Hello. I was reading an softpedia article and it mentioned there are plenty of Windows 7 COA that are being sold cheaply. Can this be use on any desktop/laptop? My desktop is just something I assembled myself. From what I understand reading another guide, I need to run slmgr.vbs -ilc C:\OEM-HERE.xrm-ms But what can I do if the seller or myself don't know the OEM for the COA? Any help is appreciated. Thanks a lot
Depends on the type of key ... but I would not buy one tbh. They are mostly OEM keys so illegal to resell (tied to the hardware) If you going to use an illegal method, you may aswell look at other options. KMS, Daz Loader, BIOS mod+OEM:SLP (my favourite)
Still some confusion here. COA key has nothing to do with the OEM:SLP key/certs. They are a fallback way if motherboard got changed on a OEM machine and is not bound to any BIOS/UEFI tables. Afaik they need phone activation. No cert needed for the COA.
1. If I were to use a COA from eBay, do I still need to mod my BIOS so it has SLIC 2.1? 2. When do I need to use oem.xrm-ms? Thanks again
#1. As said, COA keys are it's own License Channel and do not depend on SLIC tables or certs. #2. In case SLIC table is present (by either BIOS mod or Emulation through Daz Loader). Then it needs the OEM:SLP key and a cert.
COA can be used on one machine and one machine only. If COA key has been used on a machine and activated it's forever tied to that machine. If it's been used and installed on another machine using same key, good luck explaining to M$ when it doesn't activate.
oem generic (not sticker under laptop) key say dell or hp or toshiba and so.. are same one used for activating with cert for thousands of pcs.. unlike sticker that is for the user 1 pc
I bought a Win 7 key from Ebay a couple of days ago. Bought from a 'reliable' seller with lots of feedback. These keys are touted as 'lifetime' in duration. Did some research, may be the case they'll last for 3 months before they expire or the COA police at M.S. disable it. Certainly these Win 7 keys are good enough for an immediate free upgrade to Win 10, which was my reason for buying it. They go for around $5 bucks, typical seller is listed as from Great Britain. Upgrading from Win 7 to Win 10 is still free, just get the 'download tool' from the ms site.
Keys don't expire ... They could get blocked which will prevent future use. Still would not touch one with a barge pole. Often they are 'stolen' MAK keys really...
They 'expire' when they are taken out of the MS database and your system goes from genuiine/actived to not activated.
That's blocked, not expired. Expired implies data limitation ... blocked can happen at any time (or not at all)
Indeed. Even XP still activates (with COA sticker key matching the edition or retail FPP/CCP), provided it hasn't been blocked. A lot of misinformation gets spread about keys. "Buying" a key is (no offense) dumb (and, yeah, probably MAK "leaked" and "blocked"). And, no, you don't need to "buy" a key for "downgrading" to Windows10 (more misinformation).
I bought COA's on Ebay before and have never had any problem with them. But that's just my experience.
I still have a couple of old machines I bought keys for back in 2012 and they're still activated today with no issues.