Windows Licensing Rules, Confusing, Multiple PCs One MSA

Been searching the internet for ages now, and all the information about the windows 10 activation rules and its Licensing Rules are making my head spin, all i want to know, is how would i go about licensing all my computers with Legit Windows 10 Pro copies, that can all be transferred in the future and preferably forever, when the computers are replaced and or upgraded, I have at least 6 computers i want to upgrade, however i will be doing it with fresh installs of full priced windows 10 pro licences, Digital/Retail, will i need to make an MSA for each computer and buy a licence for each of those accounts, most of them being fake, but owned by me, a real person, or can i own multiple licences on my single MSA by buying more of them, and logging into and activating all of my computers with that single MSA, obviously only activating the amount of computers i own licenses for, So if for example i own 6 digital licenses, Then i can only have up to a maximum of 6 PCs activated at any one time.

however it seems like i may only be able to own one digital licence on my MSA.

So my questions are... is it possible to own multiple copies on one Microsoft Account, or would i need to buy a license for multiple accounts used on each computer, or would i need to purchase Retail keys instead and use them on each computer?

eluphay said:

Been searching the internet for ages now, and all the information about the windows 10 activation rules and its Licensing Rules are making my head spin, all i want to know, is how would i go about licensing all my computers with Legit Windows 10 Pro copies, that can all be transferred in the future and preferably forever, when the computers are replaced and or upgraded, I have at least 6 computers i want to upgrade, however i will be doing it with fresh installs of full priced windows 10 pro licences,

Well, that is exactly what you do need to do. You need to upgrade each one with a separate full retail product key for Windows 10. One license=one installed and activated Windows 10. If you want to reuse the same license (product key) on a different computer, then you need to first uninstall Windows 10 from the first computer that was activated with that license.

eluphay said:

Digital/Retail, will i need to make an MSA for each computer and buy a licence for each of those accounts, most of them being fake, but owned by me, a real person, or can i own multiple licences on my single MSA by buying more of them, and logging into and activating all of my computers with that single MSA, obviously only activating the amount of computers i own licenses for, So if for example i own 6 digital licenses, Then i can only have up to a maximum of 6 PCs activated at any one time.

however it seems like i may only be able to own one digital licence on my MSA.

So my questions are... is it possible to own multiple copies on one Microsoft Account, or would i need to buy a license for multiple accounts used on each computer, or would i need to purchase Retail keys instead and use them on each computer?

The digital license for Windows 10 is not "owned" by the Microsoft Account. It is "owned" by each individual computer based upon that computer's unique Hardware ID. When you first activate Windows 10 with a product key on a computer, that computer's unique Hardware ID is sent to Microsoft Activation Servers along with information about which edition of Windows 10 was activated (IE: Home or Pro). This occurs when the computer is connected to the internet, regardless of if there is even a Microsoft Account established on that computer or not. It is a completely separate and stand alone process. In the future, you can do a clean install of the same edition of Windows 10 on that computer and skip entering a product key. In that instance, when the computer is connected to the internet, the Hardware ID is sent to Microsoft Activation Servers which will have a digital license matched to that Hardware ID, and the "digital license" will be returned to that computer to activate it. Again, not based on any user account established on that computer, it is based on that computer's unique Hardware ID.

Now, when you log into a computer using a Microsoft Account a whole bunch if information is sent to that Microsoft Account, including the activation status of that computer. The actual digital license for Windows 10 for that computer is never stored on the Microsoft Account. Only a link to the digital license is stored. Each Microsoft Account on that computer will have the same information about that computer sent to it. And if you log into several computers with the same Microsoft Account, all the information about each computer logged into will be stored on that same Microsoft Account. But that has nothing to do with the actual digital license which is stored on Microsoft Activation Servers being matched to the unique Hardware ID of the computer, regardless of what user accounts are on the computer.

