How to confirm OEM/COA licence for donated Hardware?

[fiza]

We are being offered some laptops/desktops by a company as they are replacing theirs. They say they came with OEM licences but the hardware has no stickers to confirm. How would we confirm that they do have licences? We would then use our own Volume Licence to install our own image. Edited March 27, 2018 by fiza

[DJ-1701]

Branded computers usually have some telltale sign in the BIOS to allow the machine to auto activate if the correct version of Windows is installed. It might be visible when entering the BIOS. Though yes, usually there is a sticker on them, even if it's a cut down Windows 8 sticker with no license key.

[fiza]

These are Dell machines. We haven't actually taken delivery yet. This is all via email at the moment

[Arthur]

Run the following PowerShell command within Windows. If it's licensed it will return the product key from the BIOS that @DJ-1701 mentioned (or auto activate when connected to the Internet).

 

(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey

 

If they are Dell PCs that came with Windows 8.x/10 from the factory then they should definitely be licensed. Another way to do it would be to lookup the system configuration on the Dell website and it will tell you.

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by Arthur

[DJ-1701]

These are Dell machines. We haven't actually taken delivery yet. This is all via email at the moment

 

I don't suppose you have one of the Dell service tags? It might be able to tell you online what it was purchased with.

[fiza]

I don't suppose you have one of the Dell service tags? It might be able to tell you online what it was purchased with.

I have asked for 1 service tag. Waiting for a response.

[fiza]

Run the following PowerShell command within Windows. If it's licensed it will return the product key from the BIOS that @DJ-1701 mentioned (or auto activate when connected to the Internet).

 

(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey

 

If they are Dell PCs that came with Windows 8.x/10 from the factory then they should definitely be licensed. Another way to do it would be to lookup the system configuration on the Dell website and it will tell you.

 

I just ran that query on my own Stone machine and nothing happened. We definitely bought our Stone machines with licences.

[sted]

I just ran that query on my own Stone machine and nothing happened. We definitely bought our Stone machines with licences.

 

stone arnt exactly dell/hp though they just build from off the shelf parts iirc whereas a dell will have a slic code imprinted on the bios. it also makes a difference what version it is older xp/7 machines can iirc just have the same code on every dell whereas newer ones have (or are supposed to)individual codes

 

that said this random old hp im on diddnt return a result with that or the program ive occasionally used when restoring laptops to factory to find out what version of windows it is

[Norphy]

Stone PCs have SLIC codes built into them, I’ve been activating them via KMS for years. The occasional one gets missed and those ones need activating with a MAC key.

[Arthur]

I just ran that query on my own Stone machine and nothing happened. We definitely bought our Stone machines with licences.

Works fine on a Dell PC in my office. Perhaps Stone don't add the product key to their BIOSs (in the MSDM ACPI table)?

 

 

You could also try Windows OEM Product Key Tool.

 

 

This should return the same key as the PowerShell command.

Edited March 27, 2018 by Arthur

[fiza]

These will be Windows 10 machines as they are only 3 years old.

[fiza]

I have managed to get a service tag and on checking the Dell website I see ;

 

[TABLE=class: table table-striped Troubleshooting-table-Footer, width: 847]

[TR=bgcolor: #EEEEEE]

[TD]Part Number

Quantity

Description[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2VRYX

1

LABEL, GML INC, MICROSOFT, OPERATING SYSTEM, WINDOWS, PROFESSIONAL[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

 

[TABLE=class: table table-striped, width: 847]

[TR=bgcolor: #EEEEEE]

[TD=class: firstCell]Computer Model[/TD]

[TD]Latitude E7450[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: firstCell]BIOS Vendor[/TD]

[TD]Dell Inc.[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR=bgcolor: #EEEEEE]

[TD=class: firstCell]BIOS Version[/TD]

[TD]A04[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: firstCell]BIOS Date[/TD]

[TD]13/05/2015[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR=bgcolor: #EEEEEE]

[TD=class: firstCell]OS Version[/TD]

[TD]Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Does that mean it has a licence?

Edited March 27, 2018 by fiza

[Norphy]

It was bought with a license.

 

Is this company selling you the laptops or donating them? Microsoft have a history of being funny about reselling OEM licenses, even if you’re selling them with the machine they were originally attached to.

[Arthur]

LABEL, GML INC, MICROSOFT, OPERATING SYSTEM, WINDOWS, PROFESSIONAL

It was bought with a license.

@fiza wouldn't be able to use the Windows 10 Enterprise license, but the Pro license it came with would be fine, wouldn't it?

 

The Dell laptops probably have product keys for Windows 8.1 or 10 in the BIOS. @fiza can then upgrade to Windows 10 Education if the school has a suitable volume licensing agreement?

[fiza]

It was bought with a license.

 

Is this company selling you the laptops or donating them? Microsoft have a history of being funny about reselling OEM licenses, even if you’re selling them with the machine they were originally attached to.

Donation

[fiza]

@fiza wouldn't be able to use the Windows 10 Enterprise license, but the Pro license it came with would be fine, wouldn't it?

 

The Dell laptops probably have product keys for Windows 8.1 or 10 in the BIOS. @fiza can then upgrade to Windows 10 Education if the school has a suitable volume licensing agreement?

That's exactly what we want to do, use our volume licence agreement to chuck our own build on them but we are still on windows 7 at the moment.

Edited March 27, 2018 by fiza

[3s-gtech]

Credit to the company for donating, that's far better hardware than many of us have. The OEM license should be valid, in the same way as it was with the old stickers. MS can be funny about it, but their own licensing for Enterprise eligibility only requires an OEM licence to be present. It would be perfectly reasonable to use this right, and I can be extremely confident you won't be in the wrong (or pulled up on it).