How exactly does windows activation work?

martin57

Hi folks,

Well I know that when you activate windows it contacts Microsoft and checks your product key etc, but just wondering as you have the right to transfer your licence and copy of windows to another computer (probably not an OEM copy though) how does Microsoft check the genuine copy in this instance?

For example. if you transfer a copy to another computer do they take a snapshot of the hardware on your computer and say hey this is the new computer now and if another computer connects with same product key, it is banned or for that matter, what computer do they ban?

Then there is the upgrade process where you are not supposed to use a previous version of windows when you upgrade, such as using windows 7 if you upgrade to windows 8, but you have the right to roll back to windows 7 and not use windows 8 any more.

How do they tell if you have rolled back to 7 or for that matter using a dual boot?

Also if a person likes to try out lots of different software and have to do a fresh reinstall from scratch often, does it flag up that the computer is being activated too often?

I'm using a genuine copy of windows on my computer but just interested in the technical side of what exactly activation involves.

Thanks
martin57

droopsnoot

A lot of Microsoft protection is done on the basis of trust, because a technical solution would be too complicated and unlikely to work 100% most of the time. Also there are quite a lot of different licensing methods (OEM, FPP, VL etc) which have different requirements and capabilities.

In your example above of moving your Windows from one computer to another, say if the original computer failed, you would need to re-activate the Windows on the new machine, automatic activation would probably fail so you'd need to phone them up, and part of the conversation (which is almost certainly recorded) will feature the MS rep reminding you that you cannot use both licenses, and you have to agree to that before they continue. There are a few ways it recognises the PC has changed, MAC (hardware) address of the network interface being one of the most popular.

You only have to go to a car boot or whatever to find pre-upgrade versions for sale where someone has upgraded say from XP to Win7 so then sells the XP media and license key. But that doesn't work for two reasons: the legal one is that because they've resold it, they no longer own that license and so their upgrade is now unlicensed too; also if they need to reinstall, an upgrade won't do a from-scratch installation so they would have to install XP (which they don't have any more) then upgrade to Win7.

I believe (from experience of installing and re-installing as part of a computer dealer) that the system will flag up too many attempts to activate the same product and require that you do it over the phone. If you're just doing lots of reinstalls, you just have to say so.

OEM software is different - the way they explain that is that it "lives and dies with the PC it came with". So you don't have the right to transfer it to another PC.

System

This is for XP but the same system is used for other MS OSs.

http://www.technibble.com/windows-xp-activation-explained/

forgotmyname

I found that if you dont update the computer for 6 months, You can install it on a new PC and it will activate with no problem.

Obviously you should only have it on one PC and it will only allow updates on the one you recently activated.

I have an old XP partition on here, Its not been used for that long it wont boot now because of too many hardware changes. Not even in safe mode. Left it for 24 hours. No luck.

hwpolicy.sys i think?

esuhl

I can't quite remember the details, but when Windows is activated, a hardware hash is created based on the hardware profile of the PC, which is sent to Microsoft as part of the activation process. I think you can re-install Windows as many times as you like on the same PC and activation will be automated.

But if you change hardware beyond the tolerated limits, you will be prompted to re-activate. I think the retail version allows you to make more hardware changes than the OEM version... (unlimited hard drive changes on the retail edition, but only 3 for OEM users rings a bell...).

If the hardware changes are permitted (i.e. you aren't using an OEM copy of Windows on a PC with a different motherboard) and you've passed a minimum time period (3 or 6 months, I think) since the last installation using that licence, then activation happens automatically, otherwise you'll be prompted to call Microsoft.

Although you can't install an OEM version of Windows on a different machine to the one it was originally installed on, you are permitted to replace any failed components including the motherboard. Microsoft documentation states that this is not intended for users upgrading their machine and they will be expected to replace the motherboard with an identical model. However, if that model is no longer available you may replace it with a motherboard of a "similar" specification and MS should allow you to re-activate it.