can I pull a win 7 pro license from refurbished hardware?

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vibe

[H]ard|Gawd
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Oct 27, 2005
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So instead of getting ripped off with an oem key from overseas that dies in 60-90 days or getting ripped off on ebay for "retail" copies that are overpriced and already opened so likely used, what about this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883798415

Can the win 7 pro license be pulled from that hardware if it is never activated and hardware discarded or broken up into parts for resale?

I guess I am asking both legally and in reality if it will continue to work or microsoft will kill?
 
Legally no. OEM is a non-transferrable license.

But when did that stop anybody.
 
schizrade said:
Legally no. OEM is a non-transferrable license.

But when did that stop anybody.
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well if it is non-transferable, doesn't microsoft detect during the next activation?

what I am betting on is that the license in the authorized lenovo refurb does not come already activated and as long as it is not activated on that hardware, I can activate it once on other hardware, then sell the lenovo without license for like $50
 
A lot of the big brand OEM licenses are not accepted when entering in to different OEM installations as the OS is pre-activated & the license provided on the machine to be "legal"
 
The sticker on the case is the license and the key won't do much good on a non-OEM branded machine since the necessary info is embedded in the BIOS (and uses a Royalty OEM key for the given brand of OEM). But as stated, the OEM license is tied to that specific machine and is non-transferable to any other hardware whatsoever.

You wouldn't be able to activate such a thing on non-branded OEM hardware anyway so, that pretty much covers it entirely. Retail and OEM are two entirely different things by design.
 
You can still buy Windows 7 from legit places like Newegg and Tiger Direct.

Just pay the $130 like (most) everyone else and have a legit copy for life.
 
bigdogchris said:
You can still buy Windows 7 from legit places like Newegg and Tiger Direct.

Just pay the $130 like (most) everyone else and have a legit copy for life.
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note that is only system builder oem key, so if you change your hardware the key is invalid, even if you are running it only in one place

for $130 I would want retail key not oem

because I am still on 1155 and would upgrade to 1151 once cpu+mobo+ddr4 prices hit sanity
 
vibe said:
note that is only system builder oem key, so if you change your hardware the key is invalid, even if you are running it only in one place

for $130 I would want retail key not oem

because I am still on 1155 and would upgrade to 1151 once cpu+mobo+ddr4 prices hit sanity
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I always buy system builders licenses and I move them to my new hardware all the time.
 
bigdogchris said:
I always buy system builders licenses and I move them to my new hardware all the time.
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really? that is actually very helpful to know, thanks

so you change the motherboard and cpu and windows re-activation just sails though?

(because the oem license specifically says that won't work)
 
vibe said:
really? that is actually very helpful to know, thanks

so you change the motherboard and cpu and windows re-activation just sails though?

(because the oem license specifically says that won't work)
Click to expand...
As pointed out earlier, the EULA says you cannot move the software to another computer (say you build a new one) but there's nothing stopping you. The only thing being "tracked" is the licensing certificate that is created when you activate. New hardware creates a certificate that is different and thus the activation system throws a flag that it's new hardware. However, many times I've moved the software without issues as long as it's been a while, say a couple years. If you are activating it on a bunch of computers it's going to block you. Really, as long as you only use it on one PC and you only move the license to your new builds every couple years, you'll be fine.

You've always been able to replace a motherboard with OEM license, you just have to call to reactivate if it blocks you.

If you do build a new computer and in the future it won't activate, you just follow telephone prompts and it ask you if the software is installed on any other PC's. You say no (because it's not anymore) and it provides you a key to type in to activate.
 
Lenovo's use Windows 7 Pro OA keys. OA = OEM Activation.

You will need to use their special Windows recovery software/OS Install media in order for this key to even work.

And that media uses hardware level checks to verify that the machine is a Lenovo. And, I beleive this is a requirement that Microsoft has for these licenses.
 
For Windows 7, Lenovo uses the same technique every other OEM did/does: SLIC 2.1 digital certificate embedded in the BIOS coupled with an xrm-ms digital certificate for the specific OEM used during the installation (a file on the installation media) and when they check against each other with the Royalty OEM Product Key for the given OEM branding (included as one of the config files on the installation media) as well as the particular Windows edition being installed and voila, the install is "activated" when the installation is complete.

Nothing special, and you can create your own Lenovo (or any other OEM) "branded" media anytime, it's a relatively simple task overall and since it's directly tied to the specific OEM's hardware it can't really be used for anything else.
 
The key on the sticker on OEM systems is usually never even used. The only time you would need to use it is if you are wiping and reinstalling with non-OEM installation media. And that key is not tied to the OEM from my experience.

