WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.920 Reading the comments on our built videos, you would think that half of our audience works in Microsoft's licensing department. 00:00:05.920 --> 00:00:09.120 But what about Windows Linus? Are you stealing Windows? 00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:15.120 And okay, I get it. Multi-billion dollar corporations are precious and must be protected at all costs. 00:00:15.840 --> 00:00:21.760 But for the average user, throwing 10% of your PC budget at an operating system that then 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:27.440 turns around and spies on you and crams ads down your throat, it's kind of a tough pill to swallow. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:32.880 Especially with your throat full of ads. So, what are the alternatives here? 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:39.280 Well, as it turns out, there are at least a dozen different ways to buy, or not buy, 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:46.320 Windows, ranging from free to almost $200. And we tried all of them so you won't have to. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:53.840 We also tried to tell you about our sponsor. Before I get myself into any trouble here, I want to make it clear that as a business, 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:58.800 we absolutely pay for the software that helps us make money, including Windows. 00:00:58.800 --> 00:01:04.480 So, with that in mind, let's start with the most official of sources, Microsoft.com. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:08.960 Where, huh, I guess even they can't believe anyone wants to actually pay for Windows, 00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:17.280 so they bury the link way down here in, what? $140? That's gotta be the Canadian price, and no? 00:01:18.080 --> 00:01:24.080 How is it that the download license direct from Microsoft is the exact same price as the full 00:01:24.080 --> 00:01:30.160 retail version, one that has to absorb both the retail markup and the included USB stick? 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:36.560 And what is Windows 11 family? Oh, I see. It's French. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:41.200 Nous sommes une famille. Why did we buy French Windows? 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:48.400 It's all they had in stock. I see. Well, that's fine. We can just install it en français, and then add a language pack. 00:01:48.960 --> 00:01:53.120 By the way, here's a neat little trick. Microsoft likes to pretend that you can't 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:57.120 install without an internet connection, but if you hit Shift F10 once the installer gets 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:03.200 past the first reboot, you should get a command prompt where you can type in ubi backslash bypass 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:08.640 NRO with no spaces and hit Enter. The system will reboot again, and this time you can tell it you 00:02:08.640 --> 00:02:13.440 don't have any internets, and you can use a local account instead of being forced to sign into a 00:02:13.440 --> 00:02:17.840 Microsoft account. When you're doing something stupid, like installing Windows over and over 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:21.200 again from different sources for a YouTube video, that's going to save you a ton of time 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:25.680 that you would otherwise burn waiting for updates. Once we booted up Windows 11 family, 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:32.320 as expected, it activated without issue, bringing us to method number two, buying retail Windows from 00:02:32.320 --> 00:02:39.760 a retailer. In this case, Best Buy. It was still 140 US dollars, but at least we got free shipping, 00:02:39.760 --> 00:02:44.240 and they had it in English. It's worth a mention, by the way, that just like with Windows 10, 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:48.640 you don't actually have to punch in your product key to get through the installation process. 00:02:48.640 --> 00:02:53.520 That way, you can quickly set everything up, install all your drivers, and then only punch in 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:58.320 the product key once it's time to activate. As before, we had no issues authenticating with 00:02:58.320 --> 00:03:02.960 Microsoft servers, and the only difference is that this box made an extra stop at a store 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:09.040 before reaching our hands. Now, I couldn't help but noticing, guys. I haven't really saved any 00:03:09.040 --> 00:03:15.040 money yet. Ah, that's more like it. If you've spent any time building computers, you'll probably 00:03:15.040 --> 00:03:20.960 recognize this system builder or OEM envelope. These are meant to be sold to system builders 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:26.320 that are assembling new PCs for resale. The advantage is that the system builder saves a few 00:03:26.320 --> 00:03:32.160 bucks on the license, but it does come with some trade-offs. For starters, that integrator is now 00:03:32.160 --> 00:03:37.520 the one responsible for user support, so if you have one of these, you don't get to call Microsoft. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:43.120 But hey, I mean, at least it comes with this sick coaster. Microsoft really think people are 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:48.240 installing Windows from a DVD in current year. Oh, that must have taken a while. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.920 The other trade-off with this sort of license is that it is bound to the first computer it's 00:03:53.920 --> 00:03:59.440 installed on. The retail license, by contrast, can be moved to an entirely different machine 00:03:59.440 --> 00:04:05.040 if you need to. Now, a lot of shops will just sell these to anyone that asks, sometimes with a rule 00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:09.360 that you have to buy a piece of hardware with the license, but it tends to be pretty poorly 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:15.920 regulated, which is probably why the discount isn't that deep on it anymore. It cost us about $120 00:04:15.920 --> 00:04:21.040 on Amazon, which seems a lot higher than it used to be back when we got them from our distributors 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:27.200 at NCIX. On the subject of things being a better deal, I'm getting kind of tired of spending money 00:04:27.200 --> 00:04:33.840 here. You probably are too, so come on over here. Did you know that you can install and use Windows 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:39.520 11 indefinitely without spending a dime and you don't need a special hat to do it? 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:46.080 That's right. Anyone with a licensed copy of Windows 10 on their PC can upgrade to Windows 11 00:04:46.080 --> 00:04:50.960 for free, provided that you meet Microsoft's hardware requirements. And in most cases, 00:04:50.960 --> 00:04:55.360 you can even make it work if you don't. We're going to link to an article in the video description. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:01.360 Also, until recently, you could even activate a fresh install of Windows 11 using a Windows 7 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:07.760 or a Windows 8 key, and you can still do a fresh install using a Windows 10 key. The only caveat 00:05:07.760 --> 00:05:12.480 is that they have to be the same addition. Speaking of keys, why not keep yours on one of our 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:17.040 wristlet keychains from lttstore.com? We've got four different colors, and with a metal latch, 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:23.200 they last for a very long time. So convenient. But, Linus, you might say, I don't have a Windows 00:05:23.200 --> 00:05:28.320 10 system or a product key, and I already bought one of those cool keychains. Well, remember how 00:05:28.320 --> 00:05:33.520 we said you don't need a product key to install Windows these days? Well, that's kind of all 00:05:33.520 --> 00:05:39.360 there is to it. You can download everything you need to make a USB installer for Windows for free 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:44.080 directly from Microsoft. Then, when you're installing it, just click, I don't have a 00:05:44.080 --> 00:05:48.320 product key while you're installing. We did a whole video about this a while back, 00:05:48.320 --> 00:05:54.640 blowing several million minds in the process. And all these years later, Microsoft still 00:05:54.640 --> 00:05:58.960 hasn't closed the loophole, leading me to the conclusion that they are well aware of it, 00:05:58.960 --> 00:06:04.320 and have decided that the advantages of remaining the dominant PC software platform 00:06:04.320 --> 00:06:10.480 outweigh the cost of not collecting that sweet, sweet licensing money, at least from home users. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:16.080 Now, there are some trade-offs, of course. For starters, most of the personalization options 00:06:16.080 --> 00:06:20.720 are grayed out, so you'll have to use a clever workaround to change your desktop background, 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:24.880 and you can't use the settings app to modify colors, themes, the start menu, taskbar, 00:06:24.880 --> 00:06:29.520 lock screen, fonts, and so on. You can't even turn on dark mode, which is a bit of a bummer, 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:33.280 and you'll eventually get that activate Windows watermark in the corner that many 00:06:33.280 --> 00:06:38.400 of you are so quick to comment about. But big deal, you might say. I can put up with that to save 00:06:38.400 --> 00:06:44.720 some cash. Unfortunately, it has other downsides, the biggest one being that you may miss out on 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:50.000 some of the less critical Windows updates, and that little watermark that you are going to ignore 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.880 may actually cause problems with graphics performance, including interfering with G-Sync 00:06:54.880 --> 00:06:59.200 and variable refresh rate gaming. I sincerely doubt that's something that Microsoft has done 00:06:59.200 --> 00:07:02.480 intentionally, but there are plenty of reports of these issues out in the wild, 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:07.520 so they are something you want to look out for. Now, everything we've looked at so far 00:07:07.520 --> 00:07:14.560 sits in at worst a moral gray area. But that's about to change, so if your virgin ears can handle it, 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:21.280 best click away. Fetch me tricorn hat. If it's piracy-e-be after, the tool you're looking for 00:07:21.280 --> 00:07:28.560 be called Microsoft activation scripts. Sorry, let's drop the accent. I was shocked when I found 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:34.800 out how simple it is to pirate Windows 11. You just paste a one-liner into PowerShell, 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:39.840 insert standard disclaimer about never blindly trusting random commands you find on the internet, 00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:46.880 confirm a couple of options, and that's it. Activated Windows. It's not official, it's not 00:07:46.880 --> 00:07:51.680 Terms of Service compliant, and, depending on your jurisdiction, it could be outright illegal, 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:57.280 but there is no obvious difference as far as we can tell between the legit Windows that we 00:07:57.280 --> 00:08:02.400 activated and this one in terms of features or performance. And if you're worried about this 00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:07.760 script doing questionable things to your computer, you can review all the code for it yourself right 00:08:07.840 --> 00:08:14.640 on GitHub, which, you may recall, was acquired by Microsoft back in 2018, meaning that they could 00:08:14.640 --> 00:08:19.760 have removed this tool at any time, but not only have they not done that, there's even 00:08:19.760 --> 00:08:27.200 anecdotal evidence to suggest that Microsoft Support has used NAS to fix customer activation issues. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:34.560 Alright, I'm getting rid of the hat. I get it, I get it. You're upstanding citizens, 00:08:34.560 --> 00:08:39.120 you don't want to pirate anything, you just want to pay a little less for the privilege of 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:44.480 handing your personal information over to a giant corporation. Alright, how's 20 bucks sound? 00:08:45.040 --> 00:08:52.160 What about 10? One dollar? As it turns out, there are a ton of third-party websites selling 00:08:52.160 --> 00:08:57.840 Windows licenses at pretty much whatever price you are willing to pay. We tried three of them, 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:04.800 the Boing Boing Store, G2A.com, and AllKeyShop.com. Boing Boing Store seems to be selling licenses 00:09:04.800 --> 00:09:10.240 from a Microsoft partner in France, while G2A and AllKeyShop aggregate offers from multiple 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:16.960 sellers that have far less clear origins. We were able to activate all of these keys without any issues, 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:22.000 but that doesn't mean that we're going to endorse any of them. While the activation keys 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:27.920 themselves may be legit, the means of obtaining them often isn't, and by supporting these kinds 00:09:27.920 --> 00:09:33.600 of marketplaces, you may be supporting organized networks of credit card thieves and fraudsters. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:39.040 Frankly, I'd be a lot more comfortable if you just pirated Windows, and it kind of seems like 00:09:39.040 --> 00:09:44.000 Microsoft feels the same way, given that they have offered the download and don't bother registering 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:50.480 option for years now. By the way, while we're at it, I would strongly recommend against using 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:55.440 any Windows installer that you obtain anywhere other than Microsoft's website. There are some 00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:00.480 cool ISO hacks out there. In fact, we've featured them before that will do things like strip out 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:06.640 extra bloat, but it just feels like an unnecessary risk unless you 100% know what you're doing or 00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:12.400 you're just installing it to tool around with like we did. Coming back on topic, if none of the 00:10:12.400 --> 00:10:17.760 options we've given so far are right for you, Goldilocks, I can give you a couple of more. 00:10:17.760 --> 00:10:22.080 If you're a student or teacher, you can talk to your IT department. You may be able to get a license 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:27.520 for cheap or even free depending on your school's agreement with Microsoft, though that license might 00:10:27.520 --> 00:10:32.560 expire once you graduate. And if you're buying for an organization rather than for yourself, 00:10:32.560 --> 00:10:36.640 you may want to look into volume licensing and key management systems to make your life 00:10:36.640 --> 00:10:41.120 a little bit easier. Finally, if you're the kind of person who enjoys the bleeding edge, 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:45.280 you may want to check out the Windows Insider program. Some of the features they roll out are 00:10:45.280 --> 00:10:49.680 pretty cool, and some of them never even make their way into the mainline build. So it can be 00:10:49.680 --> 00:10:54.960 the only way to see Microsoft's vision for the future of Windows and keep your fingers on the 00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:02.320 pulse of the development process. The second final option, C Intro One Liner, I got to it, 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:07.680 is to not install Windows. Try out Linux. Don't worry about which distro you picked the first 00:11:07.680 --> 00:11:11.440 time. No matter which way you go, it's probably not going to be quite right and someone's going 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:14.480 to be waiting to tell you all the ways you're wrong and how your choice reflects on you as a person. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:20.960 But give it a shot. As for me, I'm waiting for Valve to release that new Steam OS before I dive 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:29.200 down that rabbit hole again, which should be any time now. Well, this is getting awkward. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.720 While we wait, why don't you check out our sponsor? If you guys liked this video, 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:37.440 why not check out our look back at Windows 8? Was it really as terrible as you remember? 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:43.680 Your best click away. Fetch me tricor. Dammit, I put it on backwards.