Since I m totally out of date on this (and given that DAZ won't be 'supporting' 10), what's the next best option that doesn't involve BIOS manipulation?
@PeerDron HWID = Hardware IDentification. When Windows 10 is activated the Microsoft activation server generates a activation Identification code which it 'remembers' for that computer's hardware/OS Edition installed. When you reinstall that Edition of the OS again you do not need to enter any key during installation, providing no major changes done to the computer's components which would alter the HWID that is stored on the activation server therefor causing the OS to not activate because it no longer matched the original information.
Therefore, no reliable activation option (except from using legit key obviously!). Daz will surely be missed here, as it was the best option with previous Windows versions. 1 click activation, 1 restart...done. And most importanly, no modifications to sys files. Only drawback is that most AVs had it marked as 'malware'... And just about now, I bumped into this page. Is that the same Daz who wrote the original Loader? (FYI - I used a short link, as I m not sure if that complies with the forum rules - if not, apologies in advance!) If I remember correctly, HWID has been around a long time ago. Although I am not sure if it was used for activating the OS. Was always a bit wary of it. I mean what happens if you change a graphics card? Wouldn't that alter the HWID (therefore having to go through activation process again...?)
HWID is there from the beginning, i did all my systems when 10240 was pre-released to us insiders. And it all still works, you can still generate new free HWID's, And no, @Daz is an MDL admin, and all those sites are fake, if you would have posted the full URL, MDL forumsoftware would have made it unusable.
This won't change the HWID. Only in case the mainboard is replaced (counts as a new machine) or several other componets are changed at a time.
Disabling the onboard lan and using a lan pci(e) controller did it once for me, but when i enabled it again, all was activated again, and we always can link the HWID to a MSA
I was able to use win7 install iso / windows loader (daz) to activate win7 then upgrade to win10 to generate a valid hwid thus activating win10 pro x64. I made a small pre-built minimum footprint win7 (install.wim) vhd that served only the purposes of getting to desktop (maybe a few important mobo drivers) then upgrade to win10, delete vhd. done. did this on maybe 15-20'ish systems maybe a year or 2 ago (pretty much every old and new system I bought/built). havent tried in awhile so im not sure if the free win7 to win10 upgrade still an option from microsoft or not.
Since 10240 aka 1507 (july 2015) you can upgrade from an activated win 7 SP1 or 8.1 to 10 and get a free hwid.
free upgrade still works with COA stickers (Lenovo) - USB clean install, enter key - activated with a digital license. did a few this month on refurbished PC's with new SSD and graphic card but same motherboard.
MS wants everybody on 10, why stop it when many are still using 7 . Once the majority is using 10 / business than I can see them stopping it
Ok I gave up on installing Win 7 and decided to try 8.1 with KMSpico. Windowd 8.1 activated no problems. I then created the GenuineTicket.xml and copied it over to the GenuineTicket folder of the fresh install of Windows 10 Pro but it didn't activate. Rebooted multiple times did not help. Is this a proven method of activating or does this just work for some? Maybe I should upgrade from 8.1 to 10 instead of a fresh install. I must be doing something wrong.
With a KMSCLIENT OS, you need to do a real upgrade to Windows 10 1511 (10586). AFAIK, the GenuineTicket methot does not work for any KMSCLIENT. Neither does upgrading to a build later than 1511.