With VLK, there IS activation. The activation is offline, instant and without further ado but it takes place.Without product activation, it would be non-activated. What makes it so straight-forward is the fact that you have to enter a Corp key during installation which instantly sets the state to Licensed. It is virtually impossible to have a non-activated Corp install (maybe by removing the key). In a nutshell, there is activation, but you won't notice it.
You can deactivate by changing the registry value HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents\OOBETimer
And there is the undeniable logic - if it can be deactivated, it must have been activated before, right? Windows 2000 was even better - you never had to enter a key and activation didn't exist, then. Golden times.
You have to enter a key in all versions of Windows before XP. Though, you could easily bypass it by cancelling setup, booting into safe mode and setting the ProductID reg value to something (for Win 9x at least) Fun fact: In Windows 10, deleting the registry value HKLM\SYSYTEM\Setup\SetupType will immediately kill Windows after you reboot. You will get a bluescreen because of a "SYSTEM_LICENSE_VIOLATION". I find it funny that Microsoft puts so many useless killswitches to prevent system license violation, yet does not close the most basic activation loop holes to prevent system license violation.
Fun fact: In Windows 10, deleting the registry value HKLM\SYSYTEM\Setup\SetupType will immediately kill Windows after you reboot. You will get a bluescreen because of a "SYSTEM_LICENSE_VIOLATION". I find it funny that Microsoft puts so many useless killswitches to prevent system license violation, yet does not close the most basic activation loop holes to prevent system license violation.
Thanks for the reply. I have used SLIC in the past to activate Windows 7 (and IIRC 2008R2), with my VM .vmx file pointing to a BIOS and the appropriate keys. I read that I should be able to expose the BIOS in my host that had the Windows 10 Pro key embedded following the guides but that didn't work. I had used the free digital license method before to install Windows 10 Pro on a Fusion VM but thought I'd try the BIOS method first since both systems came with Windows 10 Pro. Since it's not going to work I'll go with the HWID method again.
Are you sure about that? For some reason I'm thinking that, although there was no activation needed, different media were issued for OEM and Retail versions, and you had to use a key that matched the media type. Maybe it's all about the PID in the setupp.ini file. I haven't touched windows 2000 in a very long time, and my memory is fuzzy...
At least for the media I have, Retail and OEM will ask for keys. VLK does not, and never has. Unfortunately, the media is not official (if memory serves me correctly, I slipstreamed SP4 years ago and recreated the ISO). However, I never integrated any key, as I didn't even have one. SETUPP.INI Code: [Pid] ExtraData=73706F757479657A6276AEDD719900 Pid=51873270 IIRC, taking FPP media and modifying the SETUPP.INI was enough. I can't find original VLK media anywhere in the net. Now, let's stop with the offtopic talk, right?
No idea where I originally got it from, was way before MDL, WoZR, Zukona and Keznews. I'm unable to find any VLK media now, only FPP and the OEMs.