Windows 10: Clean install after upgrade Windows NOT activating

The thing with OEM-SLP keys is they are kind of like the generic key you get with the 10 free upgrade. Each OEM has their own SLP key's, so for example, every Dell with 7 Home Premium has the same identical OEM-SLP key. Those keys are blocked from online activation. OEM-SLP installs activate against the SLIC table added to the BIOS by the OEM. Upgrades from an OEM-SLP installed OS are fine as they are legally activated. The key by itself though is useless, thus it's also blocked from use to install Windows 10. The key on the COA sticker (if you can read it) is what you use to do a clean install with regular install media. Those OEM-COA keys activate online. The OEM-SLP keys are listed all over the internet. They are useless though without the custom OEM install media that goes with them, and the custom OEM modified BIOS. Your off the shelf motherboards will not have a SLIC table in them. The OEM embedded keys for Windows 8/8.1 and 10 do away with all that. They work with stock install media and the custom OEM install media. They all activate online too. It's a lot easier system to deal with and no need for a COA sticker with a key on it. I like the new system a lot better. I can use my MSDN ISO's on any PC, OEM or not.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the SLIC table does not contain a product key. All it contains is an OEM identifier, Windows 7 does not use embedded keys.

 

I'll try again, it hasn't worked that way for me yet, thanks.

 

If you key gets refused, click skip, select the correct version and install. Then do a change product key, and try entering from there. Is it the key from the COA sticker?

 

Yes.

 

It should work then, assuming you install the correct version of Windows 10. Anything less than 7 Pro and you need to install 10 Home.

 

I just did another cloned drive into a machine that had 7 installed but never 10. It wouldn't activate with anything I tried. So I ran sysprep, and when prompted put in the key off of the sticker on the machine and it activated. *Smile Thanks for that tip, it saved me installing 7 just to upgrade. *Smile

As an aside, I had a laptop that similarly wouldn't activate, I sat on it a while, then did some updates, and it came up activated afterwards. That MS activation is a fickle beast!

 

It's far from perfect, that's for sure. And Microsoft doesn't give out to much info on activation, not any more than they have to, for obvious reasons. The new digital entitlement throws another monkey wrench into it too. A lot of the info has been through trial and error of members here on these forums.