Is Windows auto activating itself?

Software & Operating Systems Windows
1

So I used the Windows Media Creation tool (seen here https://goo.gl/ho540r) and made a 64bit Windows 10 iso and burned it to a thumb drive and it seams to be auto activating itself when I install windows off the Windows 10 media. Seams a bit odd and was wondering if they want to get at people's data so bad there giving out free windows 10 activations. Any ideas?

2

yea , pretty sure this is well established

3

Windows 10 is ridding of the "You need an activation key" thing. the media creation tool will give you a "Digital Entitlement" basically you won't ever need the activation key, whether you switch from a new PC to another or want to do a clean install.

4

To put it short- yes. I've heard this little thing that the activation key will be bound to you MS account (if you use one) and to the hardware itself. If I remember right, bind to the MAC address on the mobo.

1 Like
5

Yeah, it does. Even if you install W10 with a random ISO.

6

If its an OEM device then a Windows key might stored in the UEFI/BIOS. You can also try running the following command at the command prompt which gives you some activation informtion:

slmgr.vbs /dlv

If it mentions OEM somewhere then its probably from your bios.

7

Fair warning on this. This makes a hardware ID to your system, so reinstalling on the same system is no big deal. But the huge deal comes in for those of us that upgrade our systems manually. If you make any big hardware changes, it won't activate automatically, because the hardware has changed. I called Microsoft on it, and they need your old product key, for which ever windows version you came from, before they will activate your product for you again. Its a double edged sword, because it makes upgrading your system that much harder. If you don't have the old key, they won't do anything for you, and will tell you that you have to buy a new key for Windows 10.

I only give this information out of experience when I upgraded my Fiance's computer.
Also I think the "Major changes" are along the lines of the Mobo. I am not sure on this though, because I upgraded the Mobo and CPU on her system. You maybe good to go if you only upgrade the CPU. Other Hardware, ie. GPU and RAM, will not affect your ability to keep your license.

8

What this user says.