Activated with a Digital License by which Key Number?

zipdrive · Jul 17, 2023

NUC 12 Enthusiast Kit. Clean Installation. Installed Windows10 Pro and then decided to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro. Used Windows 11 Pro for about a week and decided to roll back to Windows 10 (IMHO its much easier and user friendly to use) After the OS installation the Key I used to Activate Windows 10 shows as activated by a Digital License linked to my Microsoft account. Currently after roll back to Windows 10; System About shows it as Windows Pro ver10.0.19045.3208 and as ……87262-AAOEM. Ten days later i ran slmgr command; /dli which showed; windows operating system OEM_DM channel and last four digits of Key number i entered to activate which was accurate, and the license status as Licensed. Then i ran slmgr /xpr and it showed; machine is permanently activated and the last four digits of the Key Number I entered to activate, which was accurate. I did a Registry key search and it showed; BackupProductKeyDefault; with a different Key Number than i used to activate the system. I ran ShowKeyPlus and it shows; Windows 10 Pro (with the original Key number i used to activate the system and ………87262-AAOEM.Then i ran Magical Jelly Bean Key Finder and it shows; Windows10 Enterprise Edition ……87262-AAOEM. So the OS is saying the pc is activated by a digital license tied to my Microsoft Account and all is well. With two different Key numbers, one I originally entered and now a different one in the Registry, which Key number is being used to License my pc? Magical Jelly Bean Key Finder says its an Enterprise Edition and Show Key Plus says its an OEM edition, as does the OS, so which/what am i to accept as the right answer? With rolling back to Windows 10 from Windows 11 i am not sure how this effected the creation of the second key in the Registry and somehow got seen by one of the key finders as an Enterprise Edition. Hey barkeep, bring me another Root Beer.

iko22 · Jul 17, 2023

Don't know why the Key Finder is showing a different result. You could try Powershell:

Powershell:

Get-WmiObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem | select Caption

zipdrive · Jul 17, 2023

Thanks, I did and it had the same results as before. It would be interesting to know why that different key number is in the Registry was created. The OS was activated with the Key I entered. This was a clean install using a Microsoft Creation Tool for Windows 10 USB load. Then I received a message from Updates that Windows 11 was available and I did the upgrade to it. Regarding the Key Finders. I also used the same two I mentioned before, and the Magical Jelly Bean Key finder showed on another pc that had been activated since 2020, (this was a brand new mini pc kit) that is has an Enterprise edition on it. The Show Key Plus shows it as an OEM_DM installed. The slmgr prompt command says its an OEM_DM. Confusing, a bit.. to me.

iko22 · Jul 17, 2023

Apparently this is a known issue if you buy keys from the Microsoft Store. I am not sure if that applies in your case.

zipdrive · Jul 20, 2023

Was checking my records of eight to ten years ago and I’m not sure where I purchased the key for this pc. I have a receipt in a folder from a known M.Soft retailer back in the day that I purchased and activated a number different pcs. But can’t say for certain. However, what I can re say is that the number I entered to activate this pc activated it. Somewhere along the line after that change was made by?, the result of that change has maintained the activation status. Possible go along - git along? This particular pc key number scenario pales to another pc that in the course of highly possible cockpit errors and ? Was activated by a different Key number and subsequently a different Key was found that turns out to be a generic key, it remains activated with a generic Key that I did not enter to activate it.

cereberus · Jul 20, 2023

If it say "activated with a digital licence" in activation menu, you do not need a key to reactivate even from a clean install.

Keys (excluding volume licence keys) are not the licence as such since Windows 10 came out They are just an enabler to get granted a digital licence. Once pc has a digital licence, you never need a key again if you reinstall same edition.