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  • Windows licence removal

    From Abandoned Trolley@21:1/5 to All on Sun Apr 13 10:30:33 2025
    I have a few legit licences for Windows 11 Pro which are all registered
    on my MS account

    On the (disturbingly frequent) occasions when I want to rebuild a PC
    from scratch I log in to my account and "Remove Device" and,

    so far ..... I have been able to reinstall Win 11 and use the same
    multi user licence key

    Is this how it's supposed to be done, or is it going to stop working at
    some point ?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to Abandoned Trolley on Sun Apr 13 10:52:13 2025
    Abandoned Trolley wrote:

    I have a few legit licences for Windows 11 Pro which are all registered
    on my MS account

    On the (disturbingly frequent) occasions when I want to rebuild a PC
    from scratch I log in to my account and "Remove Device" and,

    so far .....  I have been able to reinstall Win 11 and use the same
    multi user licence key

    Is this how it's supposed to be done, or is it going to stop working at
    some point ?
    Retail versions you can move between machines, OEM versions you're not
    entitled to do that, but they might let you "get away with it" ...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jaimie Vandenbergh@21:1/5 to that.bloke@microsoft.com on Sun Apr 13 16:39:35 2025
    On 13 Apr 2025 at 10:30:33 BST, "Abandoned Trolley"
    <that.bloke@microsoft.com> wrote:




    I have a few legit licences for Windows 11 Pro which are all registered
    on my MS account

    On the (disturbingly frequent) occasions when I want to rebuild a PC
    from scratch I log in to my account and "Remove Device" and,

    so far ..... I have been able to reinstall Win 11 and use the same
    multi user licence key

    Is this how it's supposed to be done, or is it going to stop working at
    some point ?

    MS store a fingerprint of a licensed machine's hardware; if you mean
    "rebuild Windows from scratch" then it'll just work because the
    fingerprint is the same. No need to bother with the Remove Device part
    unless you're significantly changing the hardware before reinstalling.

    Cheers - Jaimie

    --
    I hope I live long enough
    to vindicate my pessimism
    -- http://www.boasas.com/?c=1108

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Abandoned Trolley@21:1/5 to All on Sun Apr 13 18:17:56 2025

    MS store a fingerprint of a licensed machine's hardware; if you mean
    "rebuild Windows from scratch" then it'll just work because the
    fingerprint is the same. No need to bother with the Remove Device part
    unless you're significantly changing the hardware before reinstalling.

    Cheers - Jaimie



    Thats sounds fairly sensible.

    I am assuming that the machine name can be changed without affecting the fingerprint ?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jaimie Vandenbergh@21:1/5 to that.bloke@microsoft.com on Sun Apr 13 21:21:57 2025
    On 13 Apr 2025 at 18:17:56 BST, "Abandoned Trolley"
    <that.bloke@microsoft.com> wrote:



    MS store a fingerprint of a licensed machine's hardware; if you mean
    "rebuild Windows from scratch" then it'll just work because the
    fingerprint is the same. No need to bother with the Remove Device part
    unless you're significantly changing the hardware before reinstalling.

    Cheers - Jaimie



    Thats sounds fairly sensible.

    I am assuming that the machine name can be changed without affecting the fingerprint ?

    Yes - it's purely a hardware fingerprint - some combo of CPU, mobo
    features, network card, ram count, GPU. It's quite relaxed, you can
    add/remove HDDs willy-nilly, or change GPU or ram (but maybe not both at
    the same time) without invalidating the fingerprint. If you do, you just
    need to provide the Windows serial again so it's very little bother.

    Cheers - Jaimie
    --
    It's OK. I'm an atheist catholic.
    So you just feel guilty for /no readily apparent reason/.
    - deKay and Gareth Halfacree, ugvm

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Woozy Song@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Sat Apr 19 15:07:21 2025
    Andy Burns wrote:
    Abandoned Trolley wrote:

    I have a few legit licences for Windows 11 Pro which are all
    registered on my MS account

    On the (disturbingly frequent) occasions when I want to rebuild a PC
    from scratch I log in to my account and "Remove Device" and,

    so far .....  I have been able to reinstall Win 11 and use the same
    multi user licence key

    Is this how it's supposed to be done, or is it going to stop working
    at some point ?
    Retail versions you can move between machines, OEM versions you're not entitled to do that, but they might let you "get away with it" ...


    I recall many moons ago, you could "recycle" a license after 120 days.
    Dunno if it still works for Win11.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)