Windows 8 Licenses

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.