£1.06

Great deal for those people who want to make believe they have legitimately purchased a genuine Windows license.

not again.... :disappointed:

speak to luvsadealdealdeal, he probably has lots of glue to spare :wink:

possibly not, what files have been messed with in order to bypass the activation. id be more worried about the potential for malware in your copy of windows!

Anyone have any spare glue? I need some after reading the comments.

Yes, but this is no different so why bother?.
I would copy out the key before you do it, but it would work just fine.
Either way your copy is a breach of contract.

Hypothetically speaking, would these ebay keys work on a pirate pre-activated windows 10 pc? i.e. remove the pirate key to replace it with the ebay version?

Keen to know what happen here..

First this is about the legality of the licence again not if it will work. It’s entirely possible to have a key that works despite the fact you've invalidated the T&C so voided the licence. A working key and a valid licence are two different things.

Back in the pre W8 era you could go into any PC store, copy the licence key and use it, it may work (depends if others have done it) but doesn't make it legit in any way.


Is it legal, Not really, OEM keys are "tied" to the hardware they come with, as long as you do not "significantly" change the hardware they remain valid. That is a term of buying and using the OEM version, by installing and using the OEM version in the first place you agree to it. Don’t like that restriction, that’s fine, you need (as you say) to buy a retail version. A third party should not really be selling it on as the first party accepted the licence terms when they first used the device so agreeing to the licence terms.

OEM keys *should* only be sold with “significant “ parts of a PC, such as a MoBo. It used to be possible to buy a OEM key with something minor like a mouse, however if that specific mouse died, then as you bought the OEM license with the mouse, then the mouse was the tied hardware, and the death of the mouse would mean your Windows license dies too. That’s not really going to work in the real world but shows how if there are hard and fast rules someone will fall foul of them.

The rule of thumb used to be you could change *anything* except the motherboard. That was to allow you to add ram, upgrade drives, processors and so on without invalidating the fact it’s no longer the exact same PC supplied. The only exception was the motherboard, if that was changed it had to be the same model board , OR a manufacturer specified replacement, again that was to allow for the fact if the mobo failed it may not be possible to replace it with the exact same model as they may be out of production.

Windows has some technical features built in that will check the hardware and deactivate the licence if you make too many changes too often, but even if you do that a call to MS will usually get the issue resolved and the system working, Similarly if you have to change the MoBo you can call and they will give you a new code.

Moving a OEM key to a “new” computer for any reason breaks the licence terms and so invalidates the licence. However like Triggers broom its not really defined what is the “same” computer, as it is not an easy thing to do. They could put in very specific rules such as the exact motherboard, but that creates other issues, so hence the lines they take.


It would be possible but there gets to be a lot of privacy issues, around it so may not be something Microsoft would want to go down.


From a licence point of view the boxes would be considered pirate copies. The OEM code “belongs” with the Dell box that the COA was on.

In a practical sense the key is valid, Windows will install and activate, it will have created a digital entitlement on MS’s servers so will keep working for as long as your PCV runs, but that does not means its licenced, only working.

Just look at the key they send you.
Or google parts of it and I am sure it will return a W7Pro or W7Ultimate key.

It's not difficult to know what these probably were/are.
These were W7/W8 computers that had originally shipped with a OEM installed key.
OEM keys upgraded to W10 typically have one use, RETAIL keys are good for any number of computers (But only 1 at a time!). As of NOVEMBER Windows 10 can be installed using Windows7, Windows8, and Windows 8.1.
So you SHOULD BE ending up with a "Single Use" OEM Windows 10 install by using a Windows7, 8, or 8.1 key.

Is it Legal. Strictly speaking - I have no clue. However, The key that they are removing belongs to the hardware they own (that is dead and likely going to be shredded to get recycled) and when you dig through the fine print you do say your using the rules they provide.

For most users these will be a one time Key. So if you build a new PC today then it will work. If you build a new PC in two years then you will need a new Key. Retail keys can build a new PC in two years and the key will still work.

You will probably be caught, but Microsoft will not take action on this. The problem is that it would be difficult to tell who is a "Dell" user and who is not a "Dell" user, they could do it but it probably isn't worth the effort.

