News Huawei's Microsoft Windows license for PCs expires this month, company launching PCs with Harmony OS: Report

[Admin]

Huawei's licenses to install Windows expired this month, so the company will no longer be able to produce and sell PCs with Windows.

Huawei's Microsoft Windows license for PCs expires this month, company launching PCs with Harmony OS: Report : Read more

 

[TerryLaze]

Huawei's licenses to install Windows expired this month, so the company will no longer be able to produce and sell PCs with Windows.

Huawei's Microsoft Windows license for PCs expires this month, company launching PCs with Harmony OS: Report : Read more

According to your own article Microsofts license to deal with the company expires and not huwaei's license to install windows.

 

[derekullo]

Could they sell the computers $50-100 cheaper without activating a license and call it something like The BYOL Edition ... Bring Your Own License?

They could even make some fancy gui when the computer boots up that allows you to choose Windows or Linux Distro and sets the active partition to either the unactivated Windows partition or a linux distro and then deletes the other partition to save space.

This would give people who want to keep Windows the option to activate but those that never wanted Windows in the first place save some money.

 

[USAFRet]

Could they sell the computers $50-100 cheaper without activating a license and call it something like The BYOL Edition ... Bring Your Own License?

They could even make some fancy gui when the computer boots up that allows you to choose Windows or Linux Distro and sets the active partition to either the unactivated Windows partition or a linux distro and then deletes the other partition to save space.

This would give people who want to keep Windows the option to activate but those that never wanted Windows in the first place save some money.

If it were advantageous/profitable for them, and all the others, to do that, they would have been doing this for years.

 

[Math Geek]

If it were advantageous/profitable for them, and all the others, to do that, they would have been doing this for years.

this is kind of a yes and no type argument.

no one has had a reason to do an either or type thing thus far. not saying it's never been considered, i obviously have no way of knowing one way or the other. but this is the first time i recall any major company being in this position of having to go away from windows like this.

so for them, it could be time to consider such things to still be able to offer windows for those who want it and can/will bring their own license to the system.

doesn't have to be the entire industry as a whole, but for them to be shut out now, this could be a way forward.

frankly i'd love for linux to be a true windows alternative for anyone and everyone so MS would have a reason to stop doing what they have been doing with windows. the whole world is held captive right now so they are free to do whatever they want. and what they want is clearly not good for anyone but themselves.

 

[USAFRet]

no one has had a reason to do an either or type thing thus far. not saying it's never been considered, i obviously have no way of knowing one way or the other. but this is the first time i recall any major company being in this position of having to go away from windows like this.

This isn't "a major company" moving off Windows.
Rather, zero cost charities wondering what to do.

As far as a major organization moving off WIndows?
Munich.

Linux not Windows: Why Munich is shifting back from Microsoft to open source – again

Munich's flip-flop back to open source is the latest sign of Germany's political sea change over proprietary software.

www.zdnet.com

Why Munich made the switch from Windows to Linux—and may be reversing course (free PDF) | TechRepublic

After nine years of implementing a plan to switch from Windows to Linux, open source pioneer Munich appears to be doing an about face. This ebook follows

www.techrepublic.com

 

[TerryLaze]

There have been plenty of freedos laptops and pcs, probably still are.
The thing is that the broad public is going to want windows preinstalled because it's too scary for them to install an OS themselves or to learn linux.
So an OEM is going to want windows to make decent sales.

 

[funguseater]

It wasn't very long ago that we made good money installing OS's and updating systems, you think people knew what to do with XP when it came out? Remember Dial-up? People will learn or they will pay someone else to do it just like they always have

 

[bit_user]

Could they sell the computers $50-100 cheaper without activating a license and call it something like The BYOL Edition ... Bring Your Own License?

I'm pretty sure MS Windows licenses don't cost that much for big OEMs, and especially not if these are licenses for China's domestic market.

Whether it's hardware or software, a lot of things are sold at a discount for the Chinese domestic market, which is one reason you can buy systems made for the Chinese market at lower prices via AliExpress than a comparable model that's made and marketed for sale in the US. Mini-PCs are a prime example.

