Windows product keys and activation - and the KMS angle

[br1anstorm]

I have been a Windows 7 user and am now obviously being pushed to upgrade to Windows 10. I happen to have acquired a couple of second-hand laptops which already have Windows 10 installed . But I have a query about activation.

I have what is obviously an ex-corporate ThinkPad, sold with Win10 Pro installed. I have however discovered that the OS was activated via the original business user, using the KMS system (with which I was unfamiliar). It looks as if - sometime in the next few months - that will be deactivated unless "renewed" by contact with a KMS server somewhere, which is obviously no longer possible. So I face the prospect of seeing the OS cease to function.

I could of course replace Windows with Linux (which I have on other machines). But I am looking at another option. I also have a very small Acer netbook with modest CPU and RAM. It, too, has Win10 installed (possibly as an upgrade from the original Win7, I don't know). As far as I know this Windows installation in the Acer netbook is properly and legitimately activated. But Win10 struggles to run, as it clearly needs more resources than this little netbook can provide. So having Win10 on this small netbook is really not much use.

So my question is: can I remove or uninstall Win10 from the Acer netbook, and somehow use it, or its product key, to reinstall or activate Win10 on the ThinkPad? I am not using Win10 on any additional computers: I just want to use the Win10 for which I have the proper key, on the ThinkPad instead of the Acer netbook.

 

[SIW2]

Probably you could install win7 on the Thinkpad then "upgrade" it to win10.

 

[br1anstorm]

Probably you could install win7 on the Thinkpad then "upgrade" it to win10.

Thanks SIW2.... but I'm not sure I follow your logic. I don't have a "spare" licensed copy of Win7 sitting on a shelf anywhere. Are you suggesting going out and buying a retail disk of Win7, installing it on the ThinkPad, and then upgrading? Surely that's more trouble (and probably no saving) over buying a Win10 retail disk. Either way, we're talking additional cost.

I'm just hoping to make use of the one existing normally-activated Win10 I already have, by moving it from the little netbook on to a laptop that will cope with it.

 

[SIW2]

What is the exact model of the thinkpad? Unless it is more recent than early 2017, probably that machine is already entitled for win7. Because you say it is ex- corporate, presumably it is a few years old.

Find out which edition of win7 it came with ( or was dowgradeable to ) e.g. Home Premium or Pro , then install that edition (skip entering a product key ).

Then run 7oeminstaller ( 3rd one on this link ) 3 Tools to Backup and Restore Windows 7 and Vista OEM Activation License •

installation iso file is easy to find, if you don't already have it.

 

[SIW2]

After that,if you want to use windows update, manually download and install Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: March 2016 first

OR you could d/l and run simplix update pack instead of bothering with windows update and it avoids the telemetry junk.
https://update7.simplix.info/UpdatePack7R2.exe


Put the net framework4.8 WA file next to the simplix update pack and it will install that as well.
Releases . abbodi1406/dotNetFx4xW7A . GitHub

Any drivers you need e.g. net card should be available from lenovo website.

Microsoft will keep providing updated definitions for their free a/v till 2023
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=5201

So you could either keep running win7 for a while longer, OR after you have installed and activated win7 "upgrade" it to win10 free.
upgrade-windows-10-windows-7-free.

 

[Bree]

I have what is obviously an ex-corporate ThinkPad, sold with Win10 Pro installed. I have however discovered that the OS was activated via the original business user, using the KMS system...

Just because a corporate KMS system image has been applied, it doesn't necessarily mean the PC didn't already have a licence in its own right. If the machine was supplied with an OEM W8 or W10 pre-installed then it has a key embedded in its firmware. ShowKeyPlus can tell you if that is the case.

ShowKeyPlus | Ten Forums

An embedded W8/W10 key means you can clean install W10 and it will activate from the embedded key.

For an older machine built for W7, then ShowKeyPlus will say there is a W7 OEM marker embedded in the bios. If so, then W7 can be installed and activated, SIW2 has already told you how. An activated W7 can then be upgraded to W10. Or, if you prefer to do a clean install, then the W7 activation can be captured as a GenuineTicket.xml and used to activate a clean install of W10 on the same machine.

Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First | Ten Forums

 

[br1anstorm]

Thanks, Bree

Haven't quite mastered posting a screenshot.... but the ThinkPad is an X240 (so maybe 3-4 years old, I haven't checked). It has a Win 8 brand-logo sticker (not a CoA) on the underneath side.