Personal SideNote. I think two of the W10 boxes I have were upgraded from old Dell OEM code stickers. And I adopted that early (Knew a guy from dell who gave me the stickers) :P

Because I keep seeing these dodgy keys I'm going to put it to the test, I'm going to buy one, activate Windows with it, then phone Microsoft and actually ask them if my copy of Windows is legitimately activated as nobody actually seems to have done that, I'll post the result on here in a few days.

Lastly if you look at the Licence information section on the eBay page selling those keys, it says they send you the original hardware which costs £85 shipping, silly made up shipping fee aside, they don't actually do that and it's just in there so eBay doesn't delete their listing for selling keys against Microsoft's Agreement, so yeah this key selling thing is a load of shady ****.

I will buy two keys and pocket the £1.06 for to try out this glue thing.:-)

sure, I expected an apology from your opening statement "you're wrong". I wasn't wrong, and just because you obtained new knowledge and posted a link right after declaring I was wrong doesn't correct your statement that "you're wrong". Oh and you're comments regarding the use of your old windows 7 oem key are wrong. wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

Give up on handing out advice on a subject you keep having to google, and go sniff your own farts.... like me :wink:

Nit pick :smiley: "perfectly legit to recycle that product key" erm, no. Works, yes; within the t&c's, no. The old licence and Win10 upgrade licence are both required for the licence to be valid. That said, sure Microsoft won't be beating you door down :-)

I'm really commenting on the ones who keep calling this sort of thing "legit" despite evidence to the contrary, not the ones who don't care about anything other than getting a copy that will update itself fine.

In previous threads it's been pointed out to other people posting in this thread that the European court ruling mentioned isn't anything to do with this (restrictions on reselling of licenses is not the same as restrictions within the license), yet they choose to ignore that and continue to call it 'legit'. Ultimately it's no more complying to the license terms than a pirated copy would be.

that's why I posted that link afterwards, you made me check & I realised I might be wrong, surely an admission of new knowledge via my link was enough, you surely didn't expect an apology? :smiley:

FYI interest my old Vista - I updated it to W10 with the Insider Ring stuff, which expired after a year or so. Rather than buy anything for such a piece of old carp, I tried the old product key from one of the W7 computers I had upgraded - it worked fine & is still going strong, not that I do anything but turn it on occasionally to further upgrade. So it was perfectly legit to recycle that product key (personal use).

that's why I posted that link afterwards, you made me check & I realised I might be wrong, surely an admission of new knowledge via my link was enough, you surely didn't expect an apology? :smiley:

FYI interest my old Vista - I updated it to W10 with the Insider Ring stuff, which expired after a year or so. Rather than buy anything for such a piece of old carp, I tried the old product key from one of the W7 computers I had upgraded - it worked fine & is still going strong, not that I do anything but turn it on occasionally to further upgrade. So it was perfectly legit to recycle that product key (personal use).

oh and stay off the glue :wink:

Wow, you must be like an I.T. pro or something? Oh wait, that's me, and you don't appear to have a clue. Of course they are different, windows 10 doesn't use the Windows 7 - 8.1 keys, it installs what is called the default product key which allows the product to work up until its activation grace period expires, but will not activate the product. From there, it will either activate based on a digital fingerprint of the machine using the digital licence, or it will continue to work until the grace period had passed where it will insist on activation. Based on the editions of windows (Home/Pro), were the keys TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99 or VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T respectively. These keys are documented widely on various sites including Microsoft's, and I bet all those 15 machines strangely all shared the same key. Coincidence? Nope, design!

​Please elaborate. The ISOs are freely available, always have been with 10, it's the product key or licence you need to pay for. Anyway 10, as with 8 and 7 still works without activating, just a black wallpaper and occasional nag (but it's breaking the licensing conditions of course).

Personally i think you should ignore the price and consider where the money goes. Buy these or any other reused oem licences and the developer gets nothing, just individuals/people abusing the system. If that doesn't bother you just go ahead and why you even reading these comments?

But you're not paying for a key, you're paying for software which has taken hundreds of highly-skilled professionals several years to create and bring to market.

​And as I pointed out the 'ruling' isn't even pertinent to the actual issue - reuse of oem keys, it has nothing to do with resale!

