Purchasing windows 10 cd key

[wittydavid]

Hey people, I'm considering buying a windows 10 pro key so I watched two youtubers (paul's hardware, tech source) that recommended two sites that sell pretty cheap keys.

1. www.kinguin.net
2. www.urcdkey.com

I read a little on the internet and it seems that the opinions are divided about whether they're legit or not.

Do you happen to have experience with them? Is it common for them to be randomly deactivated? and if so is it possible to contact microsoft support? Also I've read that some people say that these are stolen keys - is it true?

[minibois]

27 minutes ago, wittydavid said:

Also I've read that some people say that these are stolen keys - is it true?

The keys are usually gotten through one of these ways:

1. Students who have an MSDN/Imagine account, who get keys for free for educational reasons who are reselling the keys

2. People from foreign countries where the currency is cheaper (compared to USD/EUR for example) who can thus get the keys for cheaper

3. People with access to volume licenses (e.g. people purchasing keys for schools/offices who are reselling the keys)

4. Keys bought with stolen credit cards

 

These are all things that are against Microsoft's terms and conditions, but I don't know of any cases where they actually go after people using them. Microsoft support may decide to decline support, since these keys are usually OEM/volume licenses where you are expected to contact the IT person who sold them to you (as normally these keys are sold to IT people, who put together PC's or do the office IT stuff).

 

Whether you should get those keys is up to you, I just provided some background info.

I don't have an opinion on getting these keys or not.

[wittydavid]

11 hours ago, minibois said:

The keys are usually gotten through one of these ways:

1. Students who have an MSDN/Imagine account, who get keys for free for educational reasons who are reselling the keys

2. People from foreign countries where the currency is cheaper (compared to USD/EUR for example) who can thus get the keys for cheaper

3. People with access to volume licenses (e.g. people purchasing keys for schools/offices who are reselling the keys)

4. Keys bought with stolen credit cards

 

These are all things that are against Microsoft's terms and conditions, but I don't know of any cases where they actually go after people using them. Microsoft support may decide to decline support, since these keys are usually OEM/volume licenses where you are expected to contact the IT person who sold them to you (as normally these keys are sold to IT people, who put together PC's or do the office IT stuff).

 

Whether you should get those keys is up to you, I just provided some background info.

I don't have an opinion on getting these keys or not.

@minibois you are an asset to the forum!! Thank you!

Aside from the annoying watermark and the limited customization is there a difference between an activated and a non activated windows?
what would you do?

spare the 200$ price tag for windows 10?

[minibois]

6 hours ago, wittydavid said:

@minibois you are an asset to the forum!! Thank you!

Aside from the annoying watermark and the limited customization is there a difference between an activated and a non activated windows?
what would you do?

spare the 200$ price tag for windows 10?

People have mentioned the unactivated Windows 10 is only active for 30, 60 or 90 days, but I have never seen anyone actually prove this, so I am not sure about those claims.

Otherwise there are no differences (other than customization) that I know of.

 

I really don't have an opinion on unactivated vs. secondary market key vs. the full 200 USD Windows.

That is something you have to make up your own mind about, as there are reasons to do or not do any of them.

 

There is currently an ongoing forum where people are claiming it is illegal to run an unactivated Windows, because it's against the TOS. But I am not sure what to think of that.

[Samfisher]

6 hours ago, wittydavid said:

@minibois you are an asset to the forum!! Thank you!

Aside from the annoying watermark and the limited customization is there a difference between an activated and a non activated windows?
what would you do?

spare the 200$ price tag for windows 10?

There's no difference.  Desktop customization is all you give up for being unactivated.  And the watermark.  I've seen machines remain unactivated for years.  Even actual production server machines.