Unregistered Win 10 Pro Suddenly Registered?

DWD1961

[H]ard|Gawd
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Nov 30, 2019
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I've been using an unregistered Win 10 Pro that I downloaded from the MS Website, and it's been about 6 months now, and suddenly, it's registered.

I extracted the digital key using a script or bat file, I forgot which one, but Windows coughed it up.

Has anyone had this happen?
 
Did you buy the motherboard used?
No, I sure didn't.

I did try to buy a digital key from an Amazon seller. None of them worked. He supplied me with 5 keys, and each time it said the key was in use. He was dumbfounded and said they had never had that happen and would contact their distributor while refunding my money. He said it could somehow be the MS server not acting correctly, but reiterated that they had NEVER had that problem.

I kept all of the keys he gave me. After extracting the key using the above method, I compared it to all of the keys he gave me and none of them matched. The only thing I can think of is that he actually did contact his distributors and they contacted MS and MS had my system fingerprint on file, and issued a digital registration to me automatically somehow. Very mysterious. But I'm registered right now and I never did it myself.

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As above, I used a method to extract the key from the digital license, and it was not any of the ones provided by the Amazon seller.
 
No, I sure didn't.

I did try to buy a digital key from an Amazon seller. None of them worked. He supplied me with 5 keys, and each time it said the key was in use. He was dumbfounded and said they had never had that happen and would contact their distributor while refunding my money. He said it could somehow be the MS server not acting correctly, but reiterated that they had NEVER had that problem.

I kept all of the keys he gave me. After extracting the key using the above method, I compared it to all of the keys he gave me and none of them matched. The only thing I can think of is that he actually did contact his distributors and they contacted MS and MS had my system fingerprint on file, and issued a digital registration to me automatically somehow. Very mysterious. But I'm registered right now and I never did it myself.

View attachment 254660

As above, I used a method to extract the key from the digital license, and it was not any of the ones provided by the Amazon seller.
What likely happened is one of the keys that you tried activating with was probably cleared for more activation's through Microsoft. When your computer periodically connected to Microsoft's activation servers, the system matched it with a previous activation attempt with a key that is now cleared, and digitally activated the system.

I asked if it was a used motherboard because it would be possible to build a computer and that system check back with Microsoft for activation and match up with the motherboard which is what the activation is based on.

Next time buy a legit license so you don't have to deal with this.
 
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What likely happened is one of the keys that you tried activating with was probably cleared for more activation's through Microsoft. When your computer periodically connected to Microsoft's activation servers, the system matched it with a previous activation attempt with a key that is now cleared, and digitally activated the system.

I asked if it was a used motherboard because it would be possible to build a computer and that system check back with Microsoft for activation and match up with the motherboard which is what the activation is based on.

Next time buy a legit license so you don't have to deal with this.

Deal with what? I'm just curious, not despair.

Also, it was a legitimate license. There is nothing illegitimate about reselling unused Windows Licenses. Corporations do it all the time. The price was 25 bucks vs 200.00. I'm pretty okay never registering Windows because I could care less about personalization, and everything else works, including disk encryption and task schedulers. There are no problems running unregistered for me. At the time, I thought I would get one if I could get it for 25 bucks just to have it, but even now, I haven't changed one thing in personalization. For me, Windows is truly an OS working in teh background, as I use exactly ZERO MS products. Before it was registered, I added my own desktop image for background ("use this image as background" still works, despite being unregistered) and one DWORD addition in the registery, and the "unregistered" watermark was gone.

As for reselling, the keys are as good as any.
"One popular site, Kinguin, has 37 merchants worldwide selling Windows keys. Mark Jordan, Kinguin’s VP of communications, told me that their merchants acquire the codes from wholesalers who have surplus copies of Windows they don't need. "It's not a gray market. It would be like buying Adidas or Puma or Nike from a discounter, from TJ Maxx," Jordan said. "There are no legal issues with buying it from us. It's just another marketplace." According to Jordan, Kinguin's merchants have sold “several hundred thousand” keys and are not one-time sellers posting listings for codes they don’t want. As part of its fraud protection, a Kinguin employee randomly buys a key “every now and then” to make sure they’re legitimate, he said. Jordan added that it’s rare for a customer to get a key that’s been resold, but if they did, customer support would help them get a new one for free. “If there's ever a problem with a key being already activated or something like that, our customer support team helps you get a new key… And that merchant would be in deep trouble, so they are very careful with it,” Jordan said." https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/get-windows-10-free-or-cheap,5717.html

Anyway, like I said, I extracted the key and none of the ones I had from the reseller matched. It may have been exactly as he said, a MS server screw up, and they got it sorted out and registered my copy with a new, single issue key. The problem is that it was digital and I have no record of it, so I had to extract the "key" in order to use it again. If I upgrade my rig, MS may ask for the key again. Who knows if it will work in a new install or major upgrade. It's no big deal. I can use an unregistered copy the rest of my life and not give one fucks. lol
 
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