What this piece is about is dealing with Windows 10 Authentication. The entire authentication system is a mess in the IT world. Part of this is due to Microsoft's silence on the issue, claiming they don't wan't to give Pirates a leg up. Part of this is Microsoft changing the rules. Part of this is due to rumors that get spread about the Authentication system. And part of this is due to people's long-standing mistrust of Microsoft.
So lets clear the air and separate fact from fiction.
Definitions
Before we begin. Lets get on the same page and define some terms.
Product Key, Key - The letters and numbers you enter into a text box that shows that you have purchased a product.
Digital Entitlement - Similar to the Product key, except the information is stored onto your UFEI
UFEI - A computer's firmware where you can edit settings such as boot order, date and time, and Motherboard features. Think of it as a BIOS 2.0. Also allows for Secure Boot, Faster boot times
BIOS - A computers firmware where you can edit settings such as boot order, date and time, and motherboard features. Does not allow for Secure Boot. This was used in the early days of computers. UFEI is it's upgrade.
Authentication - The process used to prove that the copy of Windows you are using is legit
Activation - Sending information to Microsoft such as you Product Key or Digital Entitlement info and Hardware signature to verify your copy of Windows is legit.
Hardware Signature. - Hardware information that tells Microsoft the details of your computer. Done to verify your computer does not need a new copy of Windows.
OEM Version/Copies - Original Equipment Manufacture. Microsoft sells OEM versions of Windows to Manufactures, (Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo) for use in PC and Laptops.
Retail Version/Copies - A version of windows that is sold to the general public. Can be found in Brick and Mortar stores, Online, or Digital Downloads.
Recovery Partition - A partition on the hard drive that could be used to reinstall Windows.
How it used to work
Lets now talk about the history of Authentication. (If your like Lt. Gov. Jeannie Hampton and don't like history, you can skip down to the "Clearing the Air part.)
From the early days, Windows 95, to authenticate you would have to type in a product key. This key could be found inside the box. Simply type it in and presto, it works!
However, with the advent of the Internet, such product keys could easily be found online. Meaning you could prove you have a "legit" copy of windows by borrowing your friends CD and a brief search online. To combat this, Windows XP required that you had to activate your copy of Windows in addition to typing in your product key. Usually this could be done online with a simple click of the "Activate Now" button. But sometimes this didn't work, either because you were offline, or because you tried to activate it too many times. The person on the other end would read off a really long string of numbers to type in, and then your set.
Problem with how it used to work
There were some inherent problems with all of this.
The first problem was that pirates figured out how to rig this system. That way, they could run their not-legit copies of Windows by running a simple program that would tell you what to type.
The second problem was the fact that you would always loose your product key. That is unless it was attached to your computer, in which case it would be rendered unreadable by the rubbing and heat generated by the computer.
The final problem was the amount of time spent on talking on the phone with Microsoft Support. I don't even want to think how many hours of angry chat time their Helpdesk team racked up with authentication errors.
So Microsoft wanted to create a new way of doing things to make things a seamless as possible.
With Windows Vista, they created the recovery partition. This would allow you to (In theory) recover Windows without a disk. This worked well until you corrupted, or destroyed your recovery partition. And when that happened, you still needed a product key.
So Microsoft set out to rid the world of recovery keys. This endeavor led them to upgrade the one part of the computer that hasn't seen an update since the foundation of the OS. The BIOS. Sure there have been advancements, but this new system, UFEI, did so much more. It could keep viruses from overwriting the OS, protect the motherboard from destruction, create a GUI interface, and speed up the boot process and make it completely seamless. The best part is there would be no Product Keys to keep track of. It would all be stored in the UFEI.
But with Windows 10, determined to be the last Windows ever produced, they envisioned an OS that would never have to be reinstalled. Or if it did, would just work. No Product keys. Seamless activation. Just Windows 10.
Finding Converts
With Windows Vista, Windows discovered a problem. People didn't like Vista. Vista was horribly rolled out. The people who did use Vista, only used it because it came on their computer. The bread and butter for Microsoft, the Business community, resoundingly rejected Vista. Thus when Windows 7 came out, they did something unprecedented. They opened it up for the world to see. In a unifying moment that could put Democrats and Republicans alike to shame, they allowed everyone who wanted to try out Windows 7 to do so as a beta. The results was overwhelming. Businesses made the switch, as did home users. It was a great time.
