Windows To Go deactivates applications?


2Savage

New member
Local time
12:05 PM
Posts
29
OS
Windows 11
Hello, I want to use Windows To Go technology, but there is a problem. After I create WinToGo, it boots well, but then most of the applications that require an activated license say they are now deactivated, and I need that to not happen.
PC 1 - Win10 Pro source disk
Stick 1 - Aomei Partition Assistant > WinToGo feature > LegacyBIOS MBR VHDX type
Stick 2 - Hasleo WinToUSB > WinToGo feature > UEFI GPT VHDX type
Source PC Win10 is activated, fully updated, no viruses.
If I boot both either stick on the source PC, then all the applications remain activated. If I boot either stick from any other PC, most applications are deactivated. Windows has no system errors, other than being deactivated.
Before creation of WinToGo stick, I recorded host Disk Signature, and when I am not on PC 1, I changed the host stick Disk Signature to the source disk, but that did not help. I also did that to the guest VHDX virtual image, but it had no effect.
I can use WinToGo on source PC, and the applications are activated, then I turn PC off, use stick on other PC, and applications are not activated, power PC off, then go back to source PC, and they are activated again, which is very strange.
What detail about the PC is causing the applications to deactivate? I do not believe it is the Disk Signature, it must be something else. If I could fix this issue, it would really help a lot. Thanks everyone.
 
Windows Build/Version
Win10

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
f I boot both either stick on the source PC, then all the applications remain activated. If I boot either stick from any other PC, most applications are deactivated. Windows has no system errors, other than being deactivated.
Windows activation depends on the PC's unique hardware ID matching a digital licence stored on the Microsoft activation servers. When Windows finds itself booting on new hardware it sends the hardware ID of the PC to the activation servers, if this PC's hardware ID has an existing digital licence for the edition being run (Home or Pro) then it will activate.

The hard drive plays no part in the hardware ID, the motherboard does though.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
Windows activation depends on the PC's unique hardware ID matching a digital licence stored on the Microsoft activation servers. When Windows finds itself booting on new hardware it sends the hardware ID of the PC to the activation servers, if this PC's hardware ID has an existing digital licence for the edition being run (Home or Pro) then it will activate.

The hard drive plays no part in the hardware ID, the motherboard does though.
Thank you, that sounds likely. To test this, I have now also cloned the normal Windows installation from source PC1 to PC2 SSD, and the result was the same, again several the applications are deactivated.
Hmm, if it is a motherboard stat, I wonder which one. Product #, System Board ID, Serial Number, UUID, System Board CT Number, other.
All these PCs are offline, so they do not talk to a server.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
it is what they call the machine code - a random ID based on the PCs Hardware... If they where to go online and the Machine already had a Digital License - then the Windows OS would ReActivate...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows
it is what they call the machine code - a random ID based on the PCs Hardware... If they where to go online and the Machine already had a Digital License - then the Windows OS would ReActivate...
Thank you KYHI, I had seen the phrase Machine Code a few times, but did not know that is what it meant.
I am less concerned with Windows Activation, than with application activation.
My goal is to build a stick with 1 windows installation with all my paid utilities, and use it on many PCs. I have bought the Pro versions of these applications, but the Portable versions are very expensive. What is the best way to do this with the versions I have already paid for?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
If those commercial apps link their licence to a single computer ID by performing specific hardware checks, then you won't be able to avoid them detecting that the computer you are running WTG on changes. They may even block your licences entirely if they detect that their terms and conditions have been breached.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    macOS (plus VMs: Windows XP, 7, 10 Home/Pro, 11 Home/Pro, Linux Distros)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    a) Apple MacBook Pro (Intel) - 2019 b) Apple MacBook Pro M1 MAX - 2021
    CPU
    a) Intel i9 b) M1 MAX (ARM)
    Memory
    a) 16GB b) 32GB
    Hard Drives
    a) 1TB SSD + 256GB SD Card b) 1TB SSD (+ 1TB SD Card)
    Browser
    a) Safari/Vivaldi/DuckDuckGo b) Safari/DuckDuckGo
    Antivirus
    -
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro (plus VirtualBox VMs: Windows 11 Pro & Linux Distros)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    a) Microsoft Surface Book 2, b) HP Spectre X360
    CPU
    a) i7, b) i7
    Memory
    a) 16GB, b) 16GB
    Hard Drives
    a) 1TB SSD, b) 1TB SSD
    Browser
    a) MS Edge, b) MS Edge
    Antivirus
    a) Defender, b) Defender
Hmm, if it is a motherboard stat, I wonder which one. Product #, System Board ID, Serial Number, UUID, System Board CT Number, other.

Windows 10 and 11 have the same digital license and use the same hardware ID.

