So a number of you left comments on our recent video
introducing AMD's Threadripper 2 2990WX CPU
about the overlay on the bottom right corner of my screen
prompting me to activate Windows.
Now, some of you were amused and some of you were upset,
but you all had one thing in common.
You couldn't imagine why an organization
like Linus Media Group,
one with sponsors like Cablemod,
whose configurator now includes
a customizable RGB backplate option
that can enhance the look of your GPUs and SSDs,
it's compatible with RSync, RGB Fusion,
Mystic Light Sync, and Cablemod's own RGB kits,
and you can find out at the link below,
why an organization like Linus Media Group
with sponsors like that
would need to save a hundred bucks here and there
on a legit copy of Windows.
Well, why don't we talk about that?
So let's begin by grabbing a Windows license
out of the pile,
preferably one that isn't in use by Dennis.
So, by the way, I got these at NCIX,
so I clearly didn't just run out and buy them
for the purpose of making this video.
So this would be the official procedure
for installing Windows on a PC.
In this case, it's my personal test bench,
the one that I usually have in my office here.
Now, I'm basically going to be burning this license
for the purpose of creating this video,
which kind of sucks,
because it's actually a Windows 10 Pro license,
but it's important for me to demonstrate my point here
to show you guys actually activating Windows
and how that might work on a test bench.
And hey, there we go.
Activation Windows 10 Pro.
Windows is activated with a digital license.
Now, let's say that I was working on something
like a video card review.
So typically what we do in those cases
is we get our pile of graphics cards ready here,
and then after we've run our benchmarks on one card,
we shut down the system and swap out to a new one.
There's only one small problem with that.
Microsoft's activation servers create a unique identifier
for your PC based on the hardware that's installed in it.
So you can see we actually survived
one graphic card swap here,
but if too many things change,
let's say you keep swapping graphics cards,
you wanted to see
how the system runs with half as much memory.
You change out the CPU,
or worst of all,
you need to change out the motherboard,
either to try a different platform
or as a troubleshooting measure.
What can happen is that identifier can change,
and I don't fully understand exactly how it determines
when it changes,
but if it does, it can prompt Windows to deactivate.
So,
we had checked this before we started,
and it wasn't activated yet.
So that's pretty funny because on this one,
I had even gone as far as to swap out the boot drive
I was using,
but it still managed to grab something about the hardware ID
and managed to migrate the license.
But the point is that at some point,
you will get that prompt back.
Now, in the olden days,
and I guess this was probably about seven, eight years ago,
the solution to getting an activation prompt,
was to call up Microsoft's activation hotline,
try the automated reactivation process,
have that error out twice,
so this was like a 10 minute project,
then press a button to be put through to a representative,
explain that you had changed out some of your hardware
and you needed a reset on your license.
But this was time consuming,
and it wasn't even a sure thing.
I actually remember getting into a fairly heated argument
with a rep who was telling me that I had run
out of reactivations and for my use case,
which is swapping hardware out all the time
in order to test it,
I had to just buy a new license every time I got prompted
with that activate Windows watermark.
And I mean, she said there was nothing she could do,
and at some point I went,
I called up Steve Ballmer himself.
It was a pretty awkward conversation,
but my point is, even if she was right,
according to Microsoft's terms for the license,
I'm also right too.
I can't be expected to do that.
I can't be expected to run out
and buy a new license for Windows
every time there's some new hardware launch
and I've got to do something with my test bench.
Fortunately, around that time,
I got a subscription to TechNet,
a software subscription service that allowed you
to use pretty much any Microsoft software
in a non-commercial environment with unlimited activations.
Now that actually worked great for me,
even though technically my use was commercial
since it was a form of software,
it was a for-profit endeavor that I was doing this testing.
At least it was great until they shut down TechNet in 2013.
Now, the new legit way to transfer your license
is the activation troubleshooter.
So you can see what I've done now
is I just linked my digital license to a Microsoft account.
So I've never done this before,
but theoretically what happens here
is we should be able to even swap the drive
and go into that settings menu,
and migrate the license to another computer on our own,
which is pretty cool and a lot better than the old system.
So let's give that a shot, shall we?
So we're not gonna get to show you guys exactly how it works
because the Microsoft activation servers
work in mysterious ways,
but overall it sounds pretty painless.
There's supposed to be a prompt transferring your license,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, et cetera, something along.
Yep, they don't have any screenshots either.
What are those?
Anyway, eventually,
no matter how you're moving your license around,
their terms do state that you will run out of activations
at some point.
But with that said, through this method,
and then maybe some of those cheap $20 Windows keys
that you can get from gray market sources online,
there should be no justification then
for having that activate Windows watermark, right?
Like we should just,
we should just bite the bullet
and go through this process.
Except for one problem.
Those $20 keys that you buy online
are not intended for the North American
or the European market.
And they are therefore not actually legit.
So if having the watermark removed from your system
is where you draw the line
and that's what helps you sleep at night,
then that's great.
But the thing about software
is that the license terms are defined by the EULA.
The read this first stuff.
Not by whether a key activates or doesn't activate
with Microsoft's servers.
For example, the Windows 10 VM that I have set up
for remote access for one of our offsite workers
is technically against Microsoft's license terms.
Yeah, I actually found that out just yesterday
while I was prepping this video.
Regular Windows 10 is technically not allowed to be used,
exclusively for remote access.
The more you know, right?
In much the same way,
if you've got a buddy who's got a volume license agreement
or a site key,
that's not legit either.
It'll activate for you
and it'll get rid of the watermark,
but that is still software piracy.
So at the end of the day,
there are inexpensive and even free ways
for us to make sure that that watermark
never shows up in one of our videos again.
But they involve either gray market software
or violation of the license terms anyway.
So for a use case that's unsupported anyhow,
our whole thing where we're using test benches
to validate hardware,
the best solution that we've actually found
is just to leave the software unactivated forever.
So here's the regular installer.
And you might not have ever noticed this before,
but Microsoft actually has a built-in way
to run Windows for testing purposes.
So here's the regular installer. And you might not have ever noticed this before, but Microsoft actually has a built-in way to run Windows for testing purposes.
So check out this button here.
Depending on the version of Windows,
the amount of time that you're allowed differs.
But if all we do is click skip,
instead of entering a product key,
the Windows installation will proceed
exactly the way that it normally would.
We still get Windows updates.
Performance of our hardware isn't impacted whatsoever.
We don't have to waste time tooling around
with any activation nonsense.
And for my part,
honestly, I sleep just fine at night.
Knowing that my pile of Windows keys downstairs
more than covers the test benches that we have deployed.
So if you ever see our activation watermark
in one of our videos again,
you will understand why.
I'm just avoiding some paperwork.
It has nothing to do with saving a buck on Windows 10.
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So thanks for watching, guys.
If you disliked this video,
you can hit that button.
But if you liked it,
hit like, get subscribed,
or maybe consider checking out
where to buy the stuff we featured
at the link in the video description.
Sure, go buy Windows 10.
While you're down there,
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and our community forum.
You should definitely join that.