Are these cheap Win 10 pro keys legit?

[jpaul]

From this and earlier posts it is clear what the seller has to provide if it is a legiimate retail license that can be activated on your system,
if it is an oem licensee you have bought online, this is breaking the licensing rules, and coining a phrase "Maybe not today. Or tomorrow. But someday, ..."
it will stop working and despite calling MS they may not take pity on you, per crinkletoes case, and legitimise it.
For the few posts on here, about folks being 'successful', Amazon, for example, has lots of feedback to the contrary, and the earlier links show the 'transient' seller strategies,
where they maximise their profits, before the oem volume license is revoked en masse.

 

[PiKe]

Typically once the OEM key is activated it's actually based on a digital entitlement so I would be very surprised if they could actually withdraw them.

 

[WantoN]

From this and earlier posts it is clear what the seller has to provide if it is a legiimate retail license that can be activated on your system,
if it is an oem licensee you have bought online, this is breaking the licensing rules, and coining a phrase "Maybe not today. Or tomorrow. But someday, ..."
it will stop working and despite calling MS they may not take pity on you, per crinkletoes case, and legitimise it.
For the few posts on here, about folks being 'successful', Amazon, for example, has lots of feedback to the contrary, and the earlier links show the 'transient' seller strategies,
where they maximise their profits, before the oem volume license is revoked en masse.

OCUK sells OEM liscences, how does this affect your position on this, is the price differentiating factor or are you expecting g then to be revoked too?

Typically once the OEM key is activated it's actually based on a digital entitlement so I would be very surprised if they could actually withdraw them.

I've found pro retail keys which quickly mention bulk bought. But they claim to be genuine, transferable retail copies. At that money it's worth a punt, and I've head plenty of successful progress with this. I don't mind ringing up anyways, i prefer talking with people.

I'm just letting this intel security issue resolve itself and see how the land lies before I build a new system. I may well break and get my new monitor before then though.

Genuine thanks to all contributors and the people who message me, cheers.

 

[jpaul]

OCUK sells OEM liscence

yes I should have qualified oem licenses sold with a system from a Bona fide vendor/OC are safe, but other OEM ones less so.

If you have an OEM from elsewhere & digital entitlement, the computer still has a partial product key, revealed with slmgr -dli
that could be used for revokation, if MS discovers some system builder has let them loose in the wild (PiKe ?)

 

[groovesection]

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.

Upgrading a win7 pro to win 10 pro will result in an OEM key and not a retail key (check M$ free upgrade policy T&C's) so when you replace the MB, CPU etc you will need to buy another key anyway

 

[Thekwango]

Upgrading a win7 pro to win 10 pro will result in an OEM key and not a retail key (check M$ free upgrade policy T&C's) so when you replace the MB, CPU etc you will need to buy another key anyway

No you won't. All you have to do is create a Microsoft account (you'll get an outlook email) if you don't already have one. Register that to the pc. The key is then digitally linked to that account rather than the hardware so you can change mb, cpu etc. You can find this info on the ms website.

 

[MissChief]

I got a key for building a friend PC at work, Windows 10 Pro through Groupon and it was around £20. Wouldn't activate at all, either by calling, going through the automated activation system nothing at all so eventually got a refund. Went onto eBay and got a key for £9. For windows 10 Pro. NINE POUNDS! Amazing thing is, it activated remotely online without an issue. No call to activate or automated system required, just tapped in the key, clicked and straight away it was active and has been running just fine for a month now. Of course I have no idea where the key came from but it was English and legit as far as I could tell!

 

[groovesection]

No you won't. All you have to do is create a Microsoft account (you'll get an outlook email) if you don't already have one. Register that to the pc. The key is then digitally linked to that account rather than the hardware so you can change mb, cpu etc. You can find this info on the ms website.

I was not aware of that, thanks for the info!
TBH, I would not want an M$ account linked to my home box, the data-harvesting is bad enough in windows 10 with a local account, let alone an M$ live account

 

[ExoMale]

having a live account is not that bad, i have a temp hdd which im running 7 on, but not linked live account if even possible on 7, but when i have used it on 8.1 & 10 ive had no issues, its the same account for my xbox so its useful being linked.

as for the keys, i wasnt aware of account linking, but then ive rarely had issues using activated windows on spare drivers, unless i get a corrupted drive, its usually swapping from a Dell system thats a ball ache, but i have been lucky so far, some of the keys ive used till they no longer work are from computers ive purchased where the case was no good or suitable, but i kept the panel with the key(or took photo if on top) then scrapped the rest, why i dont buy custom often, i aim for ones with keys incase i have to reinstall or it has no hdd on purchase.

 

[jpaul]

I was not aware of that, thanks for the info!
TBH, I would not want an M$ account linked to my home box, the data-harvesting is bad enough in windows 10 with a local account, let alone an M$ live account

the original win7 pro key has to be retail to get a retail on the w10 upgrade.

...the original context/post was picking up an old win7 pro laptop with coa, but most of these are oem (like the w10 pro, I am using now) so I only get a w10 oem.

 

[poisonheart]

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.

So, if I'm running a legit retail Windows 7 Ultimate I can get a free Win 10 upgrade?

 

[MissChief]

So, if I'm running a legit retail Windows 7 Ultimate I can get a free Win 10 upgrade?

Not anymore AFAIK. They closed the assisted upgrade program I believe.

 

[poisonheart]

Ok, I spoke to Microsoft via webchat today. The guy said as long as I had a valid Windows 7 key I am good to go. He gave me the link to download the win10 installer. I did and I've upgraded and it's activated Win 10 Pro. He even offered to do it for me via remote desktop, though I declined.

It seems you can still upgrade for free!