On 07/01/2019 15:30, Andrei Borzenkov wrote:
Upgraded systems use so called "digital license" which is unique identification for your installation which is generated on update and stored on Microsoft sites associated with your Microsoft account. There is no product key involved. This "digital license" is then used for activation and tied to hardware hash as usual. This allows you to reinstall updated system *if* you have Microsoft account - on install digital license is fetched from your account and automatically activates installed Windows.
I defer to your superior knowledge. I do have a Microsoft account, inasmuch as I opened a Hotmail account when Microsoft acquired the site, just to have a look. I've never used it for anything important, but it still works some 23 or so years later. I mainly use it as my spam-trap email address for people/places/sites I never want to hear from again. As it's there, though, I also let Win8.x/10 use it, and OneDrive and other MS services. So I have probably never tried an install of a modern version of Windows that was _not_ linked to an MS account. -- Liam Proven - Technical Writer, SUSE Linux s.r.o. Corso II, Křižíkova 148/34, 186-00 Praha 8 - Karlín, Czechia Email: lproven@suse.com - Office telephone: +420 284 241 084 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org