They could even make some fancy gui when the computer boots up that allows you to choose Windows or Linux Distro and sets the active partition to either the unactivated Windows partition or a linux distro and then deletes the other partition to save space.

This would give people who want to keep Windows the option to activate but those that never wanted Windows in the first place save some money.

Well, maybe useful for buying off-the-shelf items sold at retail, but when ordering from an OEM like Dell or Lenovo, you can pick which OS you want preinstalled on it.

 

[bit_user]

According to StatCounter, Windows was installed on 70.65% of PCs as of February 2025. Apple's macOS is the second most popular choice, commanding roughly 16% of the market. Meanwhile, Linux's share was around 3.8%, while ChromeOS commanded 1.81%.

So, what are the other ~8% running?

Second, I don't trust stat counter. They're not very transparent about their methodology, last I checked.

Finally, when running a less popular browser or OS, it's not uncommon for the browser to lie in its identification string that it sends to the server. This is another reason I'm a little skeptical of StatCounter's numbers.

 

[ezst036]

That will for sure speed up the adoption of non-Windows computers in China. From what I have seen China has wanted to see Windows get ditched for a long time now, but due to such huge numbers of people using it they can't really do anything about it.

Makes me wonder if other Chinese companies (smaller than Huawei) will end up in the same situation.

 

[nookoool]

Huawei advertising has Linux variant as default operation system for the rest of their x86 inventory. It is reported that customers can request Huawei store staff to help them install an unactivated windows on their system.

 

[derekullo]

I'm pretty sure MS Windows licenses don't cost that much for big OEMs, and especially not if these are licenses for China's domestic market.

Whether it's hardware or software, a lot of things are sold at a discount for the Chinese domestic market, which is one reason you can buy systems made for the Chinese market at lower prices via AliExpress than a comparable model that's made and marketed for sale in the US. Mini-PCs are a prime example.


Well, maybe useful for buying off-the-shelf items sold at retail, but when ordering from an OEM like Dell or Lenovo, you can pick which OS you want preinstalled on it.

We have our own KMS server at work for Windows 11 Enterprise, but my boss insists on each computer coming with its own Windows 11 license from Dell on the PO.
Is that doubling up on licenses for no reason or does my boss have some obscure legal point?
We reimage them with our image once we get the computers.

 

[bit_user]

We have our own KMS server at work for Windows 11 Enterprise, but my boss insists on each computer coming with its own Windows 11 license from Dell on the PO.
Is that doubling up on licenses for no reason or does my boss have some obscure legal point?
We reimage them with our image once we get the computers.

I'm no expert on the matter, but it sure sounds to me like you're wasting a license.

 

[magnon-damant]

We have our own KMS server at work for Windows 11 Enterprise, but my boss insists on each computer coming with its own Windows 11 license from Dell on the PO.
Is that doubling up on licenses for no reason or does my boss have some obscure legal point?
We reimage them with our image once we get the computers.

Makes sense if you want to be able to onsell them after you get a new fleet. Can reinstall with their "own OEM" windows licence rather than your company licence, which you can't sell / provide for outside computers

 

[bit_user]

Makes sense if you want to be able to onsell them after you get a new fleet. Can reinstall with their "own OEM" windows licence rather than your company licence, which you can't sell / provide for outside computers

But resold licenses won't be worth as much as they're probably paying to get the machine with its original license. If you resell a machine without a license, the customer can just supply their own license. Also, is it even legal to resell a Windows license, in the USA?

When we get rid of old desktops and laptops (i.e. the non-leased ones), at my job, we transfer them to a computer recycling service. Even for machines that were purchased with a license, we don't include it with the hardware. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think we probably don't want to bother with it and/or they're not setup to handle it. That is, if it's even allowed.

 

[magnon-damant]

But resold licenses won't be worth as much as they're probably paying to get the machine with its original license. If you resell a machine without a license, the customer can just supply their own license. Also, is it even legal to resell a Windows license, in the USA?

When we get rid of old desktops and laptops (i.e. the non-leased ones), at my job, we transfer them to a computer recycling service. Even for machines that were purchased with a license, we don't include it with the hardware. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think we probably don't want to bother with it and/or they're not setup to handle it. That is, if it's even allowed.

