What is 'Edition ID' and why does it vary for different Retail Windows 8 Pro keys?

Discussion in 'Windows 8' started by secretromeo, Sep 15, 2013.

  1. secretromeo

    secretromeo MDL Addicted

    Mar 30, 2011
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    #1 secretromeo, Sep 15, 2013
    My Windows 8 Pro key obtained through DreamSpark Premium has an Edition ID as X18-15500.

    My friend's Windows 8 Pro key obtained through MSDN has an Edition ID as X18-15499.

    My cousin's Windows 8 Pro key purchased through the Microsoft Store has an Edition ID as X18-15501.

    I checked all the three different keys using The Ultimate PID Checker .

    These were common for all:

    Profile: NT 6.2
    Edition Type: Professional
    Description: Win 8 RTM Professional Retail
    Key Type: Retail
    EULA: Retail
    Crypto ID: 1781

    Now I want to know what is this Edition ID thing and why is it varying even though the SKU (Pro-Retail) is the same.
     
  2. deagles

    deagles MDL Developer

    Feb 22, 2013
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    #2 deagles, Sep 15, 2013
    There are two identifying id's encoded into a key: 1) GroupId, 2) KeyId

    In your case GroupId (1781 = 0x6f5) indicates that the key can be used with Windows 8 Pro (Retail).

    The KeyId is unique for each GroupId and is divided into ranges (Edition Id's).

    As you can see each source has it's own range, so ms knows where the key is from.