ShowKey Plus lists the Product Name as Win 10 Pro,
gives the Product ID,
and a Version (19042.870 64 bit OS),
with an Installed Key, beside which is an asterisk-note saying "Default Key - requires a Digital License for activation"

Then it has an OEM key...
and an OEM Description saying "Win 8 RTM Professional OEM: DM"

So I guess that confirms that the ThinkPad originally had Win8 installed. I assume the OEM key for Win 8 shown in ShowKeyPlus is the embedded one - and so will permit the clean install of W10? If that's so, I wonder why the Win10 currently installed required KMS activation...(I haven't yet checked what RTM in the description means).

If all that is correct, then I guess I'll need to read up on how to clean install Win10 using the link you kindly provided.

 

[SIW2]

According to this it came with win8 or win7. probably has both the msdm table and the slic in that case. Came out at the end of 2013
ThinkPad X240 Laptop Tech Specs, Features & Models | Lenovo US

 

[Bree]

... it has an OEM key...
and an OEM Description saying "Win 8 RTM Professional OEM: DM"

So I guess that confirms that the ThinkPad originally had Win8 installed. I assume the OEM key for Win 8 shown in ShowKeyPlus is the embedded one - and so will permit the clean install of W10?

Yes. A clean install of Win10 will skip asking you for a product key. It should find and use the embedded W8 Pro key to install and activate W10 Pro.

 

[br1anstorm]

Yes. A clean install of Win10 will skip asking you for a product key. It should find and use the embedded W8 Pro key to install and activate W10 Pro.

That's encouraging. But.... after posting the details revealed by ShowKeyPlus, I went browsing to see exactly what Windows 8 RTM was. I found this:

"The Windows 8 RTM evaluation provides up to a 90-day evaluation of Windows 8. It is intended for evaluation purposes only and cannot be used for productive business or personal purposes. In order to use this evaluation, the product must be activated online with Microsoft-hosted activation and validation services. Microsoft does not provide technical support for this software."

Hmmm, I thought. That appears to suggest that this [corporate] ThinkPad was originally supplied with this short-term "evaluation" OS (which was obviously of limited functionality). Will the OEM key provided for that still be seen as valid for a new clean install of Win10?

The activation arrangements which Microsoft has set up (and which seem to change over time and with different versions of the OS) seem an absolute jungle to a simple ordinary user like me!

I then thought (since I can run a live session of Linux on that ThinkPad) I would try to explore a bit more to see what else might be saved within the Win10 Pro files. I came across a txt document titled "MSDM-Key" which echoed something SIW2 had mentioned. And sure enough, this revealed that there is a "private MSDM key" and it is ."...designed for Win 8 Pro". There are references to admin command prompts involving slmgr and to activation via the Microsoft Activation Server, "... which will only occur if the Key is for the installed Edition..."

Of course I don't have the knowledge to interpret any of this - I just wondered whether it was relevant. There is another document - a .log file titled "MRP project" which appears to list a great deal of detail about the setting up, editing, enabling and disabling of features and options within the Win10 OS which is now installed. Again, lots of information which I don't exactly understand!

 

[br1anstorm]

Bree.... and others,

I've been a bit naughty as I genuinely wasn't sure whether to post about this subject in the Seven Forums (where I have been a long-standing member) or the Ten Forums (which for obvious reasons I have just joined!).

So I posted my query in both, not certain which would provide the more focused replies.

I now see that you - and probably many others - are, like me, signed up to both forums, and you have joined with others in responding on the Ten Forums thread!

I feel a bit embarrassed about the duplication. I had not meant or expected to stir the same people into replying in both forums!

But - in both of them - the advice and actual experience of Bree seems to provide a template for what I might aim to do in terms of using an embedded Win8 key to enable a clean install of Win10. The details explained over in the relevant thread in the Ten Forum are close to what I think I need as a route-map to get a proper Win10 installed and activated on my Thinkpad which originally had Win8 as OEM. I just need clarification/reassurance on the "RTM" aspect.

 

[erpster4]

According to this it came with win8 or win7. probably has both the msdm table and the slic in that case. Came out at the end of 2013
ThinkPad X240 Laptop Tech Specs, Features & Models | Lenovo US

to check if that laptop has both an MSDM table & SLIC table, run RWEverything (latest portable version) from this site, click on the ACPI button in the RW-everything app and click on the SLIC tab and/or MSDM tab if they're available

btw, my dad's Toshiba Satellite C55Dt-A 2013 laptop that came pre-installed with Win8.1 home/core x64 has both an msdm & slic tables listed as confirmed with the RWEverything tool that I used