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Windows 8 Using BIOS-Based Product Keys?

And the pirates get to use a small program that with one click on a button and a restart results in not having to worry about any of this crap.
 
014 said:
Right. You'd have to get replacement hardware from the manufacturer anyway. You'd also have to use one of their installation discs or recovery partitions. This information isn't very scary. It doesn't appear to affect OEM builds, although the wording isn't clear.
Click to expand...

just an fyi, you can use the keys on fresh install discs (atleast you could with xp and windows 7). Done this for a few friends when they ditched their old prebuilts to a custom rig, just reused the code with one of my install discs and it worked just fine, did have to use the phone activation as onine wouldn't work though
 
rhexis said:
you cant. i found this out a couple of weeks ago with an hp preloaded with win8. i wanted to install a clean copy of win8 and have my own key but no go. i dont know if you could load win7 on it i didnt try but win8 during setup said the key was invalid for this setup would even let me enter one.
Click to expand...

One more reason for staying with Windows 7. (as if I really need another one)
 
Wintel's future looks like its embedding the OS and CPU into hardware.
Not like they haven't tried either one before.
 
The only way Microsoft is ever going to solve this is by making windows 8 public domain , if you look at their OS there is no hope in HELL that they will ever solve piracy

From the people who brought us Internet Exploder, give me a break :) .
 
mdburkey said:
The bigger issue though is how UEFI and Secure Boot work in general -- and it means you can't move hard drives between identical systems without having the fecal matter hit the fan.
Click to expand...

There was always a chance this didnt work anyways due to unique codes for each piece of hardware that was created on a new windows install.

why would a bios code not load when reformatted.. it is in the Bios.. as long as the same version is installed it should work...?
 
Pieter3dnow said:
The only way Microsoft is ever going to solve this is by making windows 8 public domain , if you look at their OS there is no hope in HELL that they will ever solve piracy

From the people who brought us Internet Exploder, give me a break :) .
Click to expand...

Why not get off the band wagon and actually try IE 9 sometime.....

From the people who brought us

Windows Server
Exchange
SharePoint
 
Just one more reason to stay away from 8 and go to Ubuntu when Valve ports everything over. Windows 7 might be my last Microsoft OS. :eek:
 
ballistic90 said:
Honestly, I've never used a product key from a pre-built system on another computer. I didn't even consider it, which is weird since I don't exactly have a problem with software piracy.
Click to expand...

That's why you don't use them lol, easier to pirate.
 
wonderfield said:
It's a good thing no one makes games besides Valve.
Click to expand...

Not everyone needs to play every games out there.:p

Most mainstream games are available on consoles while crowd funded indie games are making their games available on Linux and Mac too. Lots of alternatives out there.
 
mdburkey said:
It also means that I can swap a hard drive from one failed Dell machine to another identical Dell machine without having to jump through hoops and reactivation. With Windows 8 and the UEFI Secure Boot crap, this is no longer possible. Basically, this just makes the life of an IT support person even more of a headache.
Click to expand...

Is this a move to make tech support impossible for anyone except the Microsoft approved organizations? Like the way cars are done with the proprietary data port.
 
Hornet said:
Most mainstream games are available on consoles while crowd funded indie games are making their games available on Linux and Mac too. Lots of alternatives out there.
Click to expand...
Certainly true, but if you had to, you'd really rather play games on a console than play them on a Windows 8 PC?

There are offensive things in Windows 8, certainly, but...consoles?
 
mdburkey said:
What this also means is that, per Windows version (Home, Pro, etc), every Dell system out there actually comes from the factory with the EXACT same Windows key installed. The one on the side of the machine is never used unless you do a full reinstall from non-Dell media.

It also means that I can swap a hard drive from one failed Dell machine to another identical Dell machine without having to jump through hoops and reactivation. With Windows 8 and the UEFI Secure Boot crap, this is no longer possible. Basically, this just makes the life of an IT support person even more of a headache.
Click to expand...

Say thanks to the software pirates out there, who forced MS to remove the "one manufacturer = one key" option.
 
Steve said:
BIOS-based Windows 8 product keys? So what happens when you have to reinstall Windows 8 after your motherboard dies? What about installing your legit copy of Windows 8 from an older system to a new build?
Click to expand...

Case 1 is handled by OEMs (like the one I work for) for many years, it'll just activate off the key stored on the current mobo.

Case 2 is illegal, OEM licenses are non-transferrable from the computer. There's a reason why it's cheaper than retail. On retail builds, you'll likely have to call some hotline like we did on the early days of XP.
 
MrGuvernment said:
Why not get off the band wagon and actually try IE 9 sometime.....

From the people who brought us

Windows Server
Exchange
SharePoint
Click to expand...

You do know that MS programs aren't really something that are considered optimized and small they fall under the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloatware segment.

There is a rule for programs with smaller code have less amount of errors (back doors and what not).

Maybe you forgot to list Notepad :) that is one heck of a program :) .
 
faugusztin said:
Say thanks to the software pirates out there, who forced MS to remove the "one manufacturer = one key" option.
Click to expand...

How do people robbing ships on the high seas have anything to do with this? And why would someone rob a ship to steal boxed copies of Windows.
 
damicatz said:
How do people robbing ships on the high seas have anything to do with this? And why would someone rob a ship to steal boxed copies of Windows.
Click to expand...

Software pirates are not on the ships :).

But ok, fixing it just for you :
Say thanks to the people who created the OEM activators, which used the one key = one manufacturer system. Because somehow i doubt all those home made computers were Dell computers as their System page said.
 
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