Then, because its Microsoft, they decided to roll out Windows 8.
Windows 8 was supposed to be a Unity moment of a different sort. The world was moving to Tablets. Apple was doing great by bringing together iPad, iPhone, Desktop, and Laptop users together on one OS and everyone was happy. So Why not
Except, iOS and OSX was not the same OS. Each one, while looking similar, was not the same thing. So Microsoft's attempt to bring Tablets, Phones, Laptops, Desktops, and XBox users onto one system failed miserably. First, there was no native desktop. Your start menu was the desktop. If you needed a start menu button, you had to swipe from the right. Can you swipe with a mouse? No? Me either. Businesses didn't accept this as an alternative, and a lot of the common peasants didn't like it either. It was a PR nightmare.
So to placate the unruly crowd, they decided to release Windows 8.1. Free. This would give people their start button (not the menu, just the button) and improve access to the desktop. Oh yea, and they canned the Metro Design guy for good measure. But this was a stop gap.
Because this was such a bad rollout of any OS in the history of computing, they decided to separate themselves by 1 number. from Window 8 to Windows 10. The last windows ever to be created.
They also wanted people to unify people on 1 system. (There were still people on Windows XP.)
To do this. They did a very interesting promotion. In the first year, everyone who has Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 gets Windows 10. For free. No strings attached. (What? Really? Whats the catch? No catch? Are you sure? No. Seriously, theres a catch. What is it? Your telling me that I get a free upgrade to Windows 10? BS. No BS? come on...Really?)
So this is where things get harry, and where the myths begin.
Clearing the Air
I knew getting a new MoBo would make reinstalling Windows a hassle. So I did research. And I found a lot of crap. (As in, people who have no idea what the hell they are talking about but insist on giving their two cents in anyway.) So lets sift through the crap and find out where we stand.
Is Windows 10 really free?
For now it is. As of the writing of this, its will no longer be free in a few weeks, so get moving if you want windows 10 without paying for it.
What's the catch?
No catch. Ok, there is a few catches, but not many. The big one is that your upgrade is free "for the life of your computer." For those who have a cookie-cutter machine, this means your upgrade is good until that machine meets its maker...in the form of recycled gold and silicon. But for those of us who are the makers of our computers, there is an ever pressing philosophical question. At what point does your upgrades constitute having a new computer? I don't think even Microsoft knows the answer to that. For some, this won't matter. I'll explain in a bit.
Digital Entitlement vs. Product Key?
Digital Entitlement is a set of hashes stored in the UFEI that tells Windows that this computer is cool to use Windows. You don't need to type anything out on a keyboard to prove you bought it legally. A Product Key is a bunch of letters and numbers that you type in to prove to Windows you bought it legally. Yes, both do the same thing. The difference is how it is recorded. One is digital, one is not.
Do I need Product Key to reinstall Windows 10?
Depends. If your reinstalling it on the same system hardware, your good. No product key needed. But if you are changing your Motherboard, then yes, you will need some kind of product key. Also, if you bought a box copy of Windows 10, you need a product key.
OEM vs Retail
This is probably the biggest point of contention. In the past, OEM copies were meant for computer manufactures, while Retail copies were meant for common folks. The only difference between the two was who you called for support. If you had an OEM copy, you needed to contact the manufacture. If you had a retail copy, you could contact Microsoft.
For those of us who support our own machines, we weren't inclined to contact neither Microsoft nor the manufacture. In many cases, we were the manufacture. In this case, we were able to go online and find an OEM copy of windows cheeper than the retail copy. Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft was perfectly fine with this. Just don't go crying to them when there was a problem.
Now there is a new difference. Retail copies are now transferable. If I bought a new computer, I could take my retail copy with me. But my OEM copy will always be tied to my current computer. This also holds true for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 that have been upgraded to Windows 10.
How would this play out in a Custom Build? No clue. Again what is the definition of a "New Computer"? Odds are, since the key is tied to the MoBo, chances are New MoBo = New Computer. I have a feeling someone is going to go to court over this sooner than later.
