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my windows 10 oem didn't come with a product key

aasim1111 said:
There was no envelope inside. Just the dvd. Do you think I might have the defective peice
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How much did you pay for it? The OEM keys are about $100 USD for Home and $140 USD for Pro. If you paid substantially less than that, you may have just bought the DVD and no key.
 
Yea we have the OEM ones at work they just come in a white envelope with the COE/DVD on the inside
 
OEM's don't need a key
 
Yes, I m installing windows for the first time on this pc
 
needs a key then
 
If you dont have a key return the disk and purchase one from newegg. Or amazon
 
I think he's talking about computers where the Windows key is built into the BIOS. They have no COA or anything because it's preregistered to the hardware.
 
FordGT90Concept said:
I think he's talking about computers where the Windows key is built into the BIOS. They have no COA or anything because it's preregistered to the hardware.
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indeed OEM's have embedded keys a OEM upgrade is for machines with OEM copies and DO NOT COME WITH A KEY! sadly many vendors confuse the two because pre-windows 10 'OEM" came with a key
a end user should always buy a Retail OR "System builder OEM" copy when it comes to windows 10 system builder is not `OEM` you can blame microsoft for the retarded terminology screw up

it sounds like the op bought a pirated copy with no key microsoft does not ship windows 10 on optical disks .... they use flash drives
 
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I bought it from ncix canada.
 
OneMoar said:
microsoft does not ship windows 10 on optical disks .... they use flash drives
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Dude, go to Newegg right now and read the questions and answers tab on Windows 10 OEM. The OEM copies that are listed there DO in fact, come on an optical disc. The flash drive ONLY comes on Retail copies.
 
Do you have the link to the specific item you bought?
 
I have an entire end cap of windows 10 OEM on DVD...
 
OneMoar said:
indeed OEM's have embedded keys a OEM upgrade is for machines with OEM copies and DO NOT COME WITH A KEY! sadly many vendors confuse the two because pre-windows 10 'OEM" came with a key
a end user should always buy a Retail OR "System builder OEM" copy when it comes to windows 10 system builder is not `OEM` you can blame microsoft for the retarded terminology screw up

it sounds like the op bought a pirated copy with no key microsoft does not ship windows 10 on optical disks .... they use flash drives
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LOL yes they do. Legit OEM copies DO come with a key - on a sticker that you affix to the case. OEM and SLP (System Locked Preactivation) are NOT the same thing. SLP is what large OEMs like Dell, HP, etc do, where every system came out of the factory activated with the same "Manufacturer's Master" key in XP, Vista, and 7. Reinstalling with the factory image preserves this activation. However if you dig that key out with Magical Jellybean and try to do a clean install with it, activation will fail. That's why every machine that came out of a factory ALSO had a COA with a unique key. That is what you need to use for a clean install. Starting with 8, large OEMs began embedding the unique key into the BIOS, which is why they no longer come with a unique key sticker. However, you can still buy legit OEM versions of every version (the ones that small shops would use for their custom machines) - including 10 - which come with the sticker with a unique key.

The only differences between OEM and Retail versions is that the OEM version locks to the first motherboard it is activated on, while Retail can be moved to a different one. OEM also come with no support.
 
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taz420nj said:
LOL yes they do. Legit OEM copies DO come with a key - on a sticker that you affix to the case. OEM and SLP (System Locked Preactivation) are NOT the same thing. SLP is what large OEMs like Dell, HP, etc do, where every system came out of the factory with the same key in Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Reinstalling with the factory image preserves this activation. However if you dig that key out with Magical Jellybean and try to do a clean install with it, activation will fail. That's why every machine that comes out of a factory ALSO has a COA with a unique key. That is what you need to use for a clean install. Starting with 8, large OEMs began embedding the unique key into the BIOS, which is why they no longer come with a unique key sticker. However, you can still buy legit OEM versions (the ones that small shops would use for their custom machines) which come with the sticker.

The only differences between OEM and Retail versions is that the OEM version locks to your motherboard, while Retail can be moved to a different one. OEM also come with no support.
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no longer the case you can use a windows 7 SLP key on whatever so long as you install it with smgr ... I just used a sony 7 Home key off a dead laptop to activate a gateway AIO we had at work all I had todo was run slmgr -ipk and then slmgr /ato microsoft laxed the key requirements awhile ago now it no longer matters so long as you haven't burned through all the activations for said key
as for the windows 10 on dvd personally I have only seen preloaded usb sticks for sale I wasn't aware that newegg started stocking dvds again
 
Your both right. major PC manufactures have embedded keys when you buy a whole system, bought OEMs for system builders have a sticker. At least that's what I have seen
 
windows 10 can also activate solely based on HWID no key required how do you think the microsoft store activation works it installs a generic key and activates based on hwid
 
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What you see allot of is people selling the disk that came with there system. So no license and it illegal to sell. Buyer beware
 
OneMoar said:
no longer the case you can use a windows 7 SLP key on whatever so long as you install it with smgr ... I just used a sony 7 Home key off a dead laptop to activate a gateway AIO we had at work all I had todo was run slmgr -ipk and then slmgr /ato microsoft laxed the key requirements awhile ago now it no longer matters so long as you haven't burned through all the activations for said key
as for the windows 10 on dvd personally I have only seen preloaded usb sticks for sale I wasn't aware that newegg started stocking dvds again
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No, you can NOT use a SLP key. The SLP key is different from the key that is printed on the sticker. The sticker key on a SLP computer is 'virgin' (not used) when it comes out of the factory.. It only locks to the machine when the end user puts it in during a clean install. So the one you used off a sticker was simply never used, and it has never made any difference what the brand indicated on the sticker is. The actual SLP key is assigned to each manufacturer and is only able to be activated in the factory. For example every computer that came out of a Dell factory with 7HP had the exact same key (the SLP key) preinstalled.

Jetster said:
Your both right. major PC manufactures have embedded keys when you buy a whole system, bought OEMs for system builders have a sticker. At least that's what I have seen
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Windows 7 and earlier machines from a major manufacturer ALL had stickers with virgin keys. As long as the end user only used the factory reinstallation media, that key on the sticker remained virgin, and could be used to activate another machine. Starting with 8, they embedded the unique key into the BIOS (instead of using a Manufacturer's Master key) and Windows would check for its presence and activate itself upon execution of OOBE.
 
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Jetster said:
What you see allot of is people selling the disk that came with there system. So no license and it illegal to sell. Buyer beware
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NCIX is a major retailer in Canada, like Newegg or Tiger. They are not selling pirate copies.
 
taz420nj said:
Windows 7 and earlier machines from a major manufacturer ALL had stickers with virgin keys.
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Who's talking about windows 7 and earlier?

taz420nj said:
NCIX is a major retailer in Canada, like Newegg or Tiger. They are not selling pirate copies.
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Yeah I get that. I was speaking just in general
 
I found the key. It was hidden in the pile of mess
 
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