Windows 10: OEM License after HD ZeroFill?

Hello Everyone,

I am selling my Dell laptop to a friend and I wanted to be sure that none of my files will be accessible to him, for this, I chose to do a zerofill to my hard disk.

The reason I'm posting here is that I am afraid that this will wipe the license information in my computer and he will not have a win10 license anymore. My computer has 9 partitions, two of which are named "Recovery and OEM". If I zerofill everything but these two, will it work?

What other method should I use? My laptop came with OEM 8.1

Thank You

:)

 

Activating Windows 10 after changing hardware

You did indeed have an OEM license and when you moved the HD to a new machine it needs a new license. You are attempting to use the generic place holder key from the previous computer.

 

Install process to follow in case I have to reinstall Windows 10 Pro

Two considerations.

First since win 10 came pre-installed that means it is OEM. OEM is tied to the hardware. If you change the motherboard you will need a new license. You can change HD, video, etc without needing a new license.

Once the system is activated as "Pro" you can clean install and it will check with the online activation servers verify your credentials and complete the installation (as Pro).

 

Don't worry about it. The same version of Windows 10 (home or pro) will activate itself after a clean install. It will either use the Windows 8 product key in BIOS or UEFI placed there by the manufacturer, or retrieve the digital license from Microsoft Activation servers stored there based on the unique hardware ID of the computer which was uploaded and stored when it was upgraded to Windows 10.

 

Welcome to TenForums @hugorafael

For a Windows 8 PC the product key should be embedded in the bios. You can check that with ShowKeyPlus.

TenForums - ShowKeyPlus

 

Thank you for your response!

So I ran ShowKeyPlus and saved a key backup file, now I should be OK wiping this hard drive new as long as I use this same key?

It showed as "OEM Edition: Win 8 RTM CoreSingleLanguage OEM*BiggrinM"

 

Thank you!

But one of the 9 partitions in my HD is called "EFI System Partition" this will be wiped too, is that any problem?

I saved my key using @Brees tip

 

No problem. Windows will recreate it when reinstalled.

 

Be sure you download the windows 10 Home single language version.

 

Currently the install iso or USB made by the Media Creation Tool includes four editions: Pro, Home, Home (Single language) and Education. Setup will either install the edition appropriate to the key, if it can find it in your bios, or give you the choice if it can't. You can use DISM to check what's in your install media.

See Full Details about a Windows 10 ISO file

 

Thanks both of you for your replies