Windows Activation

alphanumeric said:

Yes, a screen shot would clear it all up. I suspect he was in settings > system > about and was looking at the Product ID.

Hmmmm.. the PID is tied to the pkey though - so will change

Superfly said:

Hmmmm.. the PID is tied to the pkey though - so will change

To be more clear, I think he thought the Product ID was the Product Code. Even though it has one less group of 5. Just my best guess. Will have to wait and see if they post back with more info.

alphanumeric said:

To be more clear, I think he thought the Product ID was the Product Code. Even though it has one less group of 5. Just my best guess. Will have to wait and see if they post back with more info.

Hmmm ..prob.

BTW.. just noticed you got Guru.. well deserved, bud.

alphanumeric said:

It's been so long since any of my PC's showed as "activated with a product key" I can't remember if a partial key was shown? Sounds like that might be it though.

Yeah - it has been an evolution. Following does not apply to volume licence keys.

RTM TH1 - you either installed via product key and got digital licence (called entitlement then) for upgrade. You could not clean install and use 7/8 key. You had to upgrade first. When you reinstalled via product key installation, you had to reuse product key to activate.

TH2 - same as above but now you could clean install using 7/8 key.

AU - All installations got granted digital licence. You no longer saw activated with a product key.
If you ran showkeyplus, it showed product key as installed key.

CU - same as AU

FCU - As CU but with subtle change that the product key is no longer shown as installed key, only generic key is shown as installed key. Basically all Windows 10 keys are treated in exactly same way as 7/8 keys were from TH2 i.e. there is only one activation method now.

I am not sure slmgr activation methods work any more.

Of course VLKs show as installed with a product key as vlks do not get a digital licence.

Yeah, my Education installs originally showed as activated with a product key. MSDN Retail key, not MAK. I had to enter one on every install to activate. They all switched to activated with a digital license when I upgraded to the AU. Now I can do a skip key and they activate. My MAK key installs also got a DL. I don't get VL keys via MSDN so no way to test with those. Not with my subscription anyway.

alphanumeric said:

Yeah, my Education installs originally showed as activated with a product key. MSDN Retail key, not MAK. I had to enter one on every install to activate. They all switched to activated with a digital license when I upgraded to the AU. Now I can do a skip key and they activate. My MAK key installs also got a DL. I don't get VL keys via MSDN so no way to test with those. Not with my subscription anyway.

Oh I am surprised MAK keys get a digital licence. Maybe somebody could enlighten me why?

cereberus said:

Oh I am surprised MAK keys get a digital licence. Maybe somebody could enlighten me why?

So was I. Best explanation is they are (or are treated as) special Retail keys. I tried to get some feed back on the Microsoft yammer group but didn't get any official comment. Just other MVP's offering best guesses.

My MAK keys getting a DL happened with the AU also. Before that they showed as activated with a product code.

EDIT: These are Enterprise MAK keys. IMHO Enterprise should never ever get a DL.

Superfly said:

Hmmm ..prob.

BTW.. just noticed you got Guru.. well deserved, bud.

Thanks, Hadn't noticed, I hardly ever look at those.