Buying Used Laptops W/O Windows?

aguyaguy
in Everything Else
I wa thinking about picking up a used cheap laptop or two to mess around with. Since I would probably be upgrading the HDD anyway, I was looking for ones with no HDD. I'm under the impression that since the Windows license key is stored in the BIOS, I don't need to worry about buying a new OEM license. I just need a usb with the Windows Creation tool to boot up from. Is this right? Or can business/enterprise machines have their licenses revoked?

Comments

  • SNESNESCUBE64SNESNESCUBE64
    Are you sure the key is in the BIOS? I have never heard of that. It also might depend on the OEM.
  • NintendoAge ModeratorNintendoAge Moderator
    Originally posted by: SNESNESCUBE64



    Are you sure the key is in the BIOS? I have never heard of that. It also might depend on the OEM.



    I'll admit that as an OSX and Linux guy that I haven't kept up with Windows licensing... but aside from anything that may live in the TPM, this is news to me as well.

     
  • SNESNESCUBE64SNESNESCUBE64
    Originally posted by: barrels

    Originally posted by: SNESNESCUBE64



    Are you sure the key is in the BIOS? I have never heard of that. It also might depend on the OEM.



    I'll admit that as an OSX and Linux guy that I haven't kept up with Windows licensing... but aside from anything that may live in the TPM, this is news to me as well.

     

    I had a laptop that stored a windows installer and a key on a small solid state drive inside, but I've never heard of it being baked into the bios chip...
  • GlovesGloves
    Mess around with for what? Depending on the use case you might consider installing Linux rather than Windows?
  • aguyaguy
    "The OEM license model has changed since Windows 8. If you buy a Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 pre-installed computer, you will no longer see a sticker on the back or top of the machine with 5
  • Uncle MeatUncle Meat
    It's true, the Windows key can be found in Powershell however if that person who had the PC before has it registered to their Windows account you may have an issue.



    I ran into this when I bought a new MOBO and happened to be one of those people that got a Windows 10 free upgrade because I bought a PC a few years earlier with 8 on it so therefore I didn't actually *have* a key, I was able to find it in Powershell however they ALSO limit the key if it is registered to a MOBO/account.



    What Microsoft asked me to do was send them a receipt of my MOBO purchase and they provided me with a key via chat.



    Honestly some of the best customer service I've ever experienced, they could have easily just told me to fuck my hat for a new key and pay $100 or whatever the hell it is.
  • Boosted52405Boosted52405
    Woah this is the first I've heard of this, but I build my own machines which of course wouldn't be pre-installed. Interesting concept...
  • Uncle MeatUncle Meat
    Surprised not a lot of people knew about this, too much tinkerin' with 30+ year old video game stuff, gotta keep up with the times boys!



    There had to be 10,000s of customers who got affected by that free upgrade bullshit even though it really was nice of em to do it, I think that is why they were so lenient towards just giving me my own key as they had already heard the same story so many 1000s of times.
  • bootloadbootload
    The key is stored with the signature of the hardware inside so if you change the hard drive it will ask you to activate again and could fail with the new signatures. I had that problem before, I upgrade hardware all the time and they told me to piss off when I called to ask about it.
  • a3quit4sa3quit4s
    If you pick up a copy that had like Windows 10 Home Edition on it to begin with, I think when it came to activation you could just do the step where you don't have the key and possibly chat with Microsoft and tell them you just replaced the hard drive and they will get you activated. It may be a little trickier if you purchase one that had Windows 10 Pro on it, but you could try the same thing, just tell them you replaced the HD.



    The worst that happens is say you buy a Dell, Microsoft will likely tell you to contact Dell since Microsoft sold Dell the licenses. When you contact Dell they will ask for the Service Tag, it may be registered as purchased by a company and they will require correspondence with an email address that belongs to the company. Or if it was purchased by a person, they will want to speak to that person and not you.



    Or, you could install the new OS and it could activate with no issues.



    As someone who is literally sitting here updating Windows Server 2016 ESXi VM's for a deployment project, everything Microsoft is a crap shoot.



    edit: Dell was an example, but most major laptop manufacturers have the same serial number tracking logistics
  • bootloadbootload
    Or you could go to www.g2deals.com and buy a new license for $13.
  • a3quit4sa3quit4s
    Originally posted by: bootload



    Or you could go to www.g2deals.com... and buy a new license for $13.

    Damn! Even as an ex-Microsoft employee the Alumni store sells Win10 Pro for around $30-$40. That site looks super sketchy though!



     
  • bootloadbootload
    Originally posted by: a3quit4s

     
    Originally posted by: bootload



    Or you could go to www.g2deals.com and buy a new license for $13.

    Damn! Even as an ex-Microsoft employee the Alumni store sells Win10 Pro for around $30-$40. That site looks super sketchy though!



     





    I do all technical purchasing for our company and I've purchased licenses for both Windows 10 and Office from them. They've been running perfectly for the employees for a month, no issues. I'd buy from them again.
  • Boosted52405Boosted52405
    ^Damn! Wish I would have known that a few months ago lol
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