Microsoft included a feature in Windows 10 that allows you to activate what is supposed to be a replacement computer based upon the digital license information LINKED TO - not stored in - another computer on the same Microsoft Account. The replacement computer must be the same type (IE: laptop, desktop, tablet) as the original computer and the edition of Windows must be the same (IE: Home or Pro). But, again, the actual digital license itself is stored on Microsoft Activation Servers based on the unique Hardware ID of the computer - not the Microsoft Account. The Microsoft Account will only contain a link pointing to the digital license.

I Knew all that already,

I Knew this in particular, The digital license for Windows 10 is not "owned" by the Microsoft Account. It is "owned" by each individual computer based upon that computer's unique Hardware ID.

My question is... Will my digital license transfer with my account to a new computer if i no longer use the old one,

also, this is almost never possible...
(If you want to reuse the same license (product key) on a different computer, then you need to first uninstall Windows 10 from the first computer that was activated with that license.), usually its failure that prompts me to upgrade or replace.

as i usually have a hardware failure, or data corruption when i move to another computer, besides you can't uninstall windows, you format it, which is not the same thing.

my main questions, which have not even being addressed yet are...

I want to know if i can attach multiple licenses to my Microsoft account, and not just the one, for activating multiple computers each with their own license, or if i will need an account for each digital licence, and then use each of those accounts on each computer.

i wanted to use the digital license, as it seemed far easier to use to transfer the licences with less hassle when migrating to a new computer or upgrading, as the process was nearly automatic, based on what I've read so far, it just seemed silly if i could only attach one digital license to one account, so i'd have to make other accounts, and because they'd all be mine, they would have to have alias and alternative email addresses, and therefore be partially fake.

Am guessing i will need to simply buy keys, however amazon UK is littered with counterfeit keys, and its nearly impossible to detect the official sources on their site, the fakes are supported by amazon prime and link to Microsoft's page on amazon, which makes it even harder to tell which source is authentic.

just thought it would have been easier, if i could have had all my licences in one place, on my MSA, So migration and activation would have been easier in general.

Daemon tools has a perfect DRM system, where you login and de-authorise your copies yourself, and you can only active a set number of machines based on how many licenses you purchased, and if you needed more, you bought more, it also prevented you using more copies than you had licenses for.

eluphay said:

My question is... Will my digital license transfer with my account to a new computer if i no longer use the old one,

It can, but it is not very reliable. It would be better to keep a record of the product key and use the product key to activate the new computer. Transfer of the digital license to the new computer via the MS Account is not automatic:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530

eluphay said:

also, this is almost never possible...
(If you want to reuse the same license (product key) on a different computer, then you need to first uninstall Windows 10 from the first computer that was activated with that license.), usually its failure that prompts me to upgrade or replace.

as i usually have a hardware failure, or data corruption when i move to another computer, besides you can't uninstall windows, you format it, which is not the same thing.

I should have used the word remove Windows from the first computer instead of uninstalling Windows.

Reformatting the hard drive that Windows is installed on is removing Windows from that computer. Moving the hard drive from one computer to another computer is another method of removing Windows from the first computer.

All the EULA requires is that each license is good for 1 activated installation on 1 device at a time. If the first device (computer) breaks, then there cannot be an activated installation of Windows on it. And that is one of the scenarios presented in this MS link under "You recently made a significant hardware change":
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...troubleshooter
"A Windows 10 digital license is associated with your device. If you make significant changes, such as replacing your motherboard, Windows will no longer find a license that matches your device. For help resolving this issue, see Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change."

If the hard drive of the first computer is reformatted and left blank, and then Windows is installed on a second computer and activated with the same product key used on the first computer, you are still in compliance with the EULA - that license for Windows 10 is still in use to activate only 1 instance of Windows installed on 1 computer.

eluphay said:

my main questions, which have not even being addressed yet are...

I want to know if i can attach multiple licenses to my Microsoft account, and not just the one, for activating multiple computers each with their own license, or if i will need an account for each digital licence, and then use each of those accounts on each computer.

