You can buy a used mini PC for less than the price of a new Windows 11 license. I know there are cheaper license sites out there (unclear how legit they are) but this way you get a Windows license and a spare PC to run Linux!
this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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There could be a bit of a caveat here. I when I purchased my laptop it had windows 10 installed. When I installed Mint, I could not reuse that key in a VM because it was “different hardware”. The license, could not be transferred under any circumstance. I had also purchased the upgrade to Pro through the windows store. That’s also lost.
I seldom run windows, even in the VM, but it still leaves one a bit bitter.
Yes, an OEM license is not transferable from the hardware the OEM originally installed it on, even to a VM running on that hardware.
I reused a Win10 Pro key from a mini PC from 2015 onto a brand new build and it worked right away. Not sure what the difference is with your situation. Maybe it was your license type?
Laptop licences are linked to the hardware. You technically do not have a key to begin with.
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Cheap license sites (windows, games, etc) usually use keys bought via stolen credit cards. Pirating it is much better than buying from those sites, including for the devs that get punished for chargebacks from those keys.
the devs that get punished for chargebacks from those keys.
Just to be clear... in the case of Windows, that would be M$...?
Tbh if you want gray area keys. Microsoftsoftwareswap has always had verified users selling business generated licenses keys. If you HAVE to buy a key, at least buy one from vetted people and not some rando on a seller site
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Dumb q, if I install Linux and later decide to reinstall Windows, is that OEM license still good?
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I have around 30 windows 7 pro COAs (used to work in a pc repair shop, pulled the COAs on every dead pc that came through). Most of them are from dells, but I haven’t had an issue activating on custom pcs. If anyone wants one, let me know
If you're handing out free keys, I'd happily take one! Pretty smart to yoink em from scrapped PCs lol
DM’d you
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I wish we could just get back to an updated version of 7. Everything since has sucked.
If you don't use any software that requires Windows, you should give Kubuntu a try. I've found it very easy to use, as someone coming from Windows.
It had to happen eventually. To be honest I'm surprised Microsoft still charges for Windows when Apple, Google Chrome OS and Linux offers their systems for free.
In my case I run Windows 10 in a VM on my Linux machine just to use the Canon printer which the box said supported Linux but after I bought it, their website says they no longer support Linux.
So I'm forced to use Windows.
Btw, if you use Linux ain't buy a Canon printer. If you can, get Brother.
tbh I wish they'd charge for their OS and they would charge a little more instead of filling it with bullshit and privacy nightmares that I (and probably no one) wants. I don't main on Windows, but goddamn is it annoying when I do update having to get rid of some new bullshit every single time.
It's also a bit funny because used to be you bought a new key for each OS version. This could be a positive for Windows, but they bungled it because they decided Windows 10 was going to be the "last" version of Windows, until they didn't.
If they used to, find the ppd or one from the series models.
I've had the same Win8 Pro key that I purchased for $40 when it released 12 years ago. I've used it for Win10 and 11. Is this saying if I format my drive and reinstall Win11 that I won't be able to activate using this key anymore?
If I'm not mistaken your key is linked to your motherboard as well as your Microsoft account. So I think you should be fine. I just formatted my drive yesterday and it didn't even ask me to type it in, I skipped that step and it verified once I logged in.
OEM keys are linked to motherboards I believe. Mine is a retail key and I've used it across many different builds over the years.
Retail keys can also be linked to the hardware or Microsoft account
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Install Linux and don't have to deal with any of the shit Microsoft software
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You guys are using keys?
My first legit Windows Version I installed(not pre-installed) was when my university gave keys out for free.
Before that I used sketchy tools to activate my Windows. Since I am using Linux only my vms don't get activated. Windows 10 runs fine without activation.
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No problem. I’m still staying on 10 though.
Yeah, same for me.
Getting rid of the automated 11 upgrade was a pain already, took me months to finally find what was making it resurface all the time.
Thing is, I wasn't even opposed to it originally. It just didn't work and failed systematically. And my PC wasn't even supposed to support it, since I don't have TPM 2.0, so no idea why it even tried.
Now with all the reports of new ways to fuck with privacy I don't even see any reason to upgrade.
I think they removed that requirement recently.. I killed the upgrade prompts originally by disabling the fTPM but they've come back in the last month or so.
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Not like I wanted to, my older PCs running windows 7 aren't eligible for Windows 11 anyway
Try installing fresh from USB. Typically works for me on any machine that says it couldn't install on
So I can't upgrade my sistem that works perfectly fine because it doesn't meet one of their frivolous requirements. And now I can't use the key that I legally purchased? Sounds like MS doesn't want me to use their products.
They don't want you, because they only want people that will happily conform and accept the walled garden they are slowly building towards
I have some trusty KMS activator that I have to use every year once, so far no problems
Jumped the windows ship long ago. So glad I don't need to deal with this nonsense anymore.
To be fair, nobody actually NEEDS to deal with this nonsense. Windows works just fine without an activated key, literally the only downside is the "Please activate Windows" bug on your desktop. That's it, everything else works fine.
But yes, using Linux is also a great option.
Not exactly, can't customize it either or change certain settings. I know this because I just built a new PC and the key I had didn't work for 2 days while I had support figure it out.
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I don't think system wide dark theme works without a key, although there are workarounds of course.
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Wym man I pacman -Syu 20 times a day with no problem. You guys need keys?
You guys need keys?
Yeah, sometimes if I haven't booted up my laptop in a while, I'll run pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring to get the keys I need.
Haven't happened to me yet. I'll keep this in mind. My arch devices are constantly in use.
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