Windows Windows 10 on Mac

[Nunyabinez]

Consumer purchasable system builder/oem keys are at a minimum $80, usually $90. These are limited to one PC only.

Retail licenses are more of course, but can be freely moved around between PCs as you upgrade.

This is not correct. As of Windows 10 a license is "wedded" to a motherboard upon installation and is good for the life of that computer. You cannot transfer a license to a new machine.

If that "machine" needed a new motherboard, and everything else remained, you would need a new license as Microsoft has determined the definition of a computer is a computer motherboard. You can change anything else, but if a new motherboard ID is detected, it would deauthorize.

In fact, I had a machine that I installed Windows 10 on and I needed to clean install the OS. As soon as it was on the Internet it authorized because it matched the board ID with the Windows database.

Part of this is because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows ever. It will evolve, but will always be called Windows 10. The days of moving a "key" from machine to machine are gone.

 

[jeremysteele]

This is not correct. As of Windows 10 a license is "wedded" to a motherboard upon installation and is good for the life of that computer. You cannot transfer a license to a new machine.

If that "machine" needed a new motherboard, and everything else remained, you would need a new license as Microsoft has determined the definition of a computer is a computer motherboard. You can change anything else, but if a new motherboard ID is detected, it would deauthorize.

For OEM licenses, yes, it is completely locked to a PC (see note below *). For instance, the license that would come on a prebuilt PC.

For retail, that is not correct.

Windows 10 retail licenses can be moved freely. Very, very easily.

Retail Windows 7/8 licenses that got the free 10 upgrade can also be moved. The windows 10 upgrade carries the exact same license type (oem/retail/etc) as the original key.

Case in point - my motherboard died last year. Popped a new one in, and got an activation warning. Called Microsoft activation support and they assured me, without any doubt, that the Windows 10 free upgrade I received for my retail 8 license was also a retail-style license. They told me to reenter the original windows 8 key and it reactivated without any issues. This was prior to anniversary update.

Going forward it is even easier now - as licenses can be linked to your Microsoft account since the anniversary update. Microsoft is highly encouraging people to link their keys as it helps to streamline the whole process. Now you can simply "take" a retail entitlement from one of your linked devices and use it on a new one, effectively deactivating the old one.

*OEM note: If you experience motherboard failure you can get the license moved to a new motherboard.... sometimes. It can be a finicky process as it will generally involve calling up Microsoft. Sometimes they allow it, sometimes they don't. Just be nice

 

[Nunyabinez]

For OEM licenses, yes, it is completely locked to a PC (see note below *). For instance, the license that would come on a prebuilt PC.

For retail, that is not correct.

Windows 10 retail licenses can be moved freely. Very, very easily.

Retail Windows 7/8 licenses that got the free 10 upgrade can also be moved. The windows 10 upgrade carries the exact same license type (oem/retail/etc) as the original key.

Case in point - my motherboard died last year. Popped a new one in, and got an activation warning. Called Microsoft activation support and they assured me, without any doubt, that the Windows 10 free upgrade I received for my retail 8 license was also a retail-style license. They told me to reenter the original windows 8 key and it reactivated without any issues. This was prior to anniversary update.

Going forward it is even easier now - as licenses can be linked to your Microsoft account since the anniversary update. Microsoft is highly encouraging people to link their keys as it helps to streamline the whole process. Now you can simply "take" a retail entitlement from one of your linked devices and use it on a new one, effectively deactivating the old one.

*OEM note: If you experience motherboard failure you can get the license moved to a new motherboard.... sometimes. It can be a finicky process as it will generally involve calling up Microsoft. Sometimes they allow it, sometimes they don't. Just be nice

I stand politely corrected. Thank you sir.

 

[Stella]

If you play games you'll be constrained by the pitiful GPU in the Macs, unless you use an eGPU.
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Strange how Elite Dangerous came out on Mac exactly 3 months after release, but then I'm only a beta tester and bow down to your false news.

Frontier can't bring Elite Dangerous: Horizons to the Mac because OSX still comes with an ancient version of openGL which doesn't provide the necessary renderers.

They couldn't use Metal because it didn't support the necessary renderers.

Other games have been impacted in the same way and could not be ported to the Mac. Mac GPU performance is also paying a part - they just aren't powerful enough for a full windows like experience with Nvidia 1080 / top of the range ATIs.

I tried playing the Mac version of Elite, the performance was significantly worse than Bootcamp'ing running the Windows version. Since there is no Horizons for the Mac, Bootcamp was the only way to go.

 

[Tsuchiya]

Installed Windows 10 without a key about a week ago just fine on my late-2013 15" rMBP.

No issues running Windows for games, and so far no prompts about a key. Not sure what the catch is (other than customisation), but it should be fine for casual use.

Glad Microsoft allow this, just so I could test the programmes I need via Bootcamp without purchasing a full copy of Windows, especially now that I know that my Mac won't cut it either way and a custom build is needed.

 

[5684697]

Win 10 on a 2013 Mac Pro. Massive problems with startup. Holding the Option Key down rarely works. In fact, it only works during a cold start, if a "restart" is used, then the screen stays blank, and the startup selection screen never appears.

End up having to go to systems prefs and select the startup there, after clicking on the make changes icon and inputting password.

It is a bootcamp issue obviously.

Never, ever let the Windows system hibernate. Causes a half hour of restart problems.

 

[Yebubbleman]

In the past, I've been leery of Boot Camping Windows because of the price of a Windows 10 license.

Now, this past week I have seen two yt videos showing how you can download it from MS for free and check a tick box saying "I don't have a product key", and get a barebones installation.

Does anyone here know what the deal is about this?

You can download a tool that will let you either burn a Windows 10 Install DVD or create a bootable Windows 10 Install USB drive. As for valid forms of licenses, you can actually use any of the following to fully license and activate Windows 10 from the install media:

- A Windows 7 key (which you can find as a sticker on many old systems that shouldn't be running Windows 10 due to lack of driver support anyway)

- A Windows 8 key

- A Windows 8.1 key

- A Windows 10 key

The latter three tend to be embedded into the logic board of most name brand systems that ship with them, but you should be able to find a Windows 7 sticker off of a computer that is, at this point, defunct and reuse that with little issue.

 

[Irishman]

Well, I did it. And, the process through Boot Camp Assistant really was painless.

And, playing around with Steam games.