Ok, let me explain a bit 1st. I "upgraded" a laptop from Win10 to Win11 by formating C: and doing a fresh install. (incl. Secure Boot and TPM 2.0.) The Win10 Laptop got activated via a digital license back in the days and re-activated itself automatically as Win11 when going online for the 1st time, showing the standard Win11 key, instead of the original Win10 key. So far so good. Seems all fine. As it is 50+ Laptops I have here (all with an activated Win10) I planned to clone Laptop 1 and re-image all other laptops with this, to save some time/work. Google results defenitley say it is safe to do so and that the 1st activation will not mess with all the clones. Yet this "status" somehow travels to the clone as well... Each of the cloned laptops will automatically detect their original Win10 activation status as well then, after going online for the 1st time. Would that be correct ?
That (sh)(c)ould work, but just keep MAS at hand to be sure. Or use their MSDM keys (if present) to activate.
I could get all the official COA labels for sure, but as they never got glued to the laptops, it will be hard to tell which sticker belongs to which laptop...without reading the installed keys 1st. At least after 10-20 devices it might be more clear if my plan might get interrupted.
wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey Handed out OA3xOriginalProductKey without the actual key. According to google this means there is no key inside of the BIOS. The BIOS has such "PK-Key" sections if I remmber correctly, but the company has purchased COA labels back in the days together with these laptops.
I know I know, but all the (missing) drivers, needed tech software with online logins to be tested etc. etc. etc. ...I really wanted to have a device 100% complete, not having to mess with a OOBE Windows nightmare in the 1st place.
The original HwID activation will not persist anyway, for the clones, as it is hardware-dependent and the clones will have different hardware (as in serial numbers and MAC addresses) even if build-identical. Unfortunately, without MSDM keys in the firmware, you'll most probably end up with non-activated clones. The COA labels could be "Refurbished PC" or "System Builder" licenses and the keys would need to be entered manually on the clones. The good thing is, that such Refurb or SB licenses are not dependent on specific devices*, as long as you have enough of them. Just use them like Retail licenses (although they are OEM:COA or OEM:NSLP). *) Note that this is only true until they are used. Once applied to a machine, they are bound to that machine.
If they all already have established and working win 10 HWIDs, it should be possible that after the clone is put on them, the hwid kicks in, but maybe it needs some extra steps to get them back.
If they were all activated via HwID before, and the SKU is the same, then they should indeed pick up the previous activation. However, different drivers could make a recovery of the license (via MS account) necessary.
Seeing the generic key means it got a Store license. Individual product keys are now mainly used to kickstart activation and will be converted into a Store license, which uses the generic key as placeholder. There are only few exceptions to that rule.