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Background:
A couple years or so ago, I purchased three (used) Dell Latitude E6410 laptop computers for a song ($25 each). They came with no hard drive, but that was not a problem. I got 1 TB Samsung SSD drives for them and that seems to be fine.
No hard drive also meant no OS was installed. But, they each DID come with their own Microsoft sticker (with a hologram) stating:
Windows(R) 7 Pro for Refurb PCs CIT
for Refurbished PCs
[barcode] XXX-NNNNN
do not tamper with or remove this label
[barcode] XNN-NNNNN
NNNNN-NNN-NNN-NNN
"For use on Refurbished PC - No Commercial Value - For Authentication Only"Where:
X represents a single letter
N represents a single decimal digit(Also says, vertically, on the edges:)
Certificate of Authenticity
Microsoftand
ww.microsoft.com/howtotell
Situation:
I'd previously downloaded an ISO (and verified the SHA1 and SHA256), but got stuck when trying to do an install; the format of the codes I have do not match the format of what Microsoft was expecting.
The location where I bought the laptops no longer offers computers for sale (it's a Goodwill store). Also, there are no tech-savvy workers at the location.
My primary problem is it is time to prepare my state and federal income taxes. I've used TurboTax for the past 5 years. (Yes, I could probably use their free on-line version today. But! I am not at all interested in having like 20-30 other domains active while I provide extremely personal and private information to fill out my taxes.) So, plan B is to get Windows up and running so I can fill out my taxes locally.
What now?
So, I have 3 never-been-used "codes" for installing Win 7 pro. There was a time when one had to fight to keep Microsoft from trying to upgrade to Windows 10, so I'd like to think there's some way for me to get to Win 10 from here.
So, I turn to my fellow Soylentils. How can I enter these codes? Is it still worthwhile to get 7 installed in hopes I can still upgrade to Windows 10?
Maybe some other approach? What can I do?
[2021-03-05 15:11:27 UTC; UPDATE 1: Currently downloading "Win10_20H2_v2_English_x64.iso" from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO -- looks like I have 2-2.5 hours left for the download to complete. (Currently at 920 MB of 5.8 GB completed)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @03:07PM (2 children)
perhaps the PC has an embedded license in the BIOS (SLIC); you might need to adapt the Windows image to use this license?
The old-fashioned 25-character key was just one of many methods to activate Windows, SLIC is another one.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Friday March 05 2021, @03:26PM
I have no idea on that one. Though I go back to MS DOS 3.0, for the most part Windows has already been installed by the time I got to using a computer. Will keep that in mind, thanks!
Now that you mention it, ISTR Microsoft rolling out different "keys." The 25-char "Product Key" is the only one I am personally familiar with.
I'm downloading a Win 10 ISO right now... looks like I still have ~ 2 hours to go.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday March 06 2021, @02:18AM
I had that happen SURPRISE!! with a salvaged Lenovo motherboard. Durn thing would not play nice with XP64 (well, did finally get it installed, mostly by accident), didn't really like Win7 either, but LOVES Win10. And tho that board shipped with Win7, apparently somewhere along the line it had acquired an embedded license that Win10 is quite certain is authentic. However, it does NOT think that it has an embedded Win7 license. [scratching head]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.