Switching license keys between computers.

[Slimline]

Ok guys, I need some help. I tried calling Microsoft, and she said I can reformat and do what I am asking, but she did not sound sure at all, and I am not convinced before I undertake this task.

I own three computers, all are on windows 10, two are pro, and one is home. Essentially, I want to switch two of the computers to get the pro license on my laptop, and put the home license on my garage computer I dont use often.

I need the remote desktop function on my laptop. The two pro licenses I have are from the free upgrades of my owned windows 8 pro upgrade. The windows 10 home license is the free upgrade from my asus laptop that had 8 home.

I think the problem I am going to encounter is my laptop is newer than my old computers and has the uefi bios, with the embedded key for home?

Is there any way I can actually do this? Also, can I do it without having to reformat. I am not sure if i should just pay the 99 bucks to upgrade my one key and have them all pro, but 100 bucks is 100 bucks and I do own 2 pro licenses.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

*edit* i used the program speccy to find my win 10 key

Thanks
Slimline

 

[Fardringle]

Are these OEM or Retail licenses? If Retail, then yes you can transfer them to other machines, but you'll probably need to reinstall to switch from Home to Pro without an actual Windows 10 upgrade key.. If OEM, then the answer is no.

 

[Slimline]

Oem. That is unfortunate news, thanks for the answer. I should be able to buy the upgrade then at least correct?

 

[OlyAR15]

If all you need is remote desktop, have you thought about something like Teamviewer?

Otherwise, the $99 upgrade seems to be your best alternative.

 

[jkauff]

Oem. That is unfortunate news, thanks for the answer. I should be able to buy the upgrade then at least correct?

Acronis True Image has the capability of restoring a backup to different hardware. Buy a three-machine license, create your images of each computer on an external drive, and restore them to the machines you want them on. This should cost you less than buying an upgrade, as Acronis TI can usually be bought at a discount.

 

[Elixer]

To be more specific, each of the machines have a BIOS that tells windows which version should be installed, when you go to install it.
If you are trying to do a Pro install to a 'home' marked BIOS machine, I believe it will just install home.
Then if you want to turn it into a Pro, you have to enter in a non-OEM key for that.

Teamviewer is an excellent suggestion for your needs, there is no need to have pro, if all you want is a simple remote to that machine.

 

[Charlie98]

Teamviewer is an excellent suggestion for your needs, there is no need to have pro, if all you want is a simple remote to that machine.

I loaded 3 machines with W7 Home before I realized remote was not available. TeamViewer to the rescue! It works very, very well... well enough I can navigate my PC from my iPhone... and it's free for non-commercial applications.

 

[Slimline]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestion guys, I think I will give teamviewer a try before I drop the 100 bucks. I use remote desktop a lot between my computers, so it has been driving me nuts that I dont have it on my laptop. Funnily enough, it took me quite some time to figure out why I couldnt remote into it. Win 10 home does not show a message that remote desktop does not work, it lets you enable it then just doesnt work. I scratched my head for quite some time before it clicked.

I do run a home server using home server 2011, I have full image backups, but I dont see how that would help me get around the license being tied to the bios, unless I was mistaking something from your post jkauff.

 

[jkauff]

My understanding, which could well be wrong, is that the license is not tied to the BIOS. Activation, however, is tied to a hardware signature generated by the Activation software that includes the MB make & model and various other installed hardware (only MS knows exactly what). If you try to install an activated copy of Windows onto a new machine, the signatures won't match when Windows checks the activation status (although MS has relaxed the matching requirements beginning with Win 8.1).

Acronis has figured out a way to load enough generic drivers for Windows to boot on the new machine, at which point you can download the correct drivers and install them. Your already activated copy of Windows gets a new hardware signature, apparently generated by Acronis, so you're good to go on the new machine.

Or maybe it's magic. Either way, the Acronis utility works just fine.

Sounds like you already have an answer to your original requirement, though, so why go through the bother?

 

[Mushkins]

My understanding, which could well be wrong, is that the license is not tied to the BIOS. Activation, however, is tied to a hardware signature generated by the Activation software that includes the MB make & model and various other installed hardware (only MS knows exactly what). If you try to install an activated copy of Windows onto a new machine, the signatures won't match when Windows checks the activation status (although MS has relaxed the matching requirements beginning with Win 8.1).

Acronis has figured out a way to load enough generic drivers for Windows to boot on the new machine, at which point you can download the correct drivers and install them. Your already activated copy of Windows gets a new hardware signature, apparently generated by Acronis, so you're good to go on the new machine.

Or maybe it's magic. Either way, the Acronis utility works just fine.

Sounds like you already have an answer to your original requirement, though, so why go through the bother?

You're right as far as the licenses being hardware profile bound is concerned.

You can *absolutely* do what the OP wants to do, even with OEM keys, without any sort of imaging software. It's actually super simple to do and he doesn't have to reformat a thing, and there are absolutely no technical limitations preventing him from doing so as Windows OEM keys are based completely on the honor system.

It's also 100% against the license agreement for the software *because* they are OEM keys, making it legally software piracy.

Using Acronis to make an image and migrate it to another physical machine is also illegal. OEM and Retail Windows licenses have no imaging rights associated with them. The only time it is legally acceptable is if you're imaging to reinstall on the same PC (swapping an HDD boot drive for an SSD, replacing failed hardware, or upgrading hardware within the licensing limitations).

 

[Mushkins]

Funnily enough, it took me quite some time to figure out why I couldnt remote into it. Win 10 home does not show a message that remote desktop does not work, it lets you enable it then just doesnt work.

Yeah, it's tricky. Enabling it installs the RDP client so you can connect FROM a Home install TO an RDP server, but you can't connect FROM another device TO the Home install via RDP.

 

[jkauff]

You're right as far as the licenses being hardware profile bound is concerned.

You can *absolutely* do what the OP wants to do, even with OEM keys, without any sort of imaging software. It's actually super simple to do and he doesn't have to reformat a thing, and there are absolutely no technical limitations preventing him from doing so as Windows OEM keys are based completely on the honor system.

It's also 100% against the license agreement for the software *because* they are OEM keys, making it legally software piracy.

Using Acronis to make an image and migrate it to another physical machine is also illegal. OEM and Retail Windows licenses have no imaging rights associated with them. The only time it is legally acceptable is if you're imaging to reinstall on the same PC (swapping an HDD boot drive for an SSD, replacing failed hardware, or upgrading hardware within the licensing limitations).

EULA violations aside, I was once told by a Windows Activation phone tech that all MS really cares about is that you're running your legitimately purchased copy of Windows on one and only one machine.

 

[Mushkins]

EULA violations aside, I was once told by a Windows Activation phone tech that all MS really cares about is that you're running your legitimately purchased copy of Windows on one and only one machine.

I've had MS support techs help me circumvent their own licensing foibles on a few situations too Perhaps they can help you achieve what you want here.

Keeping track of microsoft licensing terms is right up there with medical billing in how nonsensical it is.