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Comment by shaunpud | Hacker News Reader

I thought the Windows license was burned into the BIOS, so a reinstall would pick it up automatically?

It’s not burned into the BIOS, instead Microsoft maintains a database mapping licenses to hardware identifiers. But transferable licenses still exist, and enterprise volume licenses are yet a different beast, so it all depends on what Windows license the PC was originally sold with, if any.

>It’s not burned into the BIOS, instead Microsoft maintains a database mapping licenses to hardware identifiers.

Wrong. IT IS 100% stored in the UEFI firmware, specifically ACPI tables, MSDM field. Only if that exists, it is then verified on-line for activation to make sure the license is genuine and matches the device ID you're referring to for witch the license was sold(typically for OEM) or if it's portable.[1]

On linux you should be retrieve the license via something like:

  sudo strings /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM

  sudo acpidump | grep MSDM

[1] https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-find-windows-10-oem-prod...

I worked selling refurb computers and this wasn't the case from Windows 95 - XP. The rise of TPMs and EFI is after that time so it's possible some newer system provides a way of tying licenses to computers, but it's not BIOS.

Well, it's been 2 decades so things do have changed.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/activate-windows...

https://superuser.com/questions/1575650/how-does-a-windows-d...

https://superuser.com/questions/1108151/windows-license-stor...

Windows XP has been launched 23 years ago. Things may have changed inbetween.

The biggest issue right now is really the upcoming EOL of Windows 10. Most of these machines will be old enough (pre Intel 8th gen or Zen 2) that they won't be officially supported by Windows 11.

I make a note of both in listings where that is applicable.

It’s in the ACPI tables, in ACPI Non-Volatile RAM (NVRAM), not the BIOS. An home user might be able to active it, but the repair shop probably can’t legally.

If it's tied to the hardware, there is no valid reason why the repair shop wouldn't be able to activate it -- a repair shop will use the same public license servers as consumers will.

Btw ACPI is a specification, not a separate piece of hardware. ACPI tables are stored in BIOS nvram, there is no other place for it to go.

On most machines we sell that's probably the case. I don't know of anything that stops me from linking people to the official Windows installation media on Microsoft's site, so I do that even on the listing.

That might be even worse then, you'd be reselling a machine which was licensed under the previous owner's Windows key

How is that worse when the key is bound to the hardware and non-transferable anyway?

why would it be non-transferable?

Sorry, I thought it was a reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44581124

OEM licenses are legally (and practically) tied to the machine. There’s no way to transfer it.

In case of OEM, the license is never directly owned by the owner of the machine; the license is tied to the hardware, and you're selling it on with its license key attached. If you activate Windows using a bought license, that license does not get copied into the hardware.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com