Jump to content

is it bad to buy an OEM key?

GreezyJeezy
By GreezyJeezy
in Windows
 Share
Posted

people say OEM will only work on one motherboard and then if you change it then it no longer works

 

my OEM key stayed activated even though I replaced my motherboard

 

so idk what to believe anymore

NEW PC build: Blank Heaven   minimalist white and black PC     Old S340 build log "White Heaven"        The "LIGHTCANON" flashlight build log        Project AntiRoll (prototype)        Custom speaker project

Spoiler

Ryzen 3950X | AMD Vega Frontier Edition | ASUS X570 Pro WS | Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB | NZXT H500 | Seasonic Prime Fanless TX-700 | Custom loop | Coolermaster SK630 White | Logitech MX Master 2S | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Pro 512GB | Samsung 58" 4k TV | Scarlett 2i4 | 2x AT2020

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
7 minutes ago, GreezyJeezy said:

so on kinguin there is OEM keys for like $30, is that bad that its a OEM key?

Those are volume licence keys that are stolen. Its illegal to sell them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Those are volume licence keys that are stolen. Its illegal to sell them. 

And no one cares.

NEVER GIVE UP. NEVER STOP LEARNING. DONT LET THE PAST HURT YOU. YOU CAN DOOOOO IT

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Those are volume licence keys that are stolen. Its illegal to sell them. 

Proof?

I've seen many reputable people recommending those keys, Paul's Hardware being one of those people. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
8 minutes ago, Enderman said:

people say OEM will only work on one motherboard and then if you change it then it no longer works

 

my OEM key stayed activated even though I replaced my motherboard

 

so idk what to believe anymore

Same. I had a windows 7 home OEM key running in Bootcamp on my old iMac and then I transferred it to this mITX board and updated to windows 10 and it stayed active. 

Laptop: 2019 16" MacBook Pro i7, 512GB, 5300M 4GB, 16GB DDR4 | Phone: iPhone 13 Pro Max 128GB | Wearables: Apple Watch SE | Car: 2007 Ford Taurus SE | CPU: R7 5700X | Mobo: ASRock B450M Pro4 | RAM: 32GB 3200 | GPU: ASRock RX 5700 8GB | Case: Apple PowerMac G5 | OS: Win 11 | Storage: 1TB Crucial P3 NVME SSD, 1TB PNY CS900, & 4TB WD Blue HDD | PSU: Be Quiet! Pure Power 11 600W | Display: LG 27GL83A-B 1440p @ 144Hz, Dell S2719DGF 1440p @144Hz | Cooling: Wraith Prism | Keyboard: G610 Orion Cherry MX Brown | Mouse: G305 | Audio: Audio Technica ATH-M50X & Blue Snowball | Server: 2018 Core i3 Mac mini, 128GB SSD, Intel UHD 630, 16GB DDR4 | Storage: OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad (6TB WD Blue HDD, 12TB Seagate Barracuda, 1TB Crucial SSD, 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
9 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Same. I had a windows 7 home OEM key running in Bootcamp on my old iMac and then I transferred it to this mITX board and updated to windows 10 and it stayed active. 

also, people said that retail versions of windows 10 can be used on more than one motherboard if you upgrade/replace your PC

and upgrading to windows 10 gives me a retail windows 10 version

yet other people who upgraded to windows 10 and then changed motherboard had it become deactivated and had to contact microsoft to reactivate

 

so this whole thing is a mess imo

lol

NEW PC build: Blank Heaven   minimalist white and black PC     Old S340 build log "White Heaven"        The "LIGHTCANON" flashlight build log        Project AntiRoll (prototype)        Custom speaker project

Spoiler

Ryzen 3950X | AMD Vega Frontier Edition | ASUS X570 Pro WS | Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB | NZXT H500 | Seasonic Prime Fanless TX-700 | Custom loop | Coolermaster SK630 White | Logitech MX Master 2S | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Pro 512GB | Samsung 58" 4k TV | Scarlett 2i4 | 2x AT2020

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
1 minute ago, Enderman said:

also, people said that retail versions of windows 10 can be used on more than one motherboard if you upgrade/replace your PC

and upgrading to windows 10 gives me a retail windows 10 version

yet other people who upgraded to windows 10 and then changed motherboard had it become deactivated and had to contact microsoft to reactivate

 

so this whole thing is a mess imo

lol

yeah, all very confusing xD

Laptop: 2019 16" MacBook Pro i7, 512GB, 5300M 4GB, 16GB DDR4 | Phone: iPhone 13 Pro Max 128GB | Wearables: Apple Watch SE | Car: 2007 Ford Taurus SE | CPU: R7 5700X | Mobo: ASRock B450M Pro4 | RAM: 32GB 3200 | GPU: ASRock RX 5700 8GB | Case: Apple PowerMac G5 | OS: Win 11 | Storage: 1TB Crucial P3 NVME SSD, 1TB PNY CS900, & 4TB WD Blue HDD | PSU: Be Quiet! Pure Power 11 600W | Display: LG 27GL83A-B 1440p @ 144Hz, Dell S2719DGF 1440p @144Hz | Cooling: Wraith Prism | Keyboard: G610 Orion Cherry MX Brown | Mouse: G305 | Audio: Audio Technica ATH-M50X & Blue Snowball | Server: 2018 Core i3 Mac mini, 128GB SSD, Intel UHD 630, 16GB DDR4 | Storage: OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad (6TB WD Blue HDD, 12TB Seagate Barracuda, 1TB Crucial SSD, 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
19 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Those are volume licence keys that are stolen. Its illegal to sell them. 

are you sure that they are not just from a different area.

