Are these cheap Win 10 pro keys legit?

WantoN

WantoN

WantoN

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Joined
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Hi gents,
Looking to get a win 10 pro retail key for future proofing. I've noticed plenty of sites that offer them super cheap £30 ish) for download.

Are these legit, or too good to be true? If anyone has any experience with a particular site and wants to PM me that'd be great.

Very keen not to break forum rules here, so please don't post links to sites in this thread. I've already reported to Mods just in case.
 
Nope they are not legit but because MS has been given out Windows 10 as an free upgrade since release they are doing very little to stop them being used. I generally think MS simply don't care anymore.
 
malachi said:
Nope they are not legit but because MS has been given out Windows 10 as an free upgrade since release they are doing very little to stop them being used. I generally think MS simply don't care anymore.
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Sorry mate I'm struggling to read between the lines here. Does this mean if I want a long term win 10 pro key then the only option is to spend the big spondoolies?
 
I bought a win 10 pro oem key from a popular key site for about £12.

Recently changed my motherboard... wouldn't activate.

Called Microsoft... guy couldn't activate... put me through to specialist who gave me a brand new, full retail, Win 10 Pro key that I can port freely to new machines (his words).

They asked for a copy of the invoice... but didn't get upset that I hadn't paid much.
 
I bought a Win10 Pro key for £8.50 (OEM). Had to phone Microsoft for activation, but it activated fine.

that was about 3 weeks ago, so have no feedback on whether there is any long-term problem with licence revocation
 
Working and being legitimate are two entirely different things. Two people posting just above - non legitimate keys.
For some reason people seem to equate "working keys" with "legitimate keys" - not sure why....
Want to be legal? Buy yourself a boxed copy of Windows 10 Home. It's about £100, but it will remain legal for as long as you use it. You can move it from computer to computer.
Lets say you use Windows 10 for 5yrs, the legal copy has cost you £20/year or £1.66/month or less than 6p/day.
 
The keys are legit, but whether they were acquired legitimately.... no idea.

I know some legit retailers have had cheap keys - playasia for example had Pro keys for about £12 a few months ago. I suspect that it's possible to buy large batches from Microsoft for not many pennies - maybe more possible in some territories than in others (i.e. some countries MS will sell to for less).
 
if you want pro and cant afford windows 10 pro off the shelf then buy windows 7 pro for cheap then freely upgrade to 10 or if you get lucky like i do, buy a computer/laptop with a coa for windows 7 and above and use that to your personal use(i mean for your own systems not other peoples) till the key works no more. Keyfinder usually good software to use, i havent had much negative luck with it from the very very rare use i had.
 
As I understand it the keys sold cheaply online are OEM keys that once activated are tied to the motherboard that they were activated on. Unlike the retail version which can be transferred to a new motherboard as often as you like.
Luckily I managed to get the free Windows 10 pro update on my desktop & a free retail copy of Win10 Pro on my laptop for doing the Windows 10 insider programme.

I bought a cheap OEM Win10 Pro key for my sons pc December 2016 and not had a problem so far.
 
Just to clarify I'm running Windows 10 Home on my current rig. I'm considering a new rig and if I can save £100 plus, I will.

Second time someone's mentioned not affording something on this forum recently and I'll say what I did before. Anyone who just spends extra money without thinking isn't a bright spark, I like to make sure I'm getting the very best value for money. And for the record, best value doesn't mean cheapest.

For instance, even if OCUK are a few quid cheaper, I'll buy from them, because they add value with these forums, RMA and support, as well as free shipping.

Further research suggests that the retail keys I've found are indeed retail, but they're batch bought. They're not illegal, they just live in the grey.

Think I'll just fork out for a retail pro given Microsofts apparent dedication to updating the current platform rather than a new OS.
 
my mums partner has a windows 10 disc, but had to buy a key to upgrade from windows 7 or whatever(he has an old core2quad XPS tower) and paid like £8 on the bay for a key and has had any issues.
 
WantoN said:
Just to clarify I'm running Windows 10 Home on my current rig. I'm considering a new rig and if I can save £100 plus, I will.

Second time someone's mentioned not affording something on this forum recently and I'll say what I did before. Anyone who just spends extra money without thinking isn't a bright spark, I like to make sure I'm getting the very best value for money. And for the record, best value doesn't mean cheapest.

For instance, even if OCUK are a few quid cheaper, I'll buy from them, because they add value with these forums, RMA and support, as well as free shipping.

Further research suggests that the retail keys I've found are indeed retail, but they're batch bought. They're not illegal, they just live in the grey.

Think I'll just fork out for a retail pro given Microsofts apparent dedication to updating the current platform rather than a new OS.
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If you are paying any less (approx.) than these prices:

Windows 10 Home OEM - £80
Windows 10 Home Retail - £100
Windows 10 Pro OEM - £115
Windows 10 Pro Retail - £170

Then you are not buying legitimate software.
There really is no grey area on those "other" licenses. £20 - £50 licenses are not in any way or form legal.
 
Picked up a cheap key for a fiver on the popular auction site last week, working fine so far after I'd rebuilt my machine.

I have a genuine Windows 7 key knocking around somewhere in it's case, but with moving recently I've no idea where I left it, I suspect it's trapped in the loft somewhere along with other old bits from other machines. I'll just have to spend an afternoon digging it out if I have any issues.
 
stoofa said:
There really is no grey area on those "other" licenses. £20 - £50 licenses are not in any way or form legal.
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You've gone quiet mate? I'm genuinely interested as I certainly don't want to be on the wrong side of the law here, but we've had several helpful posters here sharing their success with MS and these keys.

If you have something regarding the legality of this it would be very useful to know?
 
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