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#31
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Dell L502X win 10 drivers
Dan wrote:
Now, my question is that I did not have to type in any information regarding a COA, in Windows activation it states my Win 10 64 1809 is activated but a 'digital license'. How do I retrieve my Windows key if I need to re - install Win 10 pro? Do I need to install Win 7 64 Ultimate then install Windows 10 pro over it to get a fresh install of Win 10 pro? Because you have a digital license in Windows 10 (upgrade from Win7 presumably), the actual key is only stored on the Microsoft server. If you looked at the registry key with one of the key retrieval tools, you'd see one of these. I'm quite used to seeing 3V66T on my setups here. My laptop is the exception, because for some reason, my laptop is an English/FrenchCanadian model. VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T (Windows 10 Professional) YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 (Windows 10 Home - multi language) --- laptop! BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT (Windows 10 Home - single language) How this works is, your laptop has various serial numbers. The MAC address of the motherboard NIC is unique. When you installed Windows 10 the first time, the serial numbers were (effectively) recorded on the Microsoft server. It was observed you qualified for the free upgrade, so the server activated your OS for you. But the Microsoft server now has that entry. It remembers it for later. Any time an activation request comes in from MAC 123456789012 or whatever, the server looks that up and says "I know that guy", and checks the activation record, and you can be activated again -- without typing a thing. And that's likely what has happened to you. You were looked up, the laptop credentials had been seen before, so the same activation was handed out. Each OS install on the laptop would have 1) A unique installation number. slmgr /dlv would have the details 2) The SID changes each time. There are three groups of digits, plus a local account number. Local account for administrator is 500. Local accounts for users start at 1000. If I installed Win10 twice, my user account would be this on the two OS installs. 111111111-2222222222-33333333-1000 444444444-5555555555-66666666-1000 This is why, is you do a Takeown of a disk with your nominal "John Smith" ownership, in fact the different computers (OS installs) refer to you with different numbers. This isn't a big deal. It's just that occasionally you may be looking at several disk drives and happen to notice some subtle differences between them, when you dump security information. Maybe you see a file is owned by John Smith as well as... 111111111-2222222222-33333333-1000 When an OS doesn't have the account defined in it, it just shows the number string instead. The format of the number string tells me the file is "stamped" by a Win10 from another installation. Perhaps it was my old installation. ******* There are *no* preparation steps to take, for your next install of that SKU of Win10 on that laptop the next time. If you were worried about the ability to transfer a license, then applying an MSA to all the machines involved, might make it easier for a Microsoft support person to understand your install history. I've never done anything complicated like that, and finding a web page with details might not be that easy. A situation where this might happen or need assistance, is if you break your laptop and need a new motherboard. Now the serial numbers are changed, and "you need Activation Support" :-) But when the hardware is stable from one Win10 install to the next Win10 install, everything is "auto". HTH, Paul |
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#32
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Dell L502X win 10 drivers
On Tue, 11 Dec 2018 14:56:27 -0500, Paul
wrote: Dan wrote: Now, my question is that I did not have to type in any information regarding a COA, in Windows activation it states my Win 10 64 1809 is activated but a 'digital license'. How do I retrieve my Windows key if I need to re - install Win 10 pro? Do I need to install Win 7 64 Ultimate then install Windows 10 pro over it to get a fresh install of Win 10 pro? Because you have a digital license in Windows 10 (upgrade from Win7 presumably), the actual key is only stored on the Microsoft server. If you looked at the registry key with one of the key retrieval tools, you'd see one of these. I'm quite used to seeing 3V66T on my setups here. My laptop is the exception, because for some reason, my laptop is an English/FrenchCanadian model. VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T (Windows 10 Professional) YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 (Windows 10 Home - multi language) --- laptop! BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT (Windows 10 Home - single language) How this works is, your laptop has various serial numbers. The MAC address of the motherboard NIC is unique. When you installed Windows 10 the first time, the serial numbers were (effectively) recorded on the Microsoft server. It was observed you qualified for the free upgrade, so the server activated your OS for you. But the Microsoft server now has that entry. It remembers it for later. Any time an activation request comes in from MAC 123456789012 or whatever, the server looks that up and says "I know that guy", and checks the activation record, and you can be activated again -- without typing a thing. And that's likely what has happened to you. You were looked up, the laptop credentials had been seen before, so the same activation was handed out. Each OS install on the laptop would have 1) A unique installation number. slmgr /dlv would have the details 2) The SID changes each time. There are three groups of digits, plus a local account number. Local account for administrator is 500. Local accounts for users start at 1000. If I installed Win10 twice, my user account would be this on the two OS installs. 111111111-2222222222-33333333-1000 444444444-5555555555-66666666-1000 This is why, is you do a Takeown of a disk with your nominal "John Smith" ownership, in fact the different computers (OS installs) refer to you with different numbers. This isn't a big deal. It's just that occasionally you may be looking at several disk drives and happen to notice some subtle differences between them, when you dump security information. Maybe you see a file is owned by John Smith as well as... 111111111-2222222222-33333333-1000 When an OS doesn't have the account defined in it, it just shows the number string instead. The format of the number string tells me the file is "stamped" by a Win10 from another installation. Perhaps it was my old installation. ******* There are *no* preparation steps to take, for your next install of that SKU of Win10 on that laptop the next time. If you were worried about the ability to transfer a license, then applying an MSA to all the machines involved, might make it easier for a Microsoft support person to understand your install history. I've never done anything complicated like that, and finding a web page with details might not be that easy. A situation where this might happen or need assistance, is if you break your laptop and need a new motherboard. Now the serial numbers are changed, and "you need Activation Support" :-) But when the hardware is stable from one Win10 install to the next Win10 install, everything is "auto". HTH, Paul Cheers Paul, as you know a fresh install is needed eventually. If I format and do a fresh Win 10 64 pro install, then I would not need to do anything except click next when I have no windows 10 serial number. So, I just run windows update and it will activate automatically? |
#33
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Dell L502X win 10 drivers
Dan wrote:
Cheers Paul, as you know a fresh install is needed eventually. If I format and do a fresh Win 10 64 pro install, then I would not need to do anything except click next when I have no windows 10 serial number. So, I just run windows update and it will activate automatically? Yes :-) Enjoy, Paul |
#34
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Dell L502X win 10 drivers
On Wed, 12 Dec 2018 12:31:40 -0500, Paul
wrote: Dan wrote: Cheers Paul, as you know a fresh install is needed eventually. If I format and do a fresh Win 10 64 pro install, then I would not need to do anything except click next when I have no windows 10 serial number. So, I just run windows update and it will activate automatically? Yes :-) Enjoy, Paul Thanks for sticking through this long thread. |
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