Reply to: Anyone want to sell a Win 10 License?

[d000hg]

Payable every year...

And 99% of it totally useless for the home user.

[AtW]

buy the MS action pack through your business.
You get 10 (I think) Win10 of each home, pro, enterprise as well as Win 7, loads of servers, 5 x O365 licenses, and £75 a month of Azure credit.

All for £350.

Payable every year...

[Hobosapien]

That's quite a lot in relative terms if you were building a low-end PC as a fun project.

Although as someone else said, in that case you aren't forced to use Windows. It does seem odd they don't provide a free/very cheap option for such projects though like RasPi, etc. Unless you can get on the MS Education deals which are great?

It seems odd that Microsoft aren't clamping down on cheap product key providers, there are even some selling via Amazon where one assumes better vetting is in place for marketplace sellers than say eBay. So it may be that they are allowing it as an unofficial stance to ensure cheap access to Windows for those otherwise tempted by the free alternatives, to keep market share high.

Microsoft can't sanction these near give-aways as they make licencing money from corporates who would baulk at paying hundreds for the same product if the cheaper route was ligitamised.

They also can't charge full price for every device that comes with Windows (most bought by non-techy people not looking to build their own) as it would be uncompetitive without the brand tax like Apple enjoys, so they almost give away OEM versions to PC builders, again to retain market share.

Long live Apple OS, Android, Linux, Raspbian, and the other freebies, even if not interested in those it keeps Windows cheap and effectively free for most.

[NotAllThere]

That's quite a lot in relative terms if you were building a low-end PC as a fun project.

That's one of Linux's use cases. Mind you, I tend to build high-end PCs as a fun project, so £100+ seems cheap!

MORE POWER!!!!!

[d000hg]

microsoft.co.uk

FTFY

Seriously, it's a hundred quid or so. Can't you afford it?

That's quite a lot in relative terms if you were building a low-end PC as a fun project.

Although as someone else said, in that case you aren't forced to use Windows. It does seem odd they don't provide a free/very cheap option for such projects though like RasPi, etc. Unless you can get on the MS Education deals which are great?

[Lance]

I'm building a PC for my boy. Does anyone have Win 10 license? Home or pro is fine

If this doesn't work, what's the deal with the sites selling them? Which ones are legit and will I get ripped off?

buy the MS action pack through your business.
You get 10 (I think) Win10 of each home, pro, enterprise as well as Win 7, loads of servers, 5 x O365 licenses, and £75 a month of Azure credit.

All for £350.

[Hobosapien]

microsoft.co.uk

FTFY

Seriously, it's a hundred quid or so. Can't you afford it?

After much soul searching I have stumped up the money for a licence. [insert saint smilie if one exists, ta]

Paid 4.14eu via my Revolut card for max discount, which comes through as costing me £3.82, on that 'legit' Windows 10 Pro Retail Key on hotukdeals. Received the product key via email and now fully activated. No more 'activate windows' watermark on the desktop.

Ironically, I'm now closer to committing a crime by using a potentially hokey product key than if I'd left my PC unactivated.

[AtW]

Simon Dolan could tell you how they’re being paid for.

Payment is by soul: big or small.

They will NEVER get major soul like Simons’!

[Old Greg]

Somebody's got to pay for those chips in the vaccine!

Simon Dolan could tell you how they’re being paid for.

[NickFitz]

Ah, typical left wing response. You're rich, we're poor, so it's ok if we steal. It's a windows 10 license, not a loaf of bread. If you can't afford it, you're in the wrong line of work. Or you're doing it wrong.

Somebody's got to pay for those chips in the vaccine!

[Hobosapien]

That's interesting. Is the Windows Media Creation tool version of Win10 compatible with Action Pack licenses? I never know how dumb/clever their checking systems are.

The creation tool asks which version, starting with the basics of 32-bit or 64-bit and Home or Pro, then has other variants if need something specific. It then downloads the version based on what was chosen.

See if the action pack gives a specific product type as there are some obscure versions available.

If unsure just install the nearest common match and see if the product key activates or not.

If Windows 10 has ever been installed and activated on that hardware before it will likely automatically activate without needing to re-enter the product key (will still need to say 'don't have a product key' during installation when asked for one then activation will occur after install complete).

I have some refurb ex-corporate PCs off ebay that activated Windows 10 Pro from the Windows 7 Pro OEM stickers still attached.

[Scruff]

See if you can obtain a licence for LTSC edition (formerly LTSB). It's the Enterprise version and doesn't have the Microsoft Store, Cortana or Edge built into it. [emoji12]

[ladymuck]

That's interesting. Is the Windows Media Creation tool version of Win10 compatible with Action Pack licenses? I never know how dumb/clever their checking systems are.

[Hobosapien]

I'm guessing you have installation media?

Can download the Windows Media Creation tool from Microsoft and set up a USB stick or DVD to boot and install from.

It also downloads the most recent version of Windows 10 when creating the media so not as much windows update to suffer through after installation. Hence I always do this 'from scratch' approach even if have older versions already to hand.

microsoft.co.uk

FTFY

Seriously, it's a hundred quid or so. Can't you afford it?

Yes but they should be paying us for all the telemetry they are sipping through the backdoor.

If they were really that bothered about running unactivated they wouldn't allow it.

They also still allow free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8 if have a licence key for one of those. Can install Windows 10 then put in the 7/8 key afterwards to activate Windows 10 all legit.

Maybe they are doing this (allowing free or very cheap licence key access) so when they change to Windows-as-a-service and require a monthly sub it'll be easier to get people paying a few quid a month than if they'd already paid £10s or £100s (if have several PCs) beforehand. That's before considering the competition who practically or actually give away their OS these days.

[Paddy]

I hear they give free Win 10 with all security updates for life from getwindows10.lubyanka.ru

Quote promotion code ATWCUK during sign up

Lovely hotel with free breakfast of bread and water.