Activating Windows

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The right ways and the wrong ways,

Which way is which?

 

I've got a few machines, One has a 3 dollar windows 10 pro key from ebay installed on it which said it "HAD to be input during installation not used after to activate"  and it's been working fine as I followed those instructions another I think I had bought off craigslist, and it has since lapsed in activation, and yet even another desktop has a big watermark on the rightmost screen asking to activate, Does my pro key cover multiple machines to any extent? 
Where are keys best obtained? 
Have you ever used the 3 dollar ebay keys that have to be used during a fresh install and if so what was your experience?

What can I do to get a more streamlined user experience for windows and activating multiple machines, say 5-10. 
Thanks for the time.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Kinguin keys are very reliable in my experience.

[SupaKomputa]

The key can only be installed on 1 machine, if you install it to another pc, the old one will be unactivated. Hence the activation warning.

 

I bought a OEM key from yesteryear, not in ebay though and for around $15, it never had any problems.

If i have new hardware and the key is no longer valid, i just call microsoft and tell them i changed my hardware, they will gladly give me new activation key.

This happened like 4-5 times with the same key.

 

For 5-10 pc, why don't you just buy cheap OEM key, its only $10 a piece, compared that to the full retail, don't be cheap.

Or if you're really that cheap, go ahead install windows on each pc and skip the serial number or activation.

The activation warning will still be there, but you can use windows 10 for free forever.

Windows 10 activation is no longer mandatory.

[Radium_Angel]

13 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

if you install it to another pc, the old one will be unactivated.

Not 100% accurate for for Win7 and below. Perhaps Win10 changed this..

[SupaKomputa]

3 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Not 100% accurate for for Win7 and below. Perhaps Win10 changed this..

are we talking about sub win10 pc?

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No I stay updated as much as possible. It's windows 10, Thanks for the advice.  10 dollars a piece isn't bad.  Where can I find those? Ebay I suppose with he tag OEM.