OEM licence stays with the device.
They have been baked into the BIOS (or UFEI) by most manufacturers since Windows 8

 

[bit_user]

OEM licence stays with the device.
They have been baked into the BIOS (or UFEI) by most manufacturers since Windows 8

If you mean in the UEFI partition of the storage drive, we wipe all storage devices before disposing of them.

 

[magnon-damant]

If you mean in the UEFI partition of the storage drive, we wipe all storage devices before disposing of them.

It seems things changed since Win8, although the outcome is the same.

Win7 stored in BIOS
Win8 & 10 "An embedded licence is supplied by the manufacturer if they provided an OEM licence for Windows 10 pre-installed on the device.
...
If you clean install Windows 10, with the edition that was previously activated then you don't need to know the licence key as it will activate automatically. (the device licence is registered on Microsoft activation servers)

A reset will effectively provide Windows 10 as a clean install and again will activate automatically."

See https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-in-bios/49d8df6c-1e86-4a83-a5d8-788ffc173726

 

[TerryLaze]

If you mean in the UEFI partition of the storage drive, we wipe all storage devices before disposing of them.

No, the bios is being recognized by the registration process of windows, during installation it won't even ask you for a serial number.

 

[derekullo]

It seems things changed since Win8, although the outcome is the same.

Win7 stored in BIOS
Win8 & 10 "An embedded licence is supplied by the manufacturer if they provided an OEM licence for Windows 10 pre-installed on the device.
...
If you clean install Windows 10, with the edition that was previously activated then you don't need to know the licence key as it will activate automatically. (the device licence is registered on Microsoft activation servers)

A reset will effectively provide Windows 10 as a clean install and again will activate automatically."

See https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-in-bios/49d8df6c-1e86-4a83-a5d8-788ffc173726

Actually now that you mention it that way, I guess my boss does have a point.
Our KMS server is only accessible when on our domain.
If we donate/surplus our computers to a different government department not on our domain then they will still have an activated copy of Windows assuming they don't have a KMS server of their own.
Still might be a waste of money if the other agencies have their own KMS server but since our department is the largest purchaser of computers that kinda makes sense.

 

[USAFRet]

Actually now that you mention it that way, I guess my boss does have a point.
Our KMS server is only accessible when on our domain.
If we donate/surplus our computers to a different government department not on our domain then they will still have an activated copy of Windows assuming they don't have a KMS server of their own.
Still might be a waste of money if the other agencies have their own KMS server but since our department is the largest purchaser of computers that kinda makes sense.

Your Key Management Server (KMS) is instantiated with whatever Volume Licensing agreement you have with MS.
It covers however many systems you've contracted for.

At EOL, if a system can no longer get routine, regular access to that Server...it has no license.
Unless it came with an OEM from the factory.

By buying a system with its own OEM license, you are paying for the eventual end user to have a license.
That is simply paying it forward. Great, if thats what you want to do.

 

[derekullo]

Your Key Management Server (KMS) is instantiated with whatever Volume Licensing agreement you have with MS.
It covers however many systems you've contracted for.

At EOL, if a system can no longer get routine, regular access to that Server...it has no license.
Unless it came with an OEM from the factory.

By buying a system with its own OEM license, you are paying for the eventual end user to have a license.
That is simply paying it forward. Great, if thats what you want to do.

Right ... I'm pretty sure we get the license for $30 or so from Dell which is much cheaper than buying it from a retail store.

 

[USAFRet]

Right ... I'm pretty sure we get the license for $30 or so from Dell which is much cheaper than buying it from a retail store.

Yes, but the license you use is already covered in your Volume Licensing agreement.
That $30 is simply extra you are paying, to give to someone else down the line.

 

[bit_user]

Actually now that you mention it that way, I guess my boss does have a point.

Do you get the full resale value for those licenses of what you paid up-front? If not, then it's a waste of money. Maybe not much, but it's still a waste to buy something you don't need and won't be able to resell for as much as you paid for it.