Dell, HP, Toshiba, Samsung (‘da big boys) are no longer shipping PC’s and laptops with Microsoft Windows 8 stickers. Smaller companies are still using Win8 COA stickers which contain the CD Key you need for resinstalls. Sooooo the question is, how are Dell, HP, Samsung… doing this, and if you are a corporate admin you should also be asking how you can survive an audit in this scenerio. Well, read on for the answers.
WHERE’S MY WINDOWS 8 KEY!
The key is now contained in your BIOS in an encrypted hash (and on many BIOS’ you can’t even see the hash through the standard BIOS interface). In other words, not only do you no longer get backup disks or CD key’s, you just have to take your manufacturers word that they have a legal install.
This new validation process is called OEM ACTIVATION 3.0 (or OA3.0) . Under OA3, if you wipe/replace the hard drive and then install Windows 8, the operating system knows how to read and decrypt the license key from the BIOS and then SHOULD automatically activate the appropriate version (i.e. Home vs Professional).
The question of what happens if you BIOS dies or your motherboard dies and is replaced has not yet been answered by Dell or Microsoft… but I am still digging and will update this as new information becomes available.
HOW DOES MY COMPANY SURVIVE A SOFTWARE AUDIT?
That is a good question. Right now I have no details other than Microsoft is being bombarded by customers asking these types of questions. When I get an official response, I will post it here.
In the interim, I can (safely?) guess that during a software audit, Microsoft will provide some software that scans all devices on the network and pulls some portion of the COA or the COA hash to prove you have the licenses you need.
REFERENCES:
You might find the following helpful if you need more information:
http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/11760-no-licence-key-windows-8-laptops.html
The following DELL video neglects to say that you MUST go into the BIOS, disable SECURE BOOT and enable LEGACY BOOT options if you want to restore your Dell from your recovery USB stick or CD/DVD (that you made prior to the hard drive needing to be wiped out… hope you did that!)