Is your Windows 10 activated?

[RenaKry]

For the sake of making it forum legal, do not elaborate on how you illegitimately activated Windows.

 

Edit: grey-market keys count as illegitimately activated. this technically isn't piracy, so it can be discussed.

[aisle9]

Yes, I think you'll find almost all here are. There are plenty of ways to legitimately activate Windows 10 without giving Microsoft $100+.

[RenaKry]

7 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Yes, I think you'll find almost all here are. There are plenty of ways to legitimately activate Windows 10 without giving Microsoft $100+.

By plenty, that would imply there are more ways to activate Windows beyond buying a key, upgrading from an older version of Windows back when that promotion was still in effect, and being activated from the factory. There is also volume licensing, where you can obtain a key from your company, but for this question in specific, grey-market keys do not count as legitimate. What other ways am I missing that are legitimate ways of activating?

[LloydLynx]

What do you mean by grey-market? Those sites where you can buy a key for something like $20, or something else?

[RenaKry]

Just now, LloydLynx said:

What do you mean by grey-market? Those sites where you can buy a key for something like $20, or something else?

Yes. Grey-market keys are exactly those: heavily discounted keys purchased from a third-party seller.

[WhitetailAni]

My copy of 10 is activated via a 7 Home Premium key my dad bought in 2010. Completely legit; he even put the Certificate of Activation sticker on the bottom of the case.

[aisle9]

1 hour ago, Sesame said:

By plenty, that would imply there are more ways to activate Windows beyond buying a key, upgrading from an older version of Windows back when that promotion was still in effect, and being activated from the factory. There is also volume licensing, where you can obtain a key from your company, but for this question in specific, grey-market keys do not count as legitimate. What other ways am I missing that are legitimate ways of activating?

Those are all legitimate. Grey-market keys are legitimate. They were purchased from Microsoft and are be resold as excess inventory. They are 100% legitimate Microsoft keys. There's also the ability to run inactive Windows 10 for a seemingly endless amount of time.

 

Personally, I have a sheet of paper with literally a dozen different Windows 7 keys, both Home and Pro, that I use to activate Windows 10. That is also 100% legitimate, as Windows 7 keys are upgradeable by design. Truth is, Microsoft doesn't really care how you get your Windows 10 key. They want your data, not your dollars.

[RONOTHAN##]

6 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Those are all legitimate. Grey-market keys are legitimate. They were purchased from Microsoft and are be resold as excess inventory. They are 100% legitimate Microsoft keys. There's also the ability to run inactive Windows 10 for a seemingly endless amount of time.

Except they aren't. Grey-market keys are OEM keys that are not allowed to be resold to general consumers, so buying/selling one is technically software piracy. Legitimate in this case means by the book, no piracy whatsoever, exactly how Microsoft intended.

9 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Personally, I have a sheet of paper with literally a dozen different Windows 7 keys, both Home and Pro, that I use to activate Windows 10. That is also 100% legitimate, as Windows 7 keys are upgradeable by design. Truth is, Microsoft doesn't really care how you get your Windows 10 key. They want your data, not your dollars.

I agree with you there, that is the reason most people who buy one of those keys or finds another way to break the watermark sleep easy at night, because if Microsoft actually cared about it, they would figure out a way to lock it down like they did with Windows 7 and prior.

[RenaKry]

 

15 hours ago, aisle9 said:

Grey-market keys are legitimate...

 

15 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Except they aren't...

Regardless on your stance on grey-market keys, the question assumes that they are not a legitimate method of activating Windows. The question assumes that for Windows to be legitimately activated, you own a valid license to use it. Technically, OEM keys are not supposed to be used by an end user as per licensing terms, but the question will assume it is a legitimate method since they are about as expensive as a retail key and can be purchased directly from MS or through partner retailers.

[flibberdipper]

The only time I won't end up with an actually legitimately activated copy of Windows is if I throw my file server on 2019 (or 2022 if that ends up being a thing and isn't based on Windows 11). Eventually I should probably take my server a bit more seriously and stop running regular Windows 10 Education on it.