As others have stated, they use SLIC and the OEM installation media auto activates when it detects that it is an OEM system.
 
ah okay, so no go on the hardware, thanks for the education everyone

sounds like unless I can find a sealed retail package for less, I'll have to cough up $100+ for a system builder oem license
 
cyclone3d said:
The key on the sticker on OEM systems is usually never even used. The only time you would need to use it is if you are wiping and reinstalling with non-OEM installation media. And that key is not tied to the OEM from my experience.

As others have stated, they use SLIC and the OEM installation media auto activates when it detects that it is an OEM system.
Click to expand...

The OA sticker is usually a requirement for volume agreements. It may never get "used" but it is a requirement to fufill an ent licensing agreement.
 
As noted, the sticker is the license - not the Product Key on it which also as noted as being not really of much use at all on an OEM machine since it's never the Royalty Product Key which is in the config files but they're easily located online anyway (but can't be used for anything but OEM installs on OEM hardware).

Seems complicated but it's pretty simple overall and with UEFI systems moving in and BIOS now being relegated as "obsolete" things will not necessarily improve as time passes. I have to say I do feel like a dinosaur of sorts because I have no use for newer UEFI based machines of any kind and I certainly won't be using Windows 10 ever so, it's Windows 7 till the day I simply cannot use it anymore for whatever reason(s) that might crop up, then it's some Linux distro or OSX, who knows.
 
I still see Windows 7 on sale for $80 pretty often. Not the Pro version but if you just need Windows 7 that's the way to go.
 
Tiberian said:
Seems complicated but it's pretty simple overall and with UEFI systems moving in and BIOS now being relegated as "obsolete" things will not necessarily improve as time passes. I have to say I do feel like a dinosaur of sorts because I have no use for newer UEFI based machines of any kind and I certainly won't be using Windows 10 ever so, it's Windows 7 till the day I simply cannot use it anymore for whatever reason(s) that might crop up, then it's some Linux distro or OSX, who knows.
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actually windows 10 can use legacy bios, I've read it is a myth that it is UEFI only

I actually sat down and forced myself to evaluate OSX and Linux Mint as alternatives and run my legacy XP stuff through vmware but after playing with them for awhile those solutions are half baked and the lack of robust hardware support is worrisome.

What really sucks is my XP works just fine for me, I just cannot live with only 3gb of memory anymore since i visualize many things and have many parallel tasks. I looked into the 64gb hacks for XP but they just make it unstable because most drivers are not written properly to handle it. When 16gb of memory is only $60-$70 but I cannot use any of it because of my OS, I really have to re-evaluate.

I can get another year or two out of XP with the posready hack but then w7 would be nearly impossible to get, at least not under $300
 
vibe said:
actually windows 10 can use legacy bios, I've read it is a myth that it is UEFI only
Click to expand...

While that is completely true, I didn't mean to say that I wasn't going to use Windows 10 because of UEFI based machines - I meant to say I don't have any particular use for UEFI based hardware, that's all.

I can't stand Windows 10 to such degrees it almost borders on hate at this point so, that's the reason I won't use it, has nothing to do with the hardware. :D

As for OSX and Linux, OSX is meant to be a static narrow profile OS: all Macs are basically the same hardware configuration with very minor differences overall, in fact they share more in common with gaming consoles than personal computers in terms of the hardware because there's so little difference between the models. Linux, however, should technically have the widest possible hardware support out there natively because of so much driver support being part of the kernel itself nowadays (which just continues to grow in size as time passes but that's how it has to be). The only piece of hardware that has ever given me problems with Linux of any kind happens to be the damned Broadcom wireless hardware whether it's onboard NICs or Wi-Fi cards/chips - because Broadcom (even with their STA driver) likes keeping a tight reign on all their proprietary technology it causes problems sometimes and can be a nightmare to get anything they make working properly with Linux.

If you don't have such issues with Linux and Broadcom hardware then consider yourself extremely fortunate because you're definitely in a minority.

There's always virtual machines, too. ;)
 
Airbrushkid said:
Not long ago you could buy Windows 7 Ulta key for $45.00 here on good old hardforum.
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almost all of these keys without coa are illegal and many times microsoft will kill after 90 days

they almost seem to purposely let the key run past 30 days so it outruns any guarantee or chargeback policy

I mean you can get a win 7 pro key on kinguin for $10 from "high rated seller" and you might fall for their 30 day coverage

but that key will likely drop dead 12 weeks later

I really wish I could just find a $50 upgrade package that is new/sealed but apparently they don't exist anymore, I waited at least a year too long, maybe two

I also could have gone with the technet subscription but stupidly passed up on that too

I suspect some of the keys floating around that last past 90 days are from technet
 
Well the key I am using I paid $45.00 7 years ago. This is my second pc I used it on and still going.
 
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