What to do when selling Gaming Laptop?

[jermsn10]

Hi All, 

 

I am in the process of selling my MSI GT72S laptop which I purchased from an official retailer. I have searched the web for things to do before selling a laptop and most forums are geared to a more simple laptop system. Considering that my laptop has two hard drives and is more complex than more main stream models, I have a few questions and concerns on the steps which I should take to adequately remove all information from this computer while ensuring that the new user will be able to leverage the existing Windows 10 software.

 

When I purchased my laptop, the vendor did not provide a Windows 10 Product Key nor COA. According to the Activation Tab in the Settings "Windows is activated with a digital licensed linked to your Microsoft account". Complete unsure what that means? 

 

Furthermore when I export my information via MSI HELP DESK, the text file displays a "Partial Product Key" which only has five characters? Completely unsure what that means as well? 

 

To summarize, I know I need to

(1) Back up important data 

(2) Run Windows 10 Medical Creation Tool to create a the instillation media drive (DVD or thumb Drive)

(3) Securely format Hard drives ( via DBAN ) 

(4) Reinstall Windows 

 

My main concern is with step (4) Reinstall Windows. I do not want my Microsoft account linked to the new computer nor do I want to run into any activating Windows 10 issues. 

 

Please let me know if you have any insight or guidance on how I should proceed. 

[Guest]

Point 4:

 

http://freedesignfile.com/upload/2012/12/pirate_02.jpg

[Silver47]

3 minutes ago, jermsn10 said:

Hi All, 

 

I am in the process of selling my MSI GT72S laptop which I purchased from an official retailer. I have searched the web for things to do before selling a laptop and most forums are geared to a more simple laptop system. Considering that my laptop has two hard drives and is more complex than more main stream models, I have a few questions and concerns on the steps which I should take to adequately remove all information from this computer while ensuring that the new user will be able to leverage the existing Windows 10 software.

 

When I purchased my laptop, the vendor did not provide a Windows 10 Product Key nor COA. According to the Activation Tab in the Settings "Windows is activated with a digital licensed linked to your Microsoft account". Complete unsure what that means? 

 

Furthermore when I export my information via MSI HELP DESK, the text file displays a "Partial Product Key" which only has five characters? Completely unsure what that means as well? 

 

To summarize, I know I need to

(1) Back up important data 

(2) Run Windows 10 Medical Creation Tool to create a the instillation media drive (DVD or thumb Drive)

(3) Securely format Hard drives ( via DBAN ) 

(4) Reinstall Windows 

 

My main concern is with step (4) Reinstall Windows. I do not want my Microsoft account linked to the new computer nor do I want to run into any activating Windows 10 issues. 

 

Please let me know if you have any insight or guidance on how I should proceed. 

If you are concerned about data safety you really should not sell the Laptop with the drives you used in it. Even when you completely formated them with a DOS utility.

[jermsn10]

Agreed but I don't want to Void MSI warranty for the future buyer...

[79wjd]

4 minutes ago, jermsn10 said:

Agreed but I don't want to Void MSI warranty for the future buyer...

The warranty is more than likely voided the instant it's no longer owned by the original owner. (also, changing an hdd doesn't USUALLY void a warranty).

[Guest]

Isn't the serial hardcoded, somewhere in the mobo/cpu? I read something that some companies do that for windows...

[jermsn10]

Interesting. Something I left out of the original post is that the OS is on the SSD-NVMe SAMSUNG 120GB Drive and I only have game libraries linked to the HDD 1TB drive. Don't know if SSDs are formatted differently than HDDs? 

[Silver47]

On the topic of your OS key: First I'd contact the vendor. If that doesn't help I'd go contact MSI and if thats also no good I'd give MS helpdesk a call. That partial product key thing might be something like a serial number of the device. 

15 minutes ago, jermsn10 said:

According to the Activation Tab in the Settings "Windows is activated with a digital licensed linked to your Microsoft account". Complete unsure what that means? 

That means that you have to remove your online account from the device, otherwise its going to stay linked to the machine. But only once you are finished reinstalling the OS, otherwise you might end your digital entitlement when you delete the OS.

[Silver47]

1 minute ago, jermsn10 said:

Interesting. Something I left out of the original post is that the OS is on the SSD-NVMe SAMSUNG 120GB Drive and I only have game libraries linked to the HDD 1TB drive. Don't know if SSDs are formatted differently than HDDs? 

Depends on what erasing utility you use, but basically it works the same.

[elBarto]

reseting  the windows 3 or 4 times should work

[jermsn10]

Okay delinked my Microsoft account from the Windows product key. Now under the Activation Tab it says "Windows is activated with a digital license". Still only able to retrieve partial Windows Product Key? I have read on other forums that the Windows Product Key is linked to the motherboard BIOS or something. Can anybody elaborate on this or explain this process? I have update my BIOS since purchased.