this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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@yianiris @ajayiyer @nixCraft @linux @windowscentralbot it seems not (cf. screenshot)
What I use is a digital license: it seems the digital license is not stored in the hardware
I suppose when it's activated, windows send information to a MS Server
They store the information the digital license is used by this user/hardware
If you try to reuse the digital license key, you'll be rejected during activation because it's already flagged as used on MS side
Something like this I think 🙃
If it was done online alone 1st it would have been cracked globally, then the machine/hw needs to be identified uniquely. How can this be done if you change disk and reinstall?
The way they do this is a chip intel/amd_x86-64 boards provide called MSDM and a unique key is embeded to it.
You plug a new disk, install, reboot is is already activated.
@grum999 @ajayiyer @nixCraft @linux @windowscentralbot
@yianiris @ajayiyer @nixCraft @linux @windowscentralbot I don't know. If they have a database were used keys are checked during activation process, it could be difficult to globally crack this... 🤷
if you change hardware and want to reuse the same digital key, as the key has already been used, activation on MS side will just be rejected: you have to buy a new digital key
digital keys don't work the same way than product keys (that are stored on hardware)
Not all MS licenses are the same, some you can reuse 1 time, you just have to call up cus.support if the key was registered in your name.
@grum999 @ajayiyer @nixCraft @linux @windowscentralbot