Can you use a Windows 7/8/8.1 keys in Windows 10
Since the upgrade was free, your windows 7 key should be good to use in Windows 10. In theory, this shouldn't matter since if you needed to reinstall Windows 10, your digital entitlement should mean your set. But changing a MoBo means reinstalling the OS and using a key. So can you use a Windows 7 key in Windows 10?
The answer used to be no. Windows 10 only accepted Windows 10 keys. And that sucked. The workaround was you had to reinstall Windows 7 with the Windows 7 key, and then use your free upgrade again to go back to Windows 10. So how would this work after the free upgrade period?
Fortunately Microsoft saw this problem With the release of Build 10565, you can use your Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 key to do a clean install of Windows 10 without installing 7. In my case, I had to run an update to get to 10565. But this was a painless process.
How does Activation work?
Like every Windows version from XP on, the Product Key (and now the Digital Entitlement) only got you so far. You also have to Activate your key in Windows for it to work. Microsoft has been especially silent on this aspect, since it is their bread and butter. The one thing we do know is that the activation is attached to your hardware.
Each piece of hardware has a code attached to it. If the codes are changed in any significant way, Microsoft's Activation Servers would flag it. This would then require you to contact Microsoft to activate it. Small things like upgraded RAM, Hard Drives, and Video Cards shouldn't make a difference. But major changes like Motherboards, and CPUs could.
My Experience
I cannot speak for everyone's experience. I can only speak for mine. So I'll share my situation with you and let your compare notes. (If you have a story with a similar or different outcome, let me know.)
About a month ago, my Motherboard went out. It just died while using it. It took that long to get the money together for a replacement. (Delayed by my believing it was the power supply. Seriously stop laughing. It's embarrassing.) My old Motherboard was a Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3. My replacement is an ASRock H97 Pro4. I was worried that this might be a gamble since this isn't even the same brand. But it looked like the best bang for the buck and I didn't have a lot of buck at the time. everything else, including the CPU was migrated over. (This wasn't really an upgrade, as you will notice.)
On first boot, I got a windows could not start error. Completely expected. I just changed my entire motherboard over to a new system. So I set to reinstall.
I couldn't find any info on my situation, most of what I did find was plastered with misinformation and hearsay. I set to reinstall Windows and prepared for a call to Microsoft.
Since I didn't have a Windows 10 key, I grew concerned about my ability to upgrade. I was sure if I talked to Microsoft, they would understand. But I skipped the key portion in the install and got right to work.
After the install, I tried to put my Windows 7 key in. (Retail version) No good. I tried to download and force the update to take, and even downloaded Build 10565 from online. Didn't work. The next day, my computer auto updated. One of those updates happened to be Build 10565. Once that was installed, I tried the Windows 7 key again. Not only did it take, but it automatically activated. No call to Microsoft needed.
Conclusion
I cant speak for everyone's situation. I certainly can't speak for everyone's situation. I do hope the information above will help clarify some misconceptions, even when Microsoft isn't really keen on doing so. When activating, some variables that seem to be most relevant are:
- Retail vs OEM
Some things that could be relevent but with no confirmation:
- Upgrade vs Replacement
- Number of parts replaced (Different MoBo, same CPU)
- Signing in to Microsoft Account associated with the previous build.
Some info that could be relevant but probably not are:
- OS Update
- Time the device was offline
- Situation when computer crashed.
Some things that definitely are not relevant or relevant enough:
- Part replaced
- Free Upgrade vs Purchased Copy of Windows 10
- Product Key or Digital Entitlement.
As for the misconceptions, I hope this answers a lot of questions out there. Those who have serious mistrust issues with Microsoft, I can't really blame you. As the old saying goes, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." This one might not be.
A few questions still linger on the whole Free Upgrade part. Of course there is the "How do you define new computer." But other questions that need to be asked are:
A few questions still linger on the whole Free Upgrade part. Of course there is the "How do you define new computer." But other questions that need to be asked are:
- How long will this last?
- If I just perpetually upgrade my computer in small increments, will Windows always be free for me?
- Will I always be able to use my Windows 7 key for Windows 10?
- Or will I be cut off somewhere?
- How much is Microsoft loosing in this deal?
- Is my situation so rare, that it's almost negligible to Microsoft's bottom line?
I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft doesn't have the the answers here. Perhaps they are taking the "Cross that bridge when we get there" approach. Sounds like a plan to me. Now to load Netrunner into my UFEI...
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