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Thread ID: 147631	2019-02-13 18:57:00	Second hand hardware, (on another forum)	piroska (17583)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1458183	2019-02-13 18:57:00	So, what a pain: Kind of kills the second hand market a bit . 2nd Hand motherboard, got a surprise . Put it in the case and got it turned on and everything went well, loaded windows 10 on, went to check my product code, It had changed ALL MY details and put in the Last users details, I checked the COA and that is NOT mine either, by the looks of it the bug is that you can't sell your old motherboards at all now . . . Has anyone else found this at all??? Quote mr_lovebug (1156 1156 positive feedback) 9:28 am, Sun 10 Feb #1 The motherboard components are the main things that MS check when you activate Windows 10 . The "new" system activated because it's signature matched the "old" machine that the system board came from . As far as MS servers can tell, the machine may have had a hard disk failure, and the owner has to reload Windows . This is a common enough occurrence, and they don't want the cost and hassle of people having to call for a reactivation . So windows automatically reactivates, as long as there are only minor hardware changes . Anyway, as far as MS are concerned, it's now a legit activation . The old owner will be the one having the hassles as his new system board wont be recognised, and he'll need to jump through hoops to get it activated (unless hye bought a new licence) It's a very grey area, as MS say their OEM licence is linked to "Hardware", but they don't define exactly which hardware . This is fine for a laptop etc as major parts don't get swapped out . But a desktop can have basically ANY part replaced over it's lifetime . They routinely put the licence on the actual case, but ironically that's the part you can swap with zero risk of messing up your activation (As there is no way for the system to check what case it's in) . But if you have the case and sticker, it can be activated again, even if you have to do it manually, with a whole new set of innards . Quote ianab (3 3 positive feedback) 12:40 pm, Sun 10 Feb #4 Keys on Win 10 are stored in the UEFI now Quote beserkerang (101 101 positive feedback) 1:03 pm, Sun 10 Feb #5 That's my whole point, I not use the m/soft system and now have someone else's windows key, it won't allow or take MY windows 10 key . . . Selling or buying motherboards is a BAD thing if you like to live by the laws . . . Not at all, the original owner still owns the license and has the ability to deactivate it on your Mb and transfer it or cancel it whenever they see fit . You need to insert your key during a clean installation before first boot, not after the os has finished being installed wherein it will auto activate using the previous owner's profile . Alternatively, you could contact the seller and ask them to deactivate or move their license for that board . Quote ronaldo8 (226 226 positive feedback) 2:55 pm, Tue 12 Feb #9 if they are OEM licenses then they are tied to the hardware (ie mobo) it was purchased for and first installed on . So the one you purchased may have had an oem license that is tied to the motherboard you purchased, and because they are not transferable, to another mobo ( from a licensing perspective, a replacement mobo is a 'new' pc to MS so needs a new OEM license) . The license is effectively dead for the seller who sold the motherboard since he can't reuse it - as far as i see it, it's yours . . . Retail versions are different and are portable Win7/8 upgrades to 10 will be dead to the original owner if tried to install to a new mobo, because it doesn't have the original win 7/8 base license tied to the new motherboard . that's how I see it anyways . . .	piroska (17583)
1458184	2019-02-13 19:30:00	Not really, I have used a lot of second hand hardware and it's rarely an issue. Also you can go to the activation settings in windows and change the key if you want to. When it comes to selling, you either sell the motherboard with the OEM copy of windows or you use windows account management to remove the device and make sure you activate windows yourself on new hardware before selling the old hardware. Since I started using cheapo grey market keys though I don't really care if it goes with the motherboard or not. I have had machines just activate when I installed windows, never seen them pick up anyone elses user details though. That part sounds dubious to me, maybe if the old user had a blank password it might be possible? but even reinstalling on my own hardware with my own login I need the password to log back in or I can just create a new user and it won't change anything on me.	dugimodo (138)
1458185	2019-02-13 20:01:00	I would have though that only motherboards removed from brand name PC's & Laptops (HP etc) would have the Win10 key embedded in the bios. Perhaps that used mb was from a HP,lenovo whatever . I havnt heard of Win10 keys changing because a used mb was installed, but I guess mb swaps arnt common on Win10 PC's .	1101 (13337)
1458186	2019-02-13 20:15:00	You don't need an embedded key, windows activation servers store a hardware ID when you activate windows so next time that hardware connects to the server with a fresh install it detects that ID again and activates itself and already knows the key. It should only happen if you skip entering a key while installing windows though (I think). I know I've taken advantage of it when reinstalling windows on my own machines. Put in a new hard drive, install windows, skip the step asking for a key, log into my same MS account again, everything is activated and the key is back. And yes it still works if you don't log back into your existing MS account and create a new one instead, when I sell old machines I create a generic offline account called user and windows still activates itself with no key needed. It has 2 main effects IMHO:- makes reinstalling windows simpler, and means it doesn't matter so much if you lose the COA (provided you don't change the hardware too much).	dugimodo (138)
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