Windows 10 Keys are the same on different devices (is this normal)

[Joshndroid]

So obviously like everyone else I have been updating my systems to windows 10. On my main rig i had the windows 10 insider builds running and on my laptop i had my windows 8.1 installation as usual.

 

So my desktop insider build is now windows 10 pro, all is activated, insider builds still activated business as usual.

 

My laptop i upgraded to take advantage obviously of the free upgrade and everything went well. All is activated, listed as windows 10 pro and the insider build status is set to off because it was never an insider build previous.

 

I like to backup my cd keys as i originally only had digital copies of the cd keys anyway because i just transferred them to new pc as i have been going along, no issue.

 

So i was backing up my insider build pc and the laptop pc cd keys and both methods to look at the cd key provide the same keys. Using magic jelly bean they provide a cd key which are both the same and with the product key vbs script method the keys are the same but different to the cd key provided by magic jelly bean. Now obviously they can be an issue of cd key location change or something like that but my issue at the moment is they are exactly the same which is weird to me and i obviously don't want to go happily down the road and then bam, outside of free upgrade and without a legitimate copy of windows

 

anyone else with multiple computers able to check their cd keys and see if they are the same on your devices? Maybe these keys are the same for either regions or linked to your registered outlook account to symbolize that they are keys that were upgraded during the free period i am unsure

 

anyone able to check their devices to see if they are the same or have any other information to shed some light on this, I have tried to google the hell out of it and cant seem to find anything

[Joshndroid]

one thing i will add is that when looking at the Product ID values, they are different. But this is the product ID and not the actual CD (product) key

[techguru]

So obviously like everyone else I have been updating my systems to windows 10. On my main rig i had the windows 10 insider builds running and on my laptop i had my windows 8.1 installation as usual.

 

So my desktop insider build is now windows 10 pro, all is activated, insider builds still activated business as usual.

 

My laptop i upgraded to take advantage obviously of the free upgrade and everything went well. All is activated, listed as windows 10 pro and the insider build status is set to off because it was never an insider build previous.

 

I like to backup my cd keys as i originally only had digital copies of the cd keys anyway because i just transferred them to new pc as i have been going along, no issue.

 

So i was backing up my insider build pc and the laptop pc cd keys and both methods to look at the cd key provide the same keys. Using magic jelly bean they provide a cd key which are both the same and with the product key vbs script method the keys are the same but different to the cd key provided by magic jelly bean. Now obviously they can be an issue of cd key location change or something like that but my issue at the moment is they are exactly the same which is weird to me and i obviously don't want to go happily down the road and then bam, outside of free upgrade and without a legitimate copy of windows

 

anyone else with multiple computers able to check their cd keys and see if they are the same on your devices? Maybe these keys are the same for either regions or linked to your registered outlook account to symbolize that they are keys that were upgraded during the free period i am unsure

 

anyone able to check their devices to see if they are the same or have any other information to shed some light on this, I have tried to google the hell out of it and cant seem to find anything

ms is doing activation cacheing

you do the upgrade first..it activates..then you can do a clean install with the windows 10 10240 cd key

[techguru]

im assuming that all the cd keys will be using the 10240 install cd key

[techguru]

you can even activate windows 7 with the loader...upgrade to 10...let it activate....then do clean install with the 10240 key and have a perfectly activated win10

[Joshndroid]

ms is doing activation cacheing

you do the upgrade first..it activates..then you can do a clean install with the windows 10 10240 cd key

 

There all generic i believe, if not heared about anyone having unique key from free upgrade yet.

 

im assuming that all the cd keys will be using the 10240 install cd key

 

So im now assuming that this is how they are implementing the 'free upgrade' for the 'life' of your device, by tieing it down to the hardware/device with caching"?

[MageTank]

So obviously like everyone else I have been updating my systems to windows 10. On my main rig i had the windows 10 insider builds running and on my laptop i had my windows 8.1 installation as usual.

 

So my desktop insider build is now windows 10 pro, all is activated, insider builds still activated business as usual.

 

My laptop i upgraded to take advantage obviously of the free upgrade and everything went well. All is activated, listed as windows 10 pro and the insider build status is set to off because it was never an insider build previous.

 

I like to backup my cd keys as i originally only had digital copies of the cd keys anyway because i just transferred them to new pc as i have been going along, no issue.

 

So i was backing up my insider build pc and the laptop pc cd keys and both methods to look at the cd key provide the same keys. Using magic jelly bean they provide a cd key which are both the same and with the product key vbs script method the keys are the same but different to the cd key provided by magic jelly bean. Now obviously they can be an issue of cd key location change or something like that but my issue at the moment is they are exactly the same which is weird to me and i obviously don't want to go happily down the road and then bam, outside of free upgrade and without a legitimate copy of windows

 

anyone else with multiple computers able to check their cd keys and see if they are the same on your devices? Maybe these keys are the same for either regions or linked to your registered outlook account to symbolize that they are keys that were upgraded during the free period i am unsure

 

anyone able to check their devices to see if they are the same or have any other information to shed some light on this, I have tried to google the hell out of it and cant seem to find anything

You could open a CMD prompt and run slmgr /dlv and see if they have different values that way. I am sure they are both genuine keys, so i would not be alarmed.

[techguru]

So im now assuming that this is how they are implementing the 'free upgrade' for the 'life' of your device, by tieing it down to the hardware/device with caching"?

yea

[techguru]

Looks like it, its dumb though if my motherboard breaks i'm screwed while before i could just do phone activation.

in theory yea...

tho you could in theory redo the upgrade if you didn't wanna phone ms

[Doughnutnator]

in theory yea...

tho you could in theory redo the upgrade if you didn't wanna phone ms

But only in one year. After that you're screwed.

[Joshndroid]

Looks like it, its dumb though if my motherboard breaks i'm screwed while before i could just do phone activation.

 

Exactly my thoughts as i have been grandfathering my keys across to devices, whatever

 

yea

 

This probably has something to do with future versions regarding 'windows as a service' in that you wont even really need a different key for a device it will all be tied to your microsoft account with subscription purchases. In saying that it may require a key just to identify your account so one key may be fine for your 5 device subscription.

 

in theory yea...

tho you could in theory redo the upgrade if you didn't wanna phone ms

 

i will have to give this a try once i get a new cpu/motherboard on skylake release

[techguru]

But only in one year. After that you're screwed.

I dunno..I did the upgrade already on like 5 pcs without any internet on them..and they activated fine

 

I think in a years time..ms will just stop offering the upgrade icon in the taskbar..

[Joshndroid]

so just as an update. Conducted an install on my 3rd computer here in the house and the same CD key is the same, and i then did a clean installation with @techguru being correct and i just bypassed cd key insertion and once at the desktop i went to activation where it activated fine and dandy. Good stuff