Windows 10: Windows Activation

Yeah - it has been an evolution. Following does not apply to volume licence keys.

RTM TH1 - you either installed via product key and got digital licence (called entitlement then) for upgrade. You could not clean install and use 7/8 key. You had to upgrade first. When you reinstalled via product key installation, you had to reuse product key to activate.

TH2 - same as above but now you could clean install using 7/8 key.

AU - All installations got granted digital licence. You no longer saw activated with a product key.
If you ran showkeyplus, it showed product key as installed key.

CU - same as AU

FCU - As CU but with subtle change that the product key is no longer shown as installed key, only generic key is shown as installed key. Basically all Windows 10 keys are treated in exactly same way as 7/8 keys were from TH2 i.e. there is only one activation method now.

I am not sure slmgr activation methods work any more.

Of course VLKs show as installed with a product key as vlks do not get a digital licence.

 

Yeah, my Education installs originally showed as activated with a product key. MSDN Retail key, not MAK. I had to enter one on every install to activate. They all switched to activated with a digital license when I upgraded to the AU. Now I can do a skip key and they activate. My MAK key installs also got a DL. I don't get VL keys via MSDN so no way to test with those. Not with my subscription anyway.

 

Oh I am surprised MAK keys get a digital licence. Maybe somebody could enlighten me why?

 

So was I. Best explanation is they are (or are treated as) special Retail keys. I tried to get some feed back on the Microsoft yammer group but didn't get any official comment. Just other MVP's offering best guesses.

 

My MAK keys getting a DL happened with the AU also. Before that they showed as activated with a product code.

EDIT: These are Enterprise MAK keys. IMHO Enterprise should never ever get a DL.

 

Thanks, *Thumbs Hadn't noticed, I hardly ever look at those.

 

The activation code on the retail box I purchased has the usual 25 numbers/letters in 5 blocks of 5. When he finally managed to activate windows for me by entering that slew of commands in Command Prompt that I mentioned, I noticed that the last section of 5 digits is different to what's on my retail box. Now when Windows successfully activated the first time around by myself, the last 5 digits were showing as per my retail box.

It looks to me like he gave me a different activation code to what's on my retail box. I can only tell by the last 5 digits because the other 20 digits are hidden/crossed out. I'm seeing a Device Code and a Product Code. The product Code is the one that's different to what I have on the purchased retail.

I asked him what would happen if I needed to do a clean re-install in the future and he told me not to worry and to just use my original code again.

 

It is the last one only that matters I think.

Like your credit card number (or your IBAN) the last djinn is normally the check digit (all the other numbers divided by something - normally MOD97 or some such)

 

On what screen do you see those Device Code and Product code? Was it something he had up on screen? Are you sure its not Device ID and Product ID?

go to settings > update & security > activation and see if it says activated with a Digital License. If it does, you should be able to clean install without a Product Code. You just click the "I don't have one" and it "should", normally I would say will activate with the Digital License.

 

Ok,..this is what I'm seeing. This is the Product Key that the Microsoft Tech guy gave me during the remote assistance session using Command Prompt and entering a slew of commands because it was the only way he could get my copy of W10 activated which failed after a clean re-install.

I noticed that the product Key is different to what's on my genuine copy of W10 I purchased retail boxed. Now if I need to do a clean re-install any time soon, what product key do I enter during re-installation? My original key on the retail box or the one show here?

 

Well that's definitely not a generic key... save it for future use (btw generic PID's usually are in the 00326-10000 ....range)

 

So is the above Product key the one to use during a re-installation and not my original W10 retail boxed key?

 

Sorry,..I'm a bit confused. My PID starts with 00326.

 

Yes . Home is 00326-1 ... that's known as the GroupID... just saying that the key is formulated with the rest of the PID.

 

Where do you go specifically in settings to see that first screen shot? Or is that one you clipped while they were doing what ever it is they did? Sorry to keep on about that, its just that I don't see that. After Activation mine just says "learn More". What build are you running?