For Windows 10 computers, Microsoft has 15 different HWID values, from HWID 0 to HWID 14 (source):

– HardwareID-0: Manufacturer + Family + Product Name + SKU Number + BIOS Vendor + BIOS Version + BIOS Major Release + BIOS Minor Release
– HardwareID-1: Manufacturer + Family + Product Name + BIOS Vendor + BIOS Version + BIOS Major Release + BIOS Minor Release
– HardwareID-2: Manufacturer + Product Name + BIOS Vendor + BIOS Version + BIOS Major Release + BIOS Minor Release
– HardwareID-3: Manufacturer + Family + Product Name + SKU Number + Baseboard Manufacturer + Baseboard Product
– HardwareID-4: Manufacturer + Family + Product Name + SKU Number
– HardwareID-5: Manufacturer + Family + Product Name
– HardwareID-6: Manufacturer + SKU Number + Baseboard Manufacturer + Baseboard Product
– HardwareID-7: Manufacturer + SKU Number
– HardwareID-8: Manufacturer + Product Name + Baseboard Manufacturer + Baseboard Product
– HardwareID-9: Manufacturer + Product Name
– HardwareID-10: Manufacturer + Family + Baseboard Manufacturer + Baseboard Product
– HardwareID-11: Manufacturer + Family
– HardwareID-12: Manufacturer + Enclosure Type
– HardwareID-13: Manufacturer + Baseboard Manufacturer + Baseboard Product
– HardwareID-14: Manufacturer

The Windows 10 Digital License is based on HWID 3. As long as the Windows edition, motherboard and CPU remain the same, once the computer has been activated, all future clean installs on that computer also will activate automatically. Note that all HWIDs exclude storage media entirely....
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
Thank you both for that information. So, what is the best free solution going forward?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
Thank you both for that information. So, what is the best free solution going forward?
The best free solution for what?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
The best free solution for what?
"My goal is to build a stick with 1 windows installation with all my paid utilities, and use it on many PCs. I have bought the Pro versions of these applications, but the Portable versions are very expensive. What is the best way to do this with the versions I have already paid for?"
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
Other practical options include:
1. Leave paid apps on your primary PC; and RDP remotely to do any work.

2. Make a floating VM image which you carry around, and run on other PC's. The licenses are tied to the VM machine's ID, so you can't alter the "machine hardware" after the licenses have been enabled. You're sacrificing performance for portability.

That's how some businesses solve this problem, transferring licenses to a VM instance instead of a physical PC.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
Thank you KYHI, I had seen the phrase Machine Code a few times, but did not know that is what it meant.
I am less concerned with Windows Activation, than with application activation.
My goal is to build a stick with 1 windows installation with all my paid utilities, and use it on many PCs. I have bought the Pro versions of these applications, but the Portable versions are very expensive. What is the best way to do this with the versions I have already paid for?
Machine Code does not really mean that.

When you write a computer program in say Python, C, Basic, Fortran etc, you use a computer language to do the coding. Before computer languages came about in the early 60s or thereabouts, people used to write code in a more primitive language called Assembler Programming.

If you have ever programmed an HP Calculator, that is a bit like Assembler - enter number, store it in register 1, enter another number and store in a second register 2, then add register 1 and register 2.

Assembler language was very difficult and higher level programs like Fortran converted your code into Assembler code in effect.

However Assembler is still an intermediate step. It has to be converted into the lowest level of coding called "Machine Code".

Computers basically only only use 1's and 0's, and depending on how the 1's and 0's were coded, the computer did various actions. This is the lowest level of coding, and virtually nobody these days could do this.

When microprocessors first came out in early 70's, I used to program a 6502 in Assembler and one slight error, and everything crashed! We could spend weeks just writing a program to do the 12x Table LOL.

 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
"My goal is to build a stick with 1 windows installation with all my paid utilities, and use it on many PCs. I have bought the Pro versions of these applications, but the Portable versions are very expensive. What is the best way to do this with the versions I have already paid for?"
In other words you don't want to pay for the licenses for the portable apps that can do what you want. You want to workaround their license requirements likely violating their license agreements that you agree to when you first install the application?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
In other words you don't want to pay for the licenses for the portable apps that can do what you want. You want to workaround their license requirements likely violating their license agreements that you agree to when you first install the application?
Exactly. We also do not know what the "applications" are.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
Some software uses a machine specific code.

for example if you check your paragon software portal it shows you the code

where it says GUID i have blanked it from the picture

paragon-portal1.jpg

paragon-portal2.jpg

need to click Release to use on a different machine.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    2x8gb 3200mhz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    benq gw2480
    PSU
    bequiet pure power 11 400CM
    Cooling
    cryorig m9i
  • Operating System
    win7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    pentium g5400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    1x8gb 2400
    PSU
    xfx pro 450

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