Transfering W10 and product key when selling pc

tinmar49 · 15 Sep 2021

I am currently upgrading my hardware to be compatible with W11. The current pc motherboard, processor, ram, graphics and ssd will be sold as a bundle. It is running W10 pro 64 which originated from a retail oem copy of W8. The safest way I could include Windows would be to include a fresh ISO of W10 on a dvd and include the product key for the buyer to install. I have found a product key using Show Key Plus, but it says that "default key requires a digital licence for activation". Would that key be of any use to anyone buying the parts?

Bree · 15 Sep 2021

tinmar49 said:

... It is running W10 pro 64 which originated from a retail oem copy of W8....

Then you have nothing to worry about. An OEM W8 licence was not tranferable, it is tied to the first PC it was installed on. The upgrade to Windows 10 got this PC a digital licence, stored on Microsoft's activation servers and linked to the hardware ID of this PC. The digital licence will be for Home or Pro, depending on the edition of Windows 8 you upgraded from. In your case it's Pro.

You can clean install W10 Pro on this PC and skip entering a key if asked. It will activate from the existing digital licence as soon as it can contact the activation servers.

Bree · 15 Sep 2021

tinmar49 said:

...I have found a product key using Show Key Plus, but it says that "default key requires a digital licence for activation". Would that key be of any use to anyone buying the parts?

If ShowKeyPlus also shows an OEM key then it found that embedded in the bios. For a clean install of W10 the Setup will also find this key, and use it to choose the edition to install, and to activate it.

Transfering W10 and product key when selling pc-image.png

NavyLCDR · 15 Sep 2021

tinmar49 said:

The safest way I could include Windows would be to include a fresh ISO of W10 on a dvd and include the product key for the buyer to install.

Whenever I sell or give away a PC, as a courtesy, I install Windows 10 for them. I use audit mode to make sure all hardware drivers are installed/up to date and to do all Windows 10 updates. Then I do the usual dism cleanup and sfc scan that I do on all my own computers. I leave audit mode activated if they want to see everything work. Then just before delivery, I deactivate audit mode and set the computer to boot in OOBE on the next startup. This gives them a computer setup just like if it had come from a retailer. When I deactivate audit mode and set it up to boot into OOBE, it's like I was never logged on. In fact, "I" was never really logged on anyway because audit mode uses the built-in Windows Administrator account.

tinmar49 · 16 Sep 2021

I had tried doing a clean install without keeping any of the personal stuff, but then had no option but to use my email address which was exactly what I didn't want to do. Windows is also quick to include one drive.

NavyLCDR · 16 Sep 2021

tinmar49 said:

I had tried doing a clean install without keeping any of the personal stuff, but then had no option but to use my email address which was exactly what I didn't want to do. Windows is also quick to include one drive.

Hmmm....I've done clean installs of Windows 10 Home and Pro hundreds of times and never had to use my email address. Heck, a lot of times I will set up my own computers with a clean install and update everything in Audit Mode before I even sign in with my own user account. Then I save that image as a baseline. I play around a lot with beta and dev channel and various apps and programs, so every couple of months I just blow it all away and start over. My user files are on a second hard drive or partition so I never lose them.

Bree · 16 Sep 2021

tinmar49 said:

I had tried doing a clean install without keeping any of the personal stuff, but then had no option but to use my email address which was exactly what I didn't want to do....

You're clean installing Home, aren't you?

Yes, only Pro explicitly offers setting up an offline account (local account) during the initial setup. But Home can be persuaded to do so. The trick is to disconnect from the internet while setting it up.

4 If you are installing the Window 10 Home edition of version 20H2 and want to use a local account instead of a Microsoft account, then you will need to temporarily disconnect your computer from the Internet until installation has finished.

If you do not disconnect from the Internet before starting Windows Setup, you will only have the option to set up Windows 10 with a Microsoft account available.

Clean Install Windows 10

cereberus · 16 Sep 2021

Bree said:

You're clean installing Home, aren't you?

Yes, only Pro explicitly offers setting up an offline account (local account) during the initial setup. But Home can be persuaded to do so. The trick is to disconnect from the internet while setting it up.

Clean Install Windows 10

Pity Windows 11 has made this quite difficult!

tinmar49 · 16 Sep 2021

This is pro version, so the online account requirement may be my problem. I have a Microsoft account and have recently upgraded one of my pc's from W10 pro beta channel to W11 beta.

Bree · 16 Sep 2021

tinmar49 said:

This is pro version, so the online account requirement may be my problem. I have a Microsoft account and have recently upgraded one of my pc's from W10 pro beta channel to W11 beta.

Pro should always offer you the option to set up a local account. It's easily missed though, its the 'offline account' option in small print at the bottom left of this screen.

Clean Install Windows 10

That option is only absent if you are installing Home.