​How many times!? Yes, European law means licences can be resold, it doesn't however mean an expired licence suddenly becomes legit again. These OEM licences expired with the first pc they were applied to, resale or not, Microsoft doesn't have to re-enable.

Practically you'll most likely be fine, but don't come complaining if down the round you're not.

Given the price it's possible they're nicked as well, but no one knows for sure.

Summary: Beware what you're buying is 'somewhat shady'.

Showing £4.55 on eBay.

You can still get the free switch to win 10 if you use adaptive technology because of disability

cool story m9

Do you need to have Windows 7 or 8 to qualify for this?

.. You people do realise that if you just phone Microsoft they will give Windows 10 free?

I'm aware of the "accessibility" option of the free upgrade route, but personally I am not willing to abuse an upgrade route specifically for disabled people. I'd rather Pirate vs abuse that system.

But still that's not even necessary, there's not even a need to Pirate.

Microsoft support is fantastic and will just give you a link to download the ISO.

Feel it's worth noting that in the other threads, People checked and they did recieve OEM keys, not VLKs or MSDN keys.

One theory put forward was that these are refurbishment keys, which MS sell to it's authorised Refurbishers for $6 a piece.

I'm not saying that you won't run in to trouble with these or whatever, just pointing this out to the people saying these must be VLKs and 'How do you think you can get a product worth $$$ for $?!'.

Still amazes me that a "so called" legitimate site such as this allows this kind of post. Effectively a site, passing itself off as a "deals" site and with agreements in place with partners and retailers are allowing links to piracy on their site. Laws/rules changed a while ago about sites being responsible for the content posted on their forums etc, yet they still allow this.
Nobody with even an ounce of sense/brain can even pretend what has been posted here is in any way legitimate. If people want to spend money on piracy then go for it. This site however should not be advocating it.

​just lies as your not allowed to sell digital goods

Not quite the same but the big companies (HP/Dell etc) have "lost" sets of keys and they have then been blacklisted but that was back in XP days.

The only legal route to get a W7 key now is to buy a PC or the OEM software with W10 with downgrade rights, and then install the older OS with your existing media and Key (you don't get another product key) onto that same PC. To stay legal you can't buy a PC with W10 and use that licence elsewhere, although doubt MS would notice or care.

In real terms that means buying a PC or the OEM software using the W10 Pro edition, the Home version has no downgrade rights,

Its unclear at best...

There was a ruling by the European Court of Justice, but ECJ rulings do not automatically become law, nor is there anything such as EU law. A ECJ ruling sends a case back to the relevant country's courts with directions how to make a ruling, and then the national court makes the relevant ruling in the national law framework. If a country chooses not to implement it there may be other penalties but the ECJ cannot force a ruling into any countries law statutes.

The UsedSoft case was in Germany so German law has such a law, but until someone makes a test case in the UK, and it goes up to the ECJ who will no doubt make the same ruling, there no similar ruling yet in UK law.

Look at it another way, if the UsedSoft case is so clear cut, why are UsedSoft only selling software in counties where they have been through the relevant national legal system, rather than all EU counties, if its legal through out the EU?

Yes, but people don't want to believe it. I had one of these keys a while back thinking I had saved a fortune and when the MSDN was discovered and closed, all my computers came up with the 'you may have been a victim of piracy' message, black wallpaper and nag screens. I think the only 'safe, grey-area' keys are those that are actually printed on an OEM sticker for not being revoked later and even so that ended with Windows 7/8.

Another month, another post of of 'its legit', 'its real', 'its the messiah's second coming'.

If you think an item that usually sells for over £100 direct from the supplier, selling for £11.92 from a 3rd party seller 'is legit' then your more green than cabbage looking, and this meme is just for you.



No wonder the phone calls from the 'Indian Microsoft Windows Support Team' do so well in this country. So many gullible people.

Will the key work? yes till M$ ban it because its a key sold fraudulently against the licence agreement.

Regards
Flea

The thing is most people simply don't care. It's a grey area and whilst it may be against the terms of use, it's not illegal in the sense that the 5-0 will come knocking. It may not be any better than Piracy as far as MS is concerned financially but it offers the benefit of security and regular updates to end users. Stores aren't supposed to sell OEM versions of Windows but they do.

