:
For Windows XP SP2 through Windows 7, the keys affixed to the sides of the cases do not activate royalty OEM systems (i.e. Dell, HP, Acer, etc). so they don't really matter except as proof that a license was issue for that machine.

With Vista and 7, there is an electronic license (not a key) embedded in the BIOS ACPI tables that is signed by the manufacturer. There's is also a matching certificate embedded in the manufacturer branded install media. The two combined auto-activate Windows, and Microsoft is never contacted. The install key actually has no part in activating on these system; it only determines which version you get to install.

On non-branded media, there's a generic key embedded to let you install without entering a real key, but it will not activate. That's what you're seeing now.


If I remember right, with Windows 8 and up, they embed a unique key into the BIOS of each machine and did away with the keys on the COA stickers.

If you want to get 7 back on the Dell and activated to be upgraded to 10 using the accessibility method (which is ending after December), you'll need to get Dell branded install media for the auto-activation to work. There is another method, but it's a bit convoluted and requires hunting for files from potentially shady sources.




As far as moving your gaming system's copy of 8.1 to the Dell, it depends on what you bought. IF it's "system-builder" or OEM licensed, then MS's license does not allow you transfer the license. It will be a 50/50 shot whether it activates online, and another 50/50 shot if they allow an exception on the phone.
Click to expand...

I've installed a Windows 7 Dell OEM key onto a self built PC, it activated no worries.

I've also installed genuine OEM copies of Windows 7 onto systems where the key was included in the bios/UEFI, these were not branded media and they activated just fine.

However, in relation to OEM vs retail licenses, you're entirely right and people still struggle to comprehend that there is a vast difference in the ability to transfer a retail license vs an OEM license.

Personally, I prefer operating systems that don't require pesky activation whatsoever.
 
BulletDust said:
I've installed a Windows 7 Dell OEM key onto a self built PC, it activated no worries.

I've also installed genuine OEM copies of Windows 7 onto systems where the key was included in the bios/UEFI, these were not branded media and they activated just fine.
Click to expand...

Maybe it was only XP SP2 they blacklisted those keys then. Either way, the key isn't used on the system it's stuck to.
 
ryan_975 said:
For Windows XP SP2 through Windows 7, the keys affixed to the sides of the cases do not activate royalty OEM systems (i.e. Dell, HP, Acer, etc). so they don't really matter except as proof that a license was issue for that machine.

With Vista and 7, there is an electronic license (not a key) embedded in the BIOS ACPI tables that is signed by the manufacturer. There's is also a matching certificate embedded in the manufacturer branded install media. The two combined auto-activate Windows, and Microsoft is never contacted. The install key actually has no part in activating on these system; it only determines which version you get to install.

On non-branded media, there's a generic key embedded to let you install without entering a real key, but it will not activate. That's what you're seeing now.


If I remember right, with Windows 8 and up, they embed a unique key into the BIOS of each machine and did away with the keys on the COA stickers.

If you want to get 7 back on the Dell and activated to be upgraded to 10 using the accessibility method (which is ending after December), you'll need to get Dell branded install media for the auto-activation to work. There is another method, but it's a bit convoluted and requires hunting for files from potentially shady sources.




As far as moving your gaming system's copy of 8.1 to the Dell, it depends on what you bought. IF it's "system-builder" or OEM licensed, then MS's license does not allow you transfer the license. It will be a 50/50 shot whether it activates online, and another 50/50 shot if they allow an exception on the phone.
Click to expand...

They systems with an actual physical sticker OEM Windows 8 key could be transferred to another system. (Microsoft changed their EULA to reflect as such when they released Windows 8.) Meaning, you could buy an OEM copy on Newegg and use it on as many systems as you want, as long as it was just one at a time.

The activation of the Windows 10 upgrade is either putting in the Windows 7 equivalent key on an HP, Dell or other such machine when doing a clean install and it activates. Or, just doing a straight up upgrade on an existing activated installation of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 and using the Media Creation Tool usb created drive and you are done.

The Windows 10 upgrade push through Windows updates was ended but the actual ability to do a normal Windows 10 upgrade, for free, was not.
 
ManofGod said:
They systems with an actual physical sticker OEM Windows 8 key could be transferred to another system. (Microsoft changed their EULA to reflect as such when they released Windows 8.) Meaning, you could buy an OEM copy on Newegg and use it on as many systems as you want, as long as it was just one at a time.

The activation of the Windows 10 upgrade is either putting in the Windows 7 equivalent key on an HP, Dell or other such machine when doing a clean install and it activates. Or, just doing a straight up upgrade on an existing activated installation of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 and using the Media Creation Tool usb created drive and you are done.

The Windows 10 upgrade push through Windows updates was ended but the actual ability to do a normal Windows 10 upgrade, for free, was not.
Click to expand...

You cannot transfer OEM copies of Windows between machines, this is a violation of the license agreement, we've been over this in great detail before. OEM is tied to the machine it is installed on, retail is not.

Just because a Windows install activates, doesn't in any way implicate that what you are doing i legal. Hence the issue with third party Windows key 'resellers' - You can't legally buy Windows 10 for $30.00.
 
BulletDust said:
Just because a Windows install activates, doesn't in any way implicate that what you are doing i legal.
Click to expand...

You do realize that in the previous post you made you said:

BulletDust said:
I've installed a Windows 7 Dell OEM key onto a self built PC, it activated no worries.
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Right? If the "self built PC" wasn't a Dell OEM built and sold machine (in the original configuration, mind you) then you broke the licensing terms, you do understand that, right? I'm not saying it was illegal since licensing terms have never really been tested in a court of law anywhere on the planet that I'm aware of, but, it does seem a bit hypocritical I suppose.

Windows licensing is really simple: if you bought a machine that came with Windows installed on it out of the box, you can't transfer that license to any other machine, period. If you make it more difficult than that simple explanation then you're doing it wrong. For a few years there were System Builder OEM licenses sold to smaller computer makers and repair shops like "Mom & Pop" places you'd find in your local area but even those were tied directly to the hardware configuration it was installed and activated on.

If you bought Windows in a retail box (meaning the OS, not a computer with Windows installed on it that's inside a box) or you simply purchased the Retail Product Key + Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) you can transfer the license, again very simple explanation that is completely accurate.

Why you folks seem to constantly love going back and forth and back and forth over this stuff is really odd. :D

(and since I know where this thread is headed like so many others...) :p
 
BulletDust said:
You cannot transfer OEM copies of Windows between machines, this is a violation of the license agreement, we've been over this in great detail before. OEM is tied to the machine it is installed on, retail is not.

Just because a Windows install activates, doesn't in any way implicate that what you are doing i legal. Hence the issue with third party Windows key 'resellers' - You can't legally buy Windows 10 for $30.00.
Click to expand...


Right. MS changed their EULA for copies purchased for personal use. So while you can transfer an "OEM" copy that you bought and installed on your own computer to another computer that you own as long as it's remains on only one computer.

However, you still cannot transfer the license included by an OEM to another computer.


https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/OEM/Windows/10/UseTerms_OEM_Windows_10_English.htm
4. Transfer. The provisions of this section do not apply if you acquired the software as a consumer in Germany or in any of the countries listed on this site (aka.ms/transfer), in which case any transfer of the software to a third party, and the right to use it, must comply with applicable law.

a. Software preinstalled on device. If you acquired the software preinstalled on a device (and also if you upgraded from software preinstalled on a device), you may transfer the license to use the software directly to another user, only with the licensed device. The transfer must include the software and, if provided with the device, an authentic Windows label including the product key. Before any permitted transfer, the other party must agree that this agreement applies to the transfer and use of the software.

b. Stand-alone software. If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you. You may also transfer the software to a device owned by someone else if (i) you are the first licensed user of the software and (ii) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. You may use the backup copy we allow you to make or the media that the software came on to transfer the software. Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device. You may not transfer the software to share licenses between devices.
Click to expand...

Windows 8's EULAs has similar wording.
 
ryan_975 said:
Right. MS changed their EULA for copies purchased for personal use. So while you can transfer an "OEM" copy that you bought and installed on your own computer to another computer that you own as long as it's remains on only one computer.

However, you still cannot transfer the license included by an OEM to another computer.


https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/OEM/Windows/10/UseTerms_OEM_Windows_10_English.htm


Windows 8's EULAs has similar wording.
Click to expand...

OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacture. It's tied to the device it's installed on whether that OEM version was supplied as part of a purchase of a boxed Dell or whether that OEM version was purchased for installation on a self built PC. OEM installs of Windows cannot be transfered between machines, OEM assumes the software was preinstalled on the device and not bought as stand alone, copies of Windows specifically marked as 'retail' are standalone bought copies of Windows - Otherwise there would be no reason for OEM and retail to exist in stores, there's a reason why retail costs more.
 
Well... Windows 10 does have a functional driver for the video card I'm using. It's baffling me, it's listed in the driver as Radeon Mobility 5000 Series, with a 650 mhz GPU clock and 600 mhz memory clock, with 4 GB of memory. There's like... No graphics card I can find that has those specs. Ah well, it works, and I get full acceleration from the card, so I'm not complaining.
 
Sarra said:
Well... Windows 10 does have a functional driver for the video card I'm using. It's baffling me, it's listed in the driver as Radeon Mobility 5000 Series, with a 650 mhz GPU clock and 600 mhz memory clock, with 4 GB of memory. There's like... No graphics card I can find that has those specs. Ah well, it works, and I get full acceleration from the card, so I'm not complaining.
Click to expand...

Manufacturers can pretty much set the GPU to any speed they want, with any memory size (within limits of course). What does GPUz say about the card?
 
Wow, GPUZ shows totally different information than the AMD driver does. 512 MB of RAM, 40NM, DX11, release date was Jan 7, 2010.

Wow, furmark says it's a Mobile Radeon 5470... I wonder what the sticker on the back of the card was for, then...
 
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