Good luck, Have fun, Build PC, and have a last gen console for use once a year. I should answer most of the time between 9 to 3 PST

NightHawk 3.0: R7 5700x @, B550A vision D, H105, 2x32gb Oloy 3600, Sapphire RX 6700XT  Nitro+, Corsair RM750X, 500 gb 850 evo, 2tb rocket and 5tb Toshiba x300, 2x 6TB WD Black W10 all in a 750D airflow.
GF PC: (nighthawk 2.0): R7 2700x, B450m vision D, 4x8gb Geli 2933, Strix GTX970, CX650M RGB, Obsidian 350D

Skunkworks: R5 3500U, 16gb, 500gb Adata XPG 6000 lite, Vega 8. HP probook G455R G6 Ubuntu 20. LTS

Condor (MC server): 6600K, z170m plus, 16gb corsair vengeance LPX, samsung 750 evo, EVGA BR 450.

Spirt  (NAS) ASUS Z9PR-D12, 2x E5 2620V2, 8x4gb, 24 3tb HDD. F80 800gb cache, trueNAS, 2x12disk raid Z3 stripped

PSU Tier List      Motherboard Tier List     SSD Tier List     How to get PC parts cheap    HP probook 445R G6 review

 

"Stupidity is like trying to find a limit of a constant. You are never truly smart in something, just less stupid."

Camera Gear: X-S10, 16-80 F4, 60D, 24-105 F4, 50mm F1.4, Helios44-m, 2 Cos-11D lavs

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
38 minutes ago, Enderman said:

people say OEM will only work on one motherboard and then if you change it then it no longer works

 

my OEM key stayed activated even though I replaced my motherboard

 

so idk what to believe anymore

So far the key that I used for my desktop (Windows 7 Pro OEM) has been on 2 laptops and across 4 motherboards and it still works.

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

"Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil"

 

This PSA brought to you by Equifacks.
PMSL

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
1 minute ago, Dabombinable said:

So far the key that I used for my desktop (Windows 7 Pro OEM) has been on 2 laptops and across 4 motherboards and it still works.

I'm starting to think key authentication is a joke......

Laptop: 2019 16" MacBook Pro i7, 512GB, 5300M 4GB, 16GB DDR4 | Phone: iPhone 13 Pro Max 128GB | Wearables: Apple Watch SE | Car: 2007 Ford Taurus SE | CPU: R7 5700X | Mobo: ASRock B450M Pro4 | RAM: 32GB 3200 | GPU: ASRock RX 5700 8GB | Case: Apple PowerMac G5 | OS: Win 11 | Storage: 1TB Crucial P3 NVME SSD, 1TB PNY CS900, & 4TB WD Blue HDD | PSU: Be Quiet! Pure Power 11 600W | Display: LG 27GL83A-B 1440p @ 144Hz, Dell S2719DGF 1440p @144Hz | Cooling: Wraith Prism | Keyboard: G610 Orion Cherry MX Brown | Mouse: G305 | Audio: Audio Technica ATH-M50X & Blue Snowball | Server: 2018 Core i3 Mac mini, 128GB SSD, Intel UHD 630, 16GB DDR4 | Storage: OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad (6TB WD Blue HDD, 12TB Seagate Barracuda, 1TB Crucial SSD, 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

I'm starting to think key authentication is a joke......

It kind of is......especially considering how easily some people have cracked the activation process. 

 

 

On another note, buying OEM keys is only bad for Microsoft as they don't gouge OEM as hard when it comes to the price.

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

"Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil"

 

This PSA brought to you by Equifacks.
PMSL

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

The keys are fine 99% of the time. OEM keys just mean you're the manufacturer (from Microsoft's perspective) and as such, Microsoft offers no free support regarding the license.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
On 6/13/2016 at 10:54 PM, Enderman said:

people say OEM will only work on one motherboard and then if you change it then it no longer works

 

my OEM key stayed activated even though I replaced my motherboard

 

so idk what to believe anymore

According to licensing OEM versions are tied to one motherboard. However in practice if MS is feel nice, they tend to not give a damn. You buy an OEM version with the intent that it will only work on one motherboard. However you might luck out. 

I just want to sit back and watch the world burn. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Dunno about kinguin but if they are anything like G2a, they are scammy garbage with their stupid shield nonsense. I picked up my windows keys here http://mskeystore.tictail.com/

 

and they are retail keys which ive had no problem with. GL either way

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Windows

×