Generic Product Keys to Install Windows 10 Editions  

JoseRodriguez said:

I have been using this post in order to activate my licenses, so I would just like to share another article I found with some licences. It is in spanish, but anyone can see and use the keys they are sharing. Some are already in this post, but I don't know if all of them are.

Hello Jose, and welcome to Ten Forums.

Just to note, these are only generic keys used to install an edition of Windows 10. They will not activate Windows 10.

Megahertz said:

Good night Shawn,
In this thread Questions about doing a reset to my OEM Win 10 the OP had tried a Enterprise Win 10 key, obviously it did not activate, and he wants go back to Win 10 home.
As it is a Asus OEM laptop he doesn't have a key.
Can he use one of the generic keys to downgrade and then do a Repair install?
Does a Repair install in Win 10 use the previous key or it will ask one (that the OP would leave blank for digital activation)?

Hey mate,

I'm pretty sure he'll have to clean install to downgrade.

It may be that using an Enterprise edition in a home environment is the problem. To be fair there’s a bug which is giving users this version when upgrading to Pro so Microsoft need to address this.
I’d be interesting in knowing who’s said it’s illegal.

I would expect the generic keys to be used in these situations:
You wish to test the full features before upgrading with a genuine key.
If you’re having problems activating Windows after a clean install you can enter the generic key which should reactive the license, you then may have to enter the genuine key although usually that’s not necessary.
In my case I used the generic key after a clean install of Windows 10, I’d previously upgraded to pro via a Windows 8.1 pro key, but on clean installing it gave me home again, I used the generic key & it activated pro again, I then created a PID file with the generic pro key inserted to force Pro to install.

Ok, thanks for that info. :)
Generic is used as opposed to specific as it is one key (per version) & can be used multiple times rather than users having individual keys. It was quite possibly Microsoft who coined the term generic product key in that it can be used to temporarily activate Windows.
As a user I’ve noticed that even though I have Windows 10 home which was upgraded to pro with a Windows 8.1 pro key the product key is actually the generic pro key.
Simply put you can enter the generic product key if you already have that version previously activated with a genuine license, to test the product features before entering a genuine key, to reactivate if you’re having problems etc.
You cannot use these keys to activate Windows without paying for a genuine license.
I suspect your work believes you’ve illegally activated Enterprise by using the generic key & then not used a genuine key to switch over to a legal version.

I came across this document that MS sends to OEM's to test their installation of their master software.

These are now being used for digital licences acquired with OEM product key activation.



The top table is for manufacturers and bottom one for system builders.

NB: MS always refers to 'Default' product keys rather than 'Generic'

OEM keys.pdf