On 3/25/2023 10:01 AM, Johnny wrote:
On Sat, 25 Mar 2023 13:52:56 +0000
Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
Johnny wrote:
I have a new computer with Windows 10. The computer has not been
turned on yet. Can I take the ssd out and give to someone that
likes Windows 10? If not I will just install MX Linux on it
Depends, is it a major brand (HP, Lenovo, Dell)? If so, the licence
for Windows could be tied into the BIOS of the machine.
It's a Dell Optiplex sff 7050.
Then the license key is a Refurbisher key, and tied to the
machine in some way.
You don't resell a Dell (apparently) like a home user would
resell a machine.
You go to some Microsoft web page. You enter "Old key" which came
with the OEM machine. This could be the COA sticker value on the
machine originally. As the refurbisher, you remove the COA sticker
by scratching it off. No evidence of the original license is to
be displayed on the machine.
Microsoft gives you a new Windows 10 key. The existence of that
key, is tied to the COA key from the old setup. A COA is not adhered
to the machine (the Refurbisher kit from Microsoft does not include
a new COA). But the new Win10 key was used during the installation
of the Refurbisher OS, so the key is recorded in the usual
place in the Registry (encoded, not in 25-character plaintext --
the encoding method is well known, and was posted in the WindowsXP
group decades ago :-) ).
If you tried to transfer the key to another machine, the
key has already been "seen" during the Refurbisher install.
The Microsoft server has a hardware hash recorded against
that key.
*******
You can try moving it.
The big refurbisher companies (that take delivery of a
thousand off-lease computers), they don't screw around,
like leaving the network cable disconnected during install.
They have to get the new key value into the OS *somehow*,
because the physical drive is the "transport mechanism"
for the key.
This is all from observing what came with my refurbished PC.
No COA on the machine. Old COA scratched off. I got media
with mine (a hologram DVD) since at one time, the
Refurbisher Kit did come with media. But the Win10
Refurbisher kit is just a cardboard card with a new
key value printed on it. Microsoft no longer packs a
hologram DVD in those kits.
Each Refurbisher Kit costs a nominal sum of money,
and it might even be possible you could get a
legit "bargain" key off the Internet for less.
If the machine was even newer, it would have the
original key recorded in the ACPI table known as
"MSDM". Rather than use a SLIC table. Your Dell
probably used a SLIC table and was roughly Windows 7
era. If the machine had been a year newer, the
SLIC authorization would have been replaced
with a "good for one OS" MSDM key. Win8 and Win10
and Win11 use MSDM. The key is stored in the BIOS and
each BIOS image is unique in the sense of having
the MSDM value imprinted in it.
You can check your machine for an MSDM, from Linux.
Because Linux can dump ACPI tables. If there is no MSDM
table, then it is not a Windows 8 machine and it
was sent by Dell as a Windows 7 (SLIC) machine.
*******
If you plug the drive into another machine, yes, Windows 10
is very flexible, and it will download drivers until
Device Manager is populated. Only a few drivers are
missing (no Hauppauge TV tuner drivers were given to Microsoft).
But when it checks the license key, it may find the key is
registered against the SFF. And since the level of license
is more likely to be "System Builder" than to be "Retail, fully
flexible", I expect it to whine and fail to activate, The OS
will *still* run, and only the Personalization settings page
will fail to work.
Hardly anyone manages to buy "Retail" kits, which are
transferable. And most of the high volume licensing
schemes are valid only for the original machine. There
is no reason for the Refurbisher to be transferable...
unless it was not registered during installation phase.
The means by which the key exists, is still well-known
to Microsoft, so they can figure it out if they wanted to.
It's "supposed to be on an SFF of the Dell persuasion".
Paul
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