I have not bought such a key but I can see why people do.

The free upgradee route still works, see here:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade

I think somebody needs to update the Oxford Dictionary, because their definition of "legit" doesn't quite match up with how many people use that word...

or just get windows 7, somehow make it legit using some sort of program and then upgrade to windows 10 which will be activated forever

​so theyre the same, gotcha.

​even if its not necessarily legitimate?

Because it's Software that professionals have worked hard on, these things don't just materialise out of thin air. If you can pay £3 for a coffee from Starbucks, think of the fact that just 30 odd coffees gets you a well-maintained product that could last you for years.

Oh, and why would you base your operating system on a key that Microsoft could revoke at any minute?

Does Microsoft ever block keys that have been "taken from faulty motherboards" rather than pirated?
Also, anyone know of a reliable and cheap way of getting a Windows 7 key? (Links? Experience?)
Windows 10 is essentially spyware in my opinion, telemetry can't be turned off, etc.
Much prefer Windows 7.:smiley:

looking to do a fresh reinstall of windows. will this key be good for that? (the ebay 1)

whats the difference between the £4.55 key and the £3.49 ebay key?

And on a lighter note.....

Ah well......we are only 4 Swansea managers away from Xmas.....:wink:

I have been sniffing glue.

you're wrong

I upgraded maybe 15 of our family computers over the past 18 months

each time I made a note of the product key before the upgrade & after, using magical jellybean

before & after product keys are different

I think you may have been sniffing glue. You do not get a windows 10 key during the windows 7 - 8.1 upgrade process, or at the end when you have windows 10 installed. Instead, you have what they call a digital licence or digital entitlement, See this for a more informed response. At the end of the upgrade process, you could reinstall windows 10 as a clean installation, select the option when presented to not input a key, and then as if by magic, you copy of windows 10 would activate because its digital fingerprint would match what was captured during the upgrade process. Simples

sure that works for free upgrade (assistive technologies)

when you upgrade to W10, you get a brand new product key

what happens to your old product key for your W7 or W8 O/S?

does it disappear into the ether - unusable - not valid - a fake?

nope - of course not - it is a legit key for W7 or W8 O/S

so you can use it to activate a fresh installation of W7 or W8

which you can then use to upgrade to W10, generating another new W10 product key

best give it 3 months after you upgrade to W10

​So how do you get free original product keys? Do you get them for Office too?

there's an easy way to get free product keys...

was talking about my way to get legit FREE product keys

The motherboard.
Well typically they're not supposed to sell the oem licenses from deceased boards so they're probably just trying to make something off of it. Either way paypal would have your back on it - and is it any worse than this "oem" key from scdkeys?

not pirated but legit

it's just an email licence / product key - no postage

or do you mean the crappy motherboard?

Worked for me

Happy days! Enjoy!

i bought one and like it says in 30 seconds i got my key, they say on the auction that you get a faulty motherboard but in actual fact you dont. The key work fine

Great deal for those people who want to make believe they have legitimately purchased a genuine Windows license.

No clue. Either way postage is free though so their loss not yours.

but it's legal in Europe, they took on Microsoft and won the principle of owning a licence & having the ability to transfer or sell it

Thanks, I need a copy for my iMac.

im guessing a volume licence key or something. there is no way on this planet you can get a geniune oem windows 10 key for £4, unless they fell off the back of a big virtual lorry :wink:

Because digital keys aren't supposed to be sold on ebay. They're probably keys torn from broken PC's Im guess? At least you can confirm legitimacy that way though.

what's the faulty motherboard bit all about? presumably you have to pay a few quid for postage so I guess most people don't bother, not wanting to pay for a bit of scrap metal :smiley:

looks reasonably legit given the 1792 (or 5000) sold, 99.6% positive feedback - plus I guess if anything goes wrong they simply give you a replacement to avoid negative feedback

​Cheers mate :smile:

Please point me in the right direction for £3.75 copy thanks

Please excuse my naivety but is this not legal? I would like to get one for a pc i have spare

you can get these on eBay for £7

not again.... :disappointed: