5 Ways to Not Pay Full Price for Windows

[LMGcommunity]

You don’t even think about it with a pre-built computer, but every time you build or buy a new PC, you’re probably spending 10% of your budget on a Windows license. Does it REALLY need to cost so much?

 

 

[plurus]

Note for students: The option to look at first is Microsoft Azure, which includes both Windows and Windows Server for free for Students.    

If that fails, then go for Github Student...which also includes Azure Student as a perk.  

 

The biggest benefit is that Education is pretty much a relabeled Enterprise.  

[mehtaman]

21 minutes ago, plurus said:

Note for students: The option to look at first is Microsoft Azure, which includes both Windows and Windows Server for free for Students.    

If that fails, then go for Github Student...which also includes Azure Student as a perk.  

 

The biggest benefit is that Education is pretty much a relabeled Enterprise.  

 

I miss the older MS Imagine and Dream Spark portals, they used to have soo much free software such as Windows Deskop & Server OS, SQL Server etc.

[Jaw709]

G2a to Windows 10 to free upgrade pipeline peeps.. like this post triumphantly.

 

I'll also add that it would be cool to see how MSFT keeps track of windows keys between PC parts (probably motherboard).

[danalog]

Inb4 the "actually just use linux  its BETTER than Windows and its FREE "

[ulookuglynoob]

I once recommended someone to use an online key seller and a mod deleted it. Now Linus suggests it in a video. 

He did recommend against it, and I now realize that it's not good to do so, but back then I had no idea and I still have no experience downloading Windows since I used the SSD from my laptop to build my PC, and it had windows preinstalled, so I don't have much experience anyways. People like Zach's Tech Turf often recommend Windows Key sellers, but those are sponsorships, so idk. I have had people on this forum recommend these key sellers too, and I thought they were fine until my comment was removed by the mod. I might be cooked if I build a new PC with a new drive. Anyway, I probably will not be getting Windows anytime soon, so Mods don't ban me again.  

[Jaw709]

27 minutes ago, ulookuglynoob said:

I once recommended someone to use an online key seller and a mod deleted it. Now Linus suggests it in a video. 

He did recommend against it, and I now realize that it's not good to do so, but back then I had no idea and I still have no experience downloading Windows since I used the SSD from my laptop to build my PC, and it had windows preinstalled, so I don't have much experience anyways. People like Zach's Tech Turf often recommend Windows Key sellers, but those are sponsorships, so idk. I have had people on this forum recommend these key sellers too, and I thought they were fine until my comment was removed by the mod. I might be cooked if I build a new PC with a new drive. Anyway, I probably will not be getting Windows anytime soon, so Mods don't ban me again.  

I swapped out everything except for motherboard and it still auto-activated Windows on a windows 10 machine. Also I am fine with g2a, never had an issue.. I think the "illicit funding" narrative is used for everything from cannabis to cross-border pharmaceuticals. Turns out money is fungible and people will use it for anything they want. Personally, I'm not going to make that my problem, I'm a good person and I'm good to others. 

[NumLock21]

Microsoft should reintroduce their family pack. They had it back then, I think during Vista or Windows 7, where it lets you installed up to 3 PCs with a single license. When Microsoft introduce Windows 8 to the market, they were also giving out a discount, The pro version went for $199.99 and they were selling it for $69.99.

[Brian McKee]

Education keys are cooler than you'd think. You even get free keys for windows server for non commercial applications.

[marcgii]

Fun fact: PC World also hosts a software marketplace like CD keys or G2A. (Times are tough I guess.)  

The seller claims they're a MS authorized partner.  So at least it's (seemingly) less sketchy than some of the other marketplaces. 

https://shop.pcworld.com/sales/microsoft-windows-11-pro-6

[ahuckphin]

5:15 Microsoft stopping Windows 10 activation with Win7/8/8.1 keys was a contributing factor to why I resigned from computer refurbishment. I then had to maintain processes for more OS and also dealing with Windows 7's Windows Update which was slow and has a limited driver repository was frustrating. 

[SteveGrabowski0]

Can't believe I still remember FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 off the top of my head 23 years later. So any guesses which method I used for my Windows 10? 

 

[David A. Tatum]

2 hours ago, marcgii said:

Fun fact: PC World also hosts a software marketplace like CD keys or G2A. (Times are tough I guess.)  

The seller claims they're a MS authorized partner.  So at least it's (seemingly) less sketchy than some of the other marketplaces. 

https://shop.pcworld.com/sales/microsoft-windows-11-pro-6

 

Huh.  I'm about to attempt a "Computer of Theseus" OEM (System Builder edition) transfer of Windows 10 for my newest build.  I know that USUALLY works, but not always.  If it doesn't, that "seemingly less sketchy" version of a Key Reseller might wind up being a viable substitute.

[SteveGrabowski0]

5 hours ago, ulookuglynoob said:

I once recommended someone to use an online key seller and a mod deleted it. Now Linus suggests it in a video. 

He did recommend against it, and I now realize that it's not good to do so, but back then I had no idea and I still have no experience downloading Windows since I used the SSD from my laptop to build my PC, and it had windows preinstalled, so I don't have much experience anyways. People like Zach's Tech Turf often recommend Windows Key sellers, but those are sponsorships, so idk. I have had people on this forum recommend these key sellers too, and I thought they were fine until my comment was removed by the mod. I might be cooked if I build a new PC with a new drive. Anyway, I probably will not be getting Windows anytime soon, so Mods don't ban me again.  

Why not just use the Microsoft Activation Scripts Linus showed? It's not any less legit than buying from key sellers. I can understand paying $139 for the legit retail license and I can understand pirating for free, but I can't understand paying someone else so you can pirate. Also LOL how expensive OEM licenses have gotten. In the Windows XP days OEM licenses were like half the price of retail licenses.

