Win10 pro license activation dont working

[mronh]

@Sebastian-Roth Yes, its possible. It was the recommendation from the MS to place I work to.

Always thought that the “host prod key” was for it =/

well… guess I’ll go for some powershell then…

[Sebastian Roth]

@mronh said:

well… guess I’ll go for some powershell then…

Eduardo’s post here might help you with that: https://forums.fogproject.org/post/128225

[mronh]

@Sebastian-Roth interesting, doubt now: the fog client do this cscript /B /Nologo C:\Windows\System32\slmgr.vbs /ipk V8DTR-W46H2-…-…-… right?

Because its what I will need to do in the powershell, with the key that I saved in the fog server “Host key” input field…

Edit:
My understanding (correct my if I get it wrong) from the process is:

1: fog client checks if the win is activated
2: if not, client goes to database and get the key for that host (here I think happens the error, and dont get the key of DB)
3: client using slmgr.vbs (under the hood) inserts that key
4: restart (and win activate next boot)

[Sebastian Roth]

@mronh said in Win10 pro license activation dont working:

the fog client do this cscript

Well, pretty much. See here: https://github.com/FOGProject/fog-client/blob/master/Modules/HostnameChanger/Windows/WinActivation.cs#L90

[mronh]

@Sebastian-Roth if I understand that correctly, this script only try to use some key thats already was on the system (like “modern” BIOS who saves windows keys) right? Theres no use for the “Host Product Key” info in the database, for the client?

[Sebastian Roth]

@mronh Have you read the code? It is using the key from the database!

[mronh]

@Sebastian-Roth yeap… and from what Im seeing in the WinActivation.cs you suggested, theres no connection with any database… in the WindowsHostName.cs yes, it gets…

I sugest some improve to log file, if possible put in the “WinActivation Installing Product key” plus first or last digits of the key…

I will continue trouble shooting this…

[mronh]

well… anyway… like in the other post, the guy make some script to activate. I’ll make on that way to (cause I have a bunch of machines, will make a csv with the data em poweshell to parse and activate).

Thanks for the responses.

Cheers

[george1421]

@mronh While I can’t comment on using the built in activation code, I use the unattend.xml script to set the key within the first logon section of the unattend.xml script. https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/9373/sim-creating-the-unattend-xml-guide/3 In that post you will see my sanitized unattend.xml file. In that case of that script you will see a line in the first run section of cscript /B C:\windows\system32\_slmgr.vbs /ato That activates the key, but if you put another run command in before that one to set the key then activate it it will work. cscript /B C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

In my case I use a postinstall script to set the key dynamically on each deployment. The postinstall script uses a sed script to replace the static value VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T in the unattend.xml file with a key of my choosing (even the one stored in the FOG record for that host).

[mronh]

@george1421 Hi George, I’ll look into the postinstall script, how it works (how to get data from the fog record, cause I have all keys already inserted into the DB for each host).

Thanks in advance,

Cheers

[george1421]

@mronh https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/11126/using-fog-postinstall-scripts-for-windows-driver-injection-2017-ed Look at the fog.updateunattend section on how to update the unattend.xml script . The only missing bit is to get the variable name of the built in license key used inside fog.

The variable names can be found here: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7740/the-magical-mystical-fog-post-download-script/3

hostproductkey is probably the variable name you need.

[mronh]

tried here, very very curious things happens here, maybe its the point that makes it dont work from win 10 from script.

1-I made the scripts to get the key from FOG
2- to make sure its work I create a txt file with the key and host name in the user desktop after script slmgr -ipk KEY is used
3-the script generate an error “license not valid”
4-rerun the script now with a “echo” of what was executed (maybe key with ‘’-‘’ or mispelled characters…); everything fine with the script call, no typos…
4- using the same license tried in the script I go in the GUI of windows and put it to activate… it works “digital license active”

will investigate this further…

ps.: in that regard. my apologies to fog-client… who do the job right way, MS in other hand… messing with us…

[mronh]

Alright! Got the problem.

Here’s the thing:

when you use an OEM license to install win 10, it will activate as a “digital license” wich means “MS only checks if the original license is a valid one, but activate with the default license for digital installation” (VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T)… I checked that getting the license active after activates using the win7 key…

Well, checking the documentations of MS and talking with some people who works with licensing I get the point that the slmgr script (after win 8.1 at least) wont work with any key whos not a volume one…

possible solutions:

1- using the postinstall scritp, create a desktop file with the win7 OEM key and go pc by pc activating manually;
2- use the default key in the fog server, and the fog client will activate the windows (it was a suggestion from one of the the people who works with licensing)

I asked about the possible “law penalties” of the 2, they say there’s little to none cause there’s one OEM license for each PC imaged, and the activating processes will update the OEM with the default. (they only suggested to keep a good list with all that keys for future use, if necessary).

That’s said, this thread can be closed.

Thanks for the responses

George, good tutorial to use the data from fog, I will use it a little more in others aspects of my environment.

Cheers

[george1421]

@mronh Ok so now that you mentioned OEM. I have to warn you that Microsoft’s EULA does not allow you to take an OEM image, change it and then redistribute that image to one or more computers. The OEM license only allows you to install the OEM operating system via the original OEM media. Using fog in this manner is not in the spirit of the OEM EULA.

As a suggestion to solve a number of your issues, get a volume license media and activation code. Microsoft does allow you to purchase 1 volume license key for all of your OEM systems to allow traditional imaging deployment as long as you are deploying the same version of the OS as was originally installed on the computer. For example if you have 100 Windows 10 Pro OEM computers, you can purchase 1 Windows 10 Pro volume license key and legally deploy that volume license media to all 100 Windows 10 Pro OEM computers. You may NOT purchase 1 windows 10 Pro volume license key and upgrade all of your Windows 7 pro OEM computers to Windows 10 (that is a version upgrade). In this case you will need 1 volume license key per windows 7 computer you want to upgrade.

Please make sure you stay in compliance with the MS EULA. Consult a MS Licensing professional and not rely on my words alone since I don’t work for or speak for Microsoft.

[mronh]

good call, I will talk better with the MS people.

Cheers!

Good holidays!