[SOLVED] A question about Windows

Dec 5, 2020
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Hey Tom's Hardware forums. So im planning on building a new PC, but to use it of course you need OS. I don't want to crack an OS so i wont get any viruses/spywares etc... Are those OSes safe and legal from sites like G2A?
Because from Microsoft site, the Windows 10 Home edition is about 200$, and those from G2A are like 30$
 
Solution
those are very grey area markets. meaning you have no idea where the key came from. it may work for you, it may end up blacklisted, it might already be used and never work for you. in the end it is not really a good idea to use those sites. think about it for a moment........ if MS charges $100 for it, how does someone else only charge $30?? normally through stolen credit cards or other illegal methods.

it's not worth the risk. you can use win 10 unactivated for free as long as you need to with no loss of functions. you can also get it much cheaper through MS if you are a student. it's usually pretty cheap for students with a student email account.

USAFRet

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Hey Tom's Hardware forums. So im planning on building a new PC, but to use it of course you need OS. I don't want to crack an OS so i wont get any viruses/spywares etc... Are those OSes safe and legal from sites like G2A?
Because from Microsoft site, the Windows 10 Home edition is about 200$, and those from G2A are like 30$
Windows 10 Home is about $100, not $200.

G2A and the like? Those are, at best, suspect licenses. The origin is unknown and a big target of debate.
You have to ask yourself...how is someone able to sell a $100 license for $30? Or 500 of them?
They don't have some magical discount from MS.

Licensed software is little different than your new hardware. It costs what it costs.
Buy a valid license.
 
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Math Geek

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those are very grey area markets. meaning you have no idea where the key came from. it may work for you, it may end up blacklisted, it might already be used and never work for you. in the end it is not really a good idea to use those sites. think about it for a moment........ if MS charges $100 for it, how does someone else only charge $30?? normally through stolen credit cards or other illegal methods.

it's not worth the risk. you can use win 10 unactivated for free as long as you need to with no loss of functions. you can also get it much cheaper through MS if you are a student. it's usually pretty cheap for students with a student email account.
 
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Solution
Dec 5, 2020
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Well you both are right. But, i have an original windows 10 home version on my laptop, if i put my SSD from my laptop to my new PC will it work fine?
 

punkncat

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I agree with much of what is said above. It's really best to buy official license from an authorized retailer.

With that said.....

TechYesCity did a video very recently concerning this very thing. It is important to note that one of his sponsors are a site providing grey market keys. He was able to procure several keys from 'the bay' and a few from the site he works with. There is a tool you can use to see the exact version/license info on the particular key you have.
According to the Microsoft tech that it seemed as if he was talking to in the video, their exact words were "if you are activated, you are good". The exception to it being volume license.

Of note. Keys for Windows 7 and 8 flavors will currently activate an appropriate home or pro Win10 install. Where it's impossible to say that every key being resold is "bad", the inverse can be said in relation to "good". Many countries outside the US are purposefully a bit wild west insofar as actual licensing is concerned. Microsoft would rather have your telemetry than be concerned about the measly license fee. Ultimately it's FAR more money selling your data.
 

punkncat

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No, that won't work.
Either booting up, or the actual license.

To be fair, it might boot. Going to be according to a lot of things but willing to bet if it's Intel to Intel modern generations, that it will do a BIOS loop, find the appropriate stock driver, and possibly run. Activation, almost certainly not.

The issue will be the everlasting bugs and issues you have trying to do that without just doing a clean install. I highly advise against it in spite of the above.
 

USAFRet

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TechYesCity did a video very recently concerning this very thing. It is important to note that one of his sponsors are a site providing grey market keys. He was able to procure several keys from 'the bay' and a few from the site he works with. There is a tool you can use to see the exact version/license info on the particular key you have.
According to the Microsoft tech that it seemed as if he was talking to in the video, their exact words were "if you are activated, you are good". The exception to it being volume license.
And a "refurb" laptop I bought in Feb 2018, little Asus Transformer, for a travel device.
Came with Win 10 Pro.

Fully activated.

Exactly 180 days later....Unactivates itself.
This is what happens when a supposed corporate/volume license cannot speak to its parent key server.

Much bitching between Newegg, the 3rd party reseller, and Asus, all pointing fingers at each other...with me in the middle.
Needless to say, I was incensed.

Asus finally gave me the original license key the thing came with, for Win 10 Home.
Which obviously would not work to activate the Pro install it came with.

So while it may appear Activated...from these grey market sites, you have no idea of the provenance of the actual license.
 
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Math Geek

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Well you both are right. But, i have an original windows 10 home version on my laptop, if i put my SSD from my laptop to my new PC will it work fine?

no it won't "be fine". but you can possibly connect that install to a MS account and then use it to activate a FRESH install on the new machine. may or may not work depending on how MS choses to view that install. an OEM key is not likely to transfer while a retail key should with no issues. in either case as i already stated, you can install win 10 now and skip putting in the key until you get it figured out down the road. it'll run fine unactivated no problem right now.

once win 10 is running on your new machine, then try this and see if you can transfer the key from your laptop to the new build.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-transfer-windows-10-license-new-computer-or-hard-drive

note it also mentions OEM keys not being transferable. it's a crap shoot really if it will let you or not. but worth a shot anyway as it only takes a couple minutes to try
 

USAFRet

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To be fair, it might boot. Going to be according to a lot of things but willing to bet if it's Intel to Intel modern generations, that it will do a BIOS loop, find the appropriate stock driver, and possibly run. Activation, almost certainly not.

The issue will be the everlasting bugs and issues you have trying to do that without just doing a clean install. I highly advise against it in spite of the above.
Yes, it might boot. And then the lingering issues.

I'm writing a whole cloning tutorial.
Having the sacrificial system to test with, I also did a clone from my main system to this sacrificial lamb.
Source Samsung SSD to target Samsung SSD, using Samsung Data Migration.

Desktops, I7-4790k to i5-3570k.
It "worked", but there are issues.

#3 in my usual list of possibilities.
 
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Math Geek

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yup, don't mistake "it boots" to "it actually works as intended"

i can make a lot of things "boot up" but that in no way means it will work as intended or do anything more than boot up. win10 is a lot better dealing with hardware changes for sure, but it is not far enough along yet to go against the wise advice of a fresh install for new hardware. it's just not that good yet.
 

bniknafs9

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it's called volume licensing ... they buy a pack of licenses and they resell them for a cheaper price somehow . i got one of those too , it's a windows 10 Enterprise 64 bit . i have formatted my computer about 6 times eversince i bought it and it has successfully activated each time ..
cheers
 

USAFRet

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it's called volume licensing ... they buy a pack of licenses and they resell them for a cheaper price somehow . i got one of those too , it's a windows 10 Enterprise 64 bit . i have formatted my computer about 6 times eversince i bought it and it has successfully activated each time ..
cheers
Yeah, that word "somehow".

"Somehow", this guy has a van full of 70" Sony TV's he's selling for $150 ea.
"Somehow", this guy has a warehouse full of Louis Vitton handbags. You can have one cheap.
"Somehow", this guy can sell a $100 OS license for $30.

"somehow".....