Damn. Well thanks for testing that. Very kind of you EFA11. Does anyone know if it shows your key on the bottom of your system still like with a little microsoft sticker?
yes it needs online activation. Just as the Core install does pulling the key from the system. On first boot from a new Win8 system, it needs a connection to activate.
The OA3.0 activation info I had got far before OA3.0 ever had been officially released to the public. Some things even hadn't been clear to M$ / OEMs themselves (for instance what they do to re-activate if the mobo should have been replaced). The CBR along with the serial must be verified ONLINE. The question is if there are OA3.0 machines sold at which this verification process is done already (computer shop or OEM)....if yes then it seems to be activated 'offline'. Concerning BIOS / (U)EFI. EFI is the successor of the BIOS. The EFI contains basic input output functions, but not 'the' BIOS. EFI is actually a 'pre' OS written in 64 bit whilst the BIOS is written in assembly 16 bit. Actually only 64 bit OSes can have use of UEFI. To make it work anyway there is the Compatibility Support Module (CSM). BIOS uses MBR boot whilst EFI uses GPT boot (mostly). 'Legacy' boot means to boot the master boot record. Also there is no 'EFI boot'. So correctly there is MBR boot and GPT (GUID partition table) boot. The former is used at BIOS the latter at EFI per default (mostly). The standard of a GPT is exactly defined at the UEFI specifications whilst MBR boot has no exact specification.
If you have read the OEM key from MSDM table before the motherboard were replaced (or got damage), then you can use this key on an other motherboard or total different machine (even other brand). Online activation doesn't work - but phone activation works. Was tested by a German computer magazine and I also tested this. Remark: In German law it's not allowed to bind a licence to hardware. Microsoft has also tried this with "Office 2013": Once activated on one PC - licence never transferable to an other PC. Microsoft has also withdrawn this restriction.
Can you point me to the German article, please? So you say it'll activate by phone even though 'the other machine' hasn't the key at the MSDM table? What happens to the original license? Lets say I try to activate a second machine by phone...saying the original mobo has been damaged...and what would happen if I write the same MSDM table into another BIOS? Actually the original license should become void...so one could steal a license....all I need is rw-everything and a few seconds... "Remark: In German law it's not allowed to bind a licence to hardware." But to hardware configurations, it is made. System builder licenses ask for reactivation if too many HW components are changed. So OA1.0 and 2.x become deactivated if I change the mobo (BIOS without license), hence there is an additional COA sticker......BUT NOT at OA3. How behaves OA3.0? Can I activate the same serial on another machine, sure? This would mean another, second HW hash will be created and assigned to the same serial as well, or the original becomes 'unlicensed' and the second becomes original...
I don't believe phone activation uses hw info like the online activation does. I've used a prowmc key that was bound to a completely different system by using phone method.
Well I am talking of OA3.0, OEM_DM licenses. Strictly seen it has to, otherwise the licensing model would have changed...actually to something COA like....
Thanks a lot for the info, I'll read the Heise article later.... I know that to use the serial twice is illegal. I ask from a technical aspect. But "the original becomes unlicensed" doesn't mean "the original becomes de-activated" If one would share the serial from the MSDM table with a friend and the friend activates it by phone (illegally). What happens to the original PC? There is no WGA check yet..... M$ activates the serial a second time, they know that and they do it since they 'assume' the first PC is 'damaged', but they don't know which license is in fact illegal. Anyway they know that both PCs still exist if they'd validate... -The original mobo could have been really damaged and a new mobo activated--->means the second license it really legal since the first mobo doesn't work anymore. -The OEM_DM serial has been stolen and activated a second time by phone.-->Means the second license is illegal. Conclusion: One could share a key with a 'friend' and M$ cannot deactivate either license.
Here we have an inconsistency.... Heise wrote: "In our tests the transfer worked by both a notebook from Lenovo G780 and an HP Spectre One. Also the activation went smoothly, usually even online. Only when the Key during our various tests recently activated before, the next time you activate the telephone activation was required." 'Usually even online' in correlation to 'the transfer' how can this work? Heise states that the license can be transfered AND activated online if it hasn't been done before. This would mean HW hash is created and assigned at the first activation and NOT as assumed created and transmitted by the OEM at manufacturing process already....this would mean there is no reference to the machine until the user activates it... It also means the HW-ID of the HDD doesn't matter which matches my info, though. I am asking because I want to evaluate 'my' info which I have got and posted here months ago. Any experiences?
Nothing happens to the original PC. Correct. Correct. Microsoft can't check from the distance which license is in fact legal. And so they don't de-activate any of them. Because when they de-activate the installation of the rightful user they can become in big trouble - when the rightful user whom the key was stolen is a big boss of a company and make a PowerPoint presentation on a beamer in front of business partners and then appears "not activated …" The rightful user can always been identified by his purchase contract - but not from the distance.
I will check this when I get the next time a new, not used OEM notebook. Start new OEM notebook without internet connection Read the OEM key Using the OEM key in a virtual machine for activating Deleting virtual machine Using the OEM key on the new OEM notebook for activating
It could be that 'only' two conditions have to match in order to clone a license. The serial from a MSDM table or the MSDM table itself at ACPI namespace (could be placed into vm as ACPITable) and the hardware ID found at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography MachineGuid. Start new OEM notebook without internet connection Read the OEM key and read the MachineGuid from registry found at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography Changing the UUID at .vbox when nothing of the vm is running at <Machine uuid="{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}" THEN installing W8 OEM on the vm. Using the OEM key in virtual machine for activating, checking the registry value if obtained from the vm settings, then activate online. Deleting virtual machine Using the OEM key on the new OEM notebook for activating With some luck it should circumvent phone activation completely. Reminder: This is for proof of concept only.
Windows 8 already has WAT built into it, as you can see by opening event viewer (eventvwr.exe). If both systems are connected online and both are reporting that they're using the same key then MS can deactivate one or all of the systems. They would start to do that if the OEM keys are abused and they can prove that your key has been shared (different countries, hardware info etc). A virtual machine can be activated via OEM DM with a spoofed UUID, but if leaked online MS would ban the key either by downloading it themselves or by looking at the different countries reporting the same activation info. It's a dead giveaway, which is why a loader hasn't been released for Windows 8.