"Digital Entitlement" - New Licensing System Introduced In Windows 10

[FaiKee]

Yesterday I reported about a blog in win10china about the RMB12.99 win10 Pro purchase

http://www.ithome.com/html/win10/166476.htm

The more interesting thing shown in the guy's chat with MS China Customer Support, the rep revealed a new licensing term and claimed it is a "totally new licensing system for win10", I don't know what MS would name it officially, translated from Chinese it is "Digital Licensing"

 

http://i.imgur.com/U8xvN6X.jpg

It seems that instead of issuing product keys, for win10 upgraded from win7/8.1, and win10's purchased from Store, or even the Insider's copies, MS will attach this digital license to the win10 and the device, and is unique to each device just like  the Product key.

ATM little is known about this system, except that it is bundled to the device, and probably recorded in MS servers with the device HWID to identfy the win10 and device, and to verify activations.

Some guys had suggested that MS server only records the HWID to identify the device, this is probably not true, because the HWID is generated based on 8 items(since XP to win8.1, don't know if there is modifications for win10):

Display adapter
SCSI adapter
IDE adapter(**effectively the mobo)
Network adapter MAC address
RAM amount range (e.g. 0-512 MB)
Processor type and serial number(**if available)
Hard drive device and volume serial number
Optical drive (e.g. DVD-ROM)

Windows allows changes of 3 or less in these items before it asks for re-activation, but if you change just one(or more), the HWID changes as well, and there is no way for the new HWID to be compared to the MS server records.

So obviously this digital license is to identify the win10 and device, and enable it to compare with the records in MS server.

Hopefully we could see MS to reveal more informations on this new system.

 

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

This does not sound that much different from OA3.0, where the PID key is embedded in the firmware.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

That is essentially what's been happening with Windows 10, everyone who's got the free upgrade has the same generic key.

You can re-install on hardware which has already activated Windows 10 with no key and Windows will activate once you connect to the internet.

It's not a bad idea in theory for laptops / tablets where hardware can't really be upgraded, however for people with desktop PC's who like to upgrade a lot, the free upgrade could likely end up useless after a motherboard change. You are essentially licensed for the lifetime of that device, providing you don't make any major changes to the hardware inside it appears.

[adrynalyne]

I'll stick with my retail MSDN copy

Between the 5 licenses for Home, 5 for Pro, 5 for Enterprise, and MAK for each, I am set for a while.

[Steven P. Administrators]

So this means since my upgrade from Windows 8.1 to 10 completed successfully I can now clean install Windows 10 on this machine and be activated?

All I know is that an upgrade was first required, to be participate in this free upgrade

[Danielx64]

That correct :)

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

So this means since my upgrade from Windows 8.1 to 10 completed successfully I can now clean install Windows 10 on this machine and be activated?

Yes, just re install the same edition you upgraded to. When asked to enter a key simply skip it and Windows will activate a few minutes after you have a working internet connection.

If you use a program to view your key, you should see you have one of these generic keys depending on the edition of Windows 10 you upgraded to:

Windows 10 Home - YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7
Windows 10 Pro - VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
Windows 10 Home SL- BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT
Windows 10 Pro VL-MAK - QJNXR-7D97Q-K7WH4-RYWQ8-6MT6Y

[Raa]

Hello,

This does not sound that much different from OA3.0, where the PID key is embedded in the firmware.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Except it's nothing like that, because the Win 8 keys are not being overwritten with the Win 10 ones...

So this means since my upgrade from Windows 8.1 to 10 completed successfully I can now clean install Windows 10 on this machine and be activated?

All I know is that an upgrade was first required, to be participate in this free upgrade

Correct. But so far I've only been able to do 3 computers this way... No luck today - getting blocked product key. "Apparently" the activation servers are overloaded.

[FaiKee]

So this means since my upgrade from Windows 8.1 to 10 completed successfully I can now clean install Windows 10 on this machine and be activated?

All I know is that an upgrade was first required, to be participate in this free upgrade

LOL, don't ask me steven, my win8.1 still showing this although it has the $winBT of 5.56GB 3 days ago.

 

[onewarmslime]

Try going to windows update, you'll probably see the option to get windows 10 there

[FaiKee]

Try going to windows update, you'll probably see the option to get windows 10 there

Nah, I've already got the full $‌‌winBT, anyway, even if it shows the balloon I won't upgrade for at least this week, couldn't afford to risk system crash(or whatever problem) right now.

