Preinstalled licenses for Windows 8 use the new OA3.0, so I guess no COA
sticker. I was thinking Windows 7 for some reason. I forgot what forum I
was in for a second there.
The BIOS contains a hash that tells the Windows 8 installer that it is
licensed for a specific version of Windows 8 (Windows 8 or Windows 8
Pro). If you install (or reinstall) that licensed version, it simply
"activates" because the hardware is activated for that version of
Windows. If you install a version of Windows 8 that the hardware isn't
licensed for, it won't activate automatically and you'll have to put in a
product key.
The BIOS will have a SLIC table that is used for OEM-SLP activation. The
big OEM's like Dell etc, add the custom SLIC table to their BIOS. The
OEM installed OS looks for the SLIC table and if its found and matches a
corresponding certificate file Activation is automatic. If it can't
find the correct SLIC table activation fails. OEM-SLP does not activate
online. If you create recovery media the OEM-SLP activation will be
preserved for the PC its created on. You can't READ the OEM-SLP Product
Code from the BIOS. Not without a utility anyway. You can use a utility
like the Magical Jelly Bean Key Finder to retrieve it from the installed
OS. Its not of any use though because OEM-SLP keys will not activate
online. Every DELL model XYZ will have the same OEM-SLP product code and
that code is blocked from online activation. That's why those PC's also
have a COA sticker on them. If you have to you can install with a
regular OEM DVD and use the Product code on the COA sticker. windows 7
uses OA 2.1. Windows 8 uses a new OA 3.0. With OA 3.0 each PC has a
unique SLP product code that is embedded in its BIOS. One of the tricks
used to pirate Windows was to add a SLIC table to a PC's BIOS so you
could fake OEM-SLP activation. OA 3.0 is designed to prevent this and
make it harder to pirate Windows. I'm sure there is more to it than that
but the rest of it is a bit over my head. I would think there should
still be a COA sticker on a Windows 8 machine though. How are you
supposed to install the OS without the recovery disks? With OA 3.0 I
would think the recovery media would only work on the PC it was created
on. It would be unique to that PC not just to that make and model like
it is now.