There will be links to each computer and it's digital license on your Microsoft Account for each computer you log onto with it. I've got links to probably a dozen different computers with different digital licenses on my Microsoft Account.

eluphay said:

i wanted to use the digital license, as it seemed far easier to use to transfer the licences with less hassle when migrating to a new computer or upgrading, as the process was nearly automatic, based on what I've read so far, it just seemed silly if i could only attach one digital license to one account, so i'd have to make other accounts, and because they'd all be mine, they would have to have alias and alternative email addresses, and therefore be partially fake.

My experience has been the opposite. I've found it is more reliable to active different computers using the product key rather than trusting the activation troubleshooter to transfer the digital license via my Microsoft account.

eluphay said:

Am guessing i will need to simply buy keys, however amazon UK is littered with counterfeit keys, and its nearly impossible to detect the official sources on their site, the fakes are supported by amazon prime and link to Microsoft's page on amazon, which makes it even harder to tell which source is authentic.

just thought it would have been easier, if i could have had all my licences in one place, on my MSA, So migration and activation would have been easier in general.

You need to buy the product keys to activate the first computers for the first time anyway. How hard is it to just keep a record of the product keys in a file somewhere? I have a .txt file with all my product keys in it stored on my NAS accessible to all computers on my network. And with Microsoft's digital licensing, it doesn't matter too much which product key activated which computer. What matters is that the number of instances of Windows that you have installed and activated at any one time does not exceed the number of licenses for Windows you have purchased. You cannot uninstall a digital license from a computer on Microsoft's Activation servers. If computer A breaks and you transfer that Windows license to computer B - computer A is still going to have a digital license stored at Microsoft for it. Or if you reformat the hard drive and sell/give away computer A, the same is also true. You can reuse your retail license on computer B. If the new owner installs the same edition of Windows on computer A and skips entering a product key, it's going to activate from the digital license still stored on Microsoft activation servers. That is not your problem, it is a situation the Microsoft created. You fulfilled your obligation under the EULA. You removed Windows from computer A and sold it/gave it away as a computer with no OS on it.

well then i will use the digital keys, that's what i wanted to know, however, seems like Microsoft kinda screwed up the digital system, their good at screwing things up, thankfully i never sell my hardware, however what about all those counterfeits, can you purchase digital keys from Microsoft themselves?, surely that can't be hard for Microsoft to implement.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/wi...%3aoverviewtab

I believe you get the product key in email.

i thought that might be the digital version, or is the digital version only purchased through the windows store app?, which is what i did.

The link I posted should get you a product key in email. Then you install Windows 10 that you get from the standard Windows download site. Once you activate Windows 10 with the product key, that computer does get a digital license. The difference comes when you want to reuse that same license on a different computer. With a product key you can just enter it on the second computer. With the Microsoft Store App version, I don't think you get a product key and you have to hope that moving the license via your Microsoft account works.

shame that i bought a digital one then, next time however, i will buy the way you recommended then, kinda annoying since i was about to do exactly as you said on that exact page, but i could not tell if it was just the same digital licence or not, i also wanted to say, that i said that i wanted to use the digital license, as it SEEMED far easier to use to transfer the licences with less hassle when migrating to a new computer or upgrading, obviously i was miss lead by those hyping articles about this new super duper license option, i guessed as much, but i was having a bad case of wishful thinking.

Well.....
1. Product key method. Install Windows 10 on new (second) computer. Type in product key to activate. MAYBE, but not always, have to call MS 800 number to tell the product key is installed on only 1 computer.

2. Digital license method. Make sure you are logged into Microsoft Account on first computer. Make sure first computer says Digital License linked to Microsoft Account. Install Windows 10 on second computer computer, skip entering product key. Windows 10 not activated. Make sure you are logged into the same Microsoft Account as on the first computer. Run the activation troubleshooter. Use the link it gives you to go to your Microsoft Account. Search through all the devices listed on the Microsoft account to find the first computer you want to use the digital license from. Then hope it works.

I just tend to think that option number 1 is a lot easier, except that you do have to keep track of the product key somehow.