[FaiKee]

Something off-topic, but interesting

 

http://blogs.cisco.com/security/talos/ctb-locker-win10

 

[Seahorsepip Veteran]

Yes, just re install the same edition you upgraded to. When asked to enter a key simply skip it and Windows will activate a few minutes after you have a working internet connection.

If you use a program to view your key, you should see you have one of these generic keys depending on the edition of Windows 10 you upgraded to:

Windows 10 Home - YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7
Windows 10 Pro - VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
Windows 10 Home SL- BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT
Windows 10 Pro VL-MAK - QJNXR-7D97Q-K7WH4-RYWQ8-6MT6Y

But somehow I find other keys using other methods:

*-HCFC6

*-9HHPD

So what are these keys then?

[Draggendrop Veteran]

*-HCFC6 is what I have on my insider build 10240, still in insider program, I used speccy from ccleaner to get it....the other looks like a prior build, will have to check....Cheers

[FaiKee]

People had always thought that Windows retail version is device-transferable, seems for Win10 MS has changed this concept.

People knows that if you upgrade from win7/8.1, the activation is "retail", but it's bundled to the device.

Not only that, from the Store purchase screen(except for the $2, everything else are the same on current screen), it says explicitly that the purchase at the mark price is also bundled to the device(licensed to one PC - this one).

Also, in the "Top reasons", it says "replacing the mobo" would make the win10 non-genuine, probably this digital license is tied to the mobo. I guess if you changed a number of device hardwares and exceed the 3-no-allowance, but have the same mobo, you could still get re-activation thru phone, but if you changed the mobo, you would be out of luck.

 

[Southern Patriot]

*-HCFC6 is what I have on my insider build 10240, still in insider program, I used speccy from ccleaner to get it....the other looks like a prior build, will have to check....Cheers

Yep, every one of the computers here in my house has that key (at least the ones I've checked).

[binaryzero]

It's good - no more remembering license keys for reinstall.

[LaP]

That is essentially what's been happening with Windows 10, everyone who's got the free upgrade has the same generic key.

You can re-install on hardware which has already activated Windows 10 with no key and Windows will activate once you connect to the internet.

It's not a bad idea in theory for laptops / tablets where hardware can't really be upgraded, however for people with desktop PC's who like to upgrade a lot, the free upgrade could likely end up useless after a motherboard change. You are essentially licensed for the lifetime of that device, providing you don't make any major changes to the hardware inside it appears.

I'll upgrade fall 2016 it's sad that i'll have to pay for another windows 10 license.

It's good - no more remembering license keys for reinstall.

Who the **** remember his license key?

[binaryzero]

...I don't have to have my keys.txt file on a USB?

 

[LaP]

...I don't have to have my keys.txt file on a USB?

 

My key used to be in my retail box and i could re-activate after a change of MB after calling Microsoft. To me it's not a good change. I got Windows 10 for free but i plan to upgrade fall 2016. So in the end i got nothing for free.

[binaryzero]

...and that's what some people are not understanding. The upgrade is for THAT PC. You want a new PC, you have to purchase a copy of Windows. It's not rocket science. 

[FaiKee]

The digital license determines which generic key is to be used, that's why some people said they could enter the 3V66T(or other generic key) and got accepted and activated, and some failed.

So just skip entering key and let win10 do it instead.

 

 

 

 

[Chrysalis]

something tells me the microsoft account may play a part also as those of us who lost activation on the insider builds were only using local accounts.

 

[FaiKee]

Now I know it's called Digital Entitlement in English, instead of the translated "Digital License".

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2970075/windows/why-you-cant-find-your-product-key-after-upgrading-to-windows-10.html#tk.twt_pcworld

“Upon upgrading to Windows 10, the activation state from a prior version of Windows (be it Windows 7, Windows 8 or a prior build of Windows 10) is seamlessly carried over,”  a Microsoft spokesperson told PCWorld. “Once activated, a digital entitlement for your PC’s hardware is created in the Windows 10 activation service.This entitlement can be used by the same PC again for re-activation of the same Edition of Windows 10 in the future.”

Edited August 12, 2015 by FaiKee

[FaiKee]

MS has made a massive clean-up of the Win10 Feedback, now it's just for feedbacks upto 2 weeks ago - since RTM release.

Probably they are preparing for a new post-RTM Preview release.