Cheap Windows 10 License Keys

mroshaw

I'm spec'ing up a new desktop that I plan to build myself. Key to this is provisioning an operating system on the new kit.

I've been looking into buying a Windows 10 Home license and budgeted around £150 to buy a retail license. Having sourced most of my components from Amazon, I instinctively searched to see if I could buy a Windows 10 Home Retail box from them too but I just see a whole load of "sellers" flogging "Home" and "Pro" licenses for as little as £6.99!

I'm a firm believer of the old adage that "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is", but what's the story with these cheap deals? Are they illegal or simply immoral? What are the risks and implications of buying one from a respectable e-commerce site such as Amazon?

arciere

The story is that 99.99% of the time these are used licenses from volume license packages or OEM licenses that legally cannot be transferred to a different machine.
Do they activate? Yes, most of the time. Is it legal? No, almost never (in Microsoft terms).
So what's the risk (for a home use)? That the key you buy doesn't activate and you either ask for a refund or for another key (worst case, you lose £6.99) or that in a few months time (or years) Microsoft decides to block those keys if they detect that a number of devices have used the same key.
By the way, I really doubt that Amazon would sell such keys, it is often other sellers that sell on Amazon.

DoaM

Win 10 Pro from as little as £2.00 on Amazon UK.

mroshaw

DoaM wrote: »

Win 10 Pro from as little as £2.00 on Amazon UK.

Yeah, it's ridiculous! Why is Amazon not stamping down on this?
I've ordered a legit copy of Windows 10 Home Retail from Microsoft - £120 is a small price to pay for a clear conscience!

DoaM

What you COULD have done is:

1. Install Windows 7 (preferred flavour, Home or Pro)
2. Upgraded to Windows 10 to activate the licence
3. Wipe and reinstall Windows 10 ... it would automatically activate

That might have been a cheaper alternative (if retail keys for Windows 7 are still available). I guess it would depend on how much you value your time.

AndyPix

mroshaw wrote: »

I've ordered a legit copy of Windows 10 Home Retail from Microsoft - £120 is a small price to pay for a clear conscience!

poppy10_2

DoaM wrote: »

What you COULD have done is:

1. Install Windows 7 (preferred flavour, Home or Pro)
2. Upgraded to Windows 10 to activate the licence

This hasn't worked for well over a year. The free upgrades from Win7 to Win 10 ended ages ago

molerat

poppy10 wrote: »

This hasn't worked for well over a year. The free upgrades from Win7 to Win 10 ended ages ago

Or so Microsoft would like you to believe

RandomQ

I am still able to install Win10 free, either by upgrade or their legit offers.

datostar

Win 10 will run indefinitely without activation. The only drawbacks seem to be a fairly unobtrusive sporadic message at bottom right of the screen and the inability to 'personalise' the display, i.e. backgrounds, colours etc. OP could do this while deciding how to obtain his legitimate licence.

MataNui

poppy10 wrote: »

This hasn't worked for well over a year. The free upgrades from Win7 to Win 10 ended ages ago

Nope. Still works fine. Microsoft stopped advertising it but it still works. In fact you dont need to install windows 7 and upgrade. You can activate a new install of Windows 10 with a windows 7 product key. Just done it myself on my own machine.



Also it does run fine un-activated. I havent bothered with a VM i use and dont have any issues. Perfectly legal too.