[ulookuglynoob]

37 minutes ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Why not just use the Microsoft Activation Scripts Linus showed? It's not any less legit than buying from key sellers. I can understand paying $139 for the legit retail license and I can understand pirating for free, but I can't understand paying someone else so you can pirate. Also LOL how expensive OEM licenses have gotten. In the Windows XP days OEM licenses were like half the price of retail licenses.

Okie. I did that once on a friend's PC with Windows 7 trying to get it to Windows 10, but the PC was old and was taking hours to download, so I canceled it. Will try again in the future! Unless it's not allowed, and if so, mods pls don't ban me. 

[smcoakley]

7 hours ago, danalog said:

Inb4 the "actually just use linux  its BETTER than Windows and its FREE "

I actually just recently helped set up someone's new laptop with Windows 11 and wow is Windows more naggy than it's ever been before. I switched back to Linux after using Windows 10 for several years (because I had switched to Linux because Windows 8 was awful, but 10 was pretty good but started to get worse with updates) and didn't really have much interaction with Windows 11 at all so far.

 

Just saying; instead of dealing with updates changing my preferences and needing to be on the defense for privacy invasions, I periodically deal with typical Linux things (bad graphics package updates, fiddling with Wine on the rare occasion I need a Windows app, etc). Neither experience is perfect, but at least one of them I don't have to pay for! And what annoys me about Windows annoyances most is that they're entirely unnecessary; someone chose to implement the annoyance.

[Bitter]

4 hours ago, marcgii said:

Fun fact: PC World also hosts a software marketplace like CD keys or G2A. (Times are tough I guess.)  

The seller claims they're a MS authorized partner.  So at least it's (seemingly) less sketchy than some of the other marketplaces. 

https://shop.pcworld.com/sales/microsoft-windows-11-pro-6

Got my Win10 retail key from them, been working fine for years. I'll be upgrading to 11 later this year with it. $45 I think.

[CaptainDarkstar42]

2 hours ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Can't believe I still remember FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 off the top of my head 23 years later. So any guesses which method I used for my Windows 10? 

 

Does that work for the x64 version of XP lol?

[DaITguy]

I installed windows from Microsoft directly and activated with a key I bought from Softwarekeep. The discount isn’t as low as $20 or anything like that but it’s all legal as far as I can tell and it was a nice discount on my build. Have had no issues for years now. 

[thebundok]

Okay, someone help me out here as I'm getting conflicting info the more I search around.

I have a PC running Windows 8.1. I have the original install disks and the activation key for that 8.1 install. It sounds like, from Linus' comments at the 5:15 mark, that a Windows 8.1 key is no longer valid as an activation path to Windows 11. But would it still be valid if upgrading in place, rather than fresh installing?

I'm not sure where the "validation" is saved to once a PC is upgraded (somewhere in MB firmware?) or how Windows 11 knows "this is the PC I activated on before", if someone's replacing an OS drive or reformatting. Ultimately, I'd like to replace the 1TB 5400rpm drive in this 8.1 PC with a 1TB SSD with Windows 11. So my thought was to force an update in place to Windows 11 and validate/activate it with the existing Win8.1 install. Then mirror copy the install over to the SSD and install it in the PC. But would that work?

Am I overthinking it? Is there a better way?

Cheers,

[Bitter]

27 minutes ago, thebundok said:

Okay, someone help me out here as I'm getting conflicting info the more I search around.

I have a PC running Windows 8.1. I have the original install disks and the activation key for that 8.1 install. It sounds like, from Linus' comments at the 5:15 mark, that a Windows 8.1 key is no longer valid as an activation path to Windows 11. But would it still be valid if upgrading in place, rather than fresh installing?

I'm not sure where the "validation" is saved to once a PC is upgraded (somewhere in MB firmware?) or how Windows 11 knows "this is the PC I activated on before", if someone's replacing an OS drive or reformatting. Ultimately, I'd like to replace the 1TB 5400rpm drive in this 8.1 PC with a 1TB SSD with Windows 11. So my thought was to force an update in place to Windows 11 and validate/activate it with the existing Win8.1 install. Then mirror copy the install over to the SSD and install it in the PC. But would that work?

Am I overthinking it? Is there a better way?

Cheers,

You could try. I'd copy 8.1 to the NVME first then do the upgrade, that way you still have your original install of something went wrong. You could also try going 8.1 to 10 to 11 possibly.

[Gas Racing]

One line in powershell... by far the most convenient method.

[jaslion]

Ok so mods can we now just start telling people to use massgravel orrr?

[tukykarmakar]

I bought an HP laptop with Windows 10 pre-installed about a decade ago and I just used that key to activate my new desktop PC.

I used the command below to get the key and used it to activate my desktop PC after installation.

wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey

I have reinstalled Windows 10 2 times after getting my new desktop and it has never faced any issues. I ran that command in my work laptop that was setup by the IT department, but I haven't used that key to activate another copy. If you wanna try "borrowing" your work device's key, let me know how it went.

 

There's also other ways for getting the currently active Windows keys. You can check the articles below to find out your OEM key.

1. This one has a VBS script, which is throwing a format/compilation error, but maybe you can make it work.

2. This one has a method to see the key from the Registry.

[AndrewAsd]

I wonder if new optiplexes still come with those windows license key stickers. I used the Windows 7 pro license key on an old optiplex I have to activate several Windows 10 installations with no issues whatsoever. Either way it feels crazy for microsoft to be charging so much even for an OEM license keys given the likes of Lenovo, HP and Dell pay probably less than 20-30$ per license.