6 ms·

I recently found out that people are selling legitimate keys on eBay for a few bucks: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=windows+10+ltsc https://www.ebay.com/

I recently found out that people are selling legitimate keys on eBay for a few bucks: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=windows+10+ltsc https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=windows+10+ltsc According to people who have purchased from there, they're VL keys that can be used many times (e.g. 2500 times), so they just sell the same key over and over to multiple people: > ...sellers on eBay are probably people that work for companies that get GVLK and MAK Product Keys from MSDN/Microsoft and then just sell 'em off because the companies they work for more than likely would never even notice? I mean, with MAK Product Keys having from 2500 to 5000 activations per key, at least if they still work the same way they did in Vista/7 days, most companies that pay for volume licensing never ever actually use anywhere near that many. [0] > after about 3 hours I got a mail with a key and a link to download "LTSCX64.2019.ENU.JAN2019.iso" from googledrive. I did not download the ISO, so I cannot comment on that, but I typed the key into VAMT and its description is "Win 10 RTM EnterpriseS Volume:MAK" and the key had 50 activations left. I tried it on one of my LTSC 2019 installations and it worked fine. I assume that the remaining activation count will decrease over time, even when I do not use the key on my other installations, as I suspect that the seller sells the same key to more than one buyer.. [0] > so, after about a week all 50 activations of the key I got are gone. since I only used 8 activations, one can be sure that the key was sold to multiple buyers. business as usual on ebay.. [0] It's probably against some contract somewhere, but IANAL. [0] https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/windows-10-enterprise-ltsc-2019-can-one-actually-buy-a-unique-key.79241/ https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/windows-10-enterpri...

michaelmrose 7y ago
They are pirating windows. They could be fined anywhere from hundreds of dollars to 150k per installation. They are also participating in a commercial piracy endeavor that the company who was issued the key AND Microsoft have an interest in shutting down. Ms because such endeavors attract customers who could otherwise trivially be converted into buyers. Companies because they could get audited and fined. This is as illegal and higher risk than torrent sites.
- josefx 7y ago
  Depends on the country. I think the EU declared the resale of Windows licenses legal a few years ago. Microsoft trying to fight that doesn't make it illegal.
  - gruez 7y ago
    Source on this? I think that only applies to retail licenses.
  - GordonS 7y ago
    Even if true, I rather doubt that extends to an employee selling access to their employer's volume licensing key (it seems clear that's what's happening here)
  - michaelmrose 7y ago
    When you bought a physical item in a store you have a right to resell it be that a computer or a disk. Even if you can resell a key as part of selling a copy of windows you paid for you can't sell your employers property, can't sell part of a contract, can't sell more than you actually paid for. If the company purchased the right to have n machines at their company run windows and each key can be activated n * x times nobody sold you the right to sell n * x copies of windows to everyone on the internet. Like it or not those agreements aren't sales and the keys aren't a physical item you have purchased they are just a technical measure to constrain users from sharing a single ISO file to their million closest friends.
GordonS 7y ago
> According to people who have purchased from there, they're VL keys that can be used many times (e.g. 2500 times), so they just sell the same key over and over to multiple people Erm, no - that's not how Microsoft's volume licensing works. Volume keys are issued to enterprises that buy them, and only that organisation is licensed to use them. Unscrupulous employees have been known to sell the keys.
- herpderperator 7y ago
  Did I say otherwise? That is exactly my point. The keys - bought by the enterprises - can be used many times, on their machines. However, people find those keys and sell them on eBay.
  - GordonS 7y ago
    Apologies, it seems I misread the tone of your words.

michaelmrose 7y ago

They are pirating windows. They could be fined anywhere from hundreds of dollars to 150k per installation. They are also participating in a commercial piracy endeavor that the company who was issued the key AND Microsoft have an interest in shutting down. Ms because such endeavors attract customers who could otherwise trivially be converted into buyers. Companies because they could get audited and fined. This is as illegal and higher risk than torrent sites.

josefx 7y ago
Depends on the country. I think the EU declared the resale of Windows licenses legal a few years ago. Microsoft trying to fight that doesn't make it illegal.
- gruez 7y ago
  Source on this? I think that only applies to retail licenses.
- GordonS 7y ago
  Even if true, I rather doubt that extends to an employee selling access to their employer's volume licensing key (it seems clear that's what's happening here)
- michaelmrose 7y ago
  When you bought a physical item in a store you have a right to resell it be that a computer or a disk. Even if you can resell a key as part of selling a copy of windows you paid for you can't sell your employers property, can't sell part of a contract, can't sell more than you actually paid for. If the company purchased the right to have n machines at their company run windows and each key can be activated n * x times nobody sold you the right to sell n * x copies of windows to everyone on the internet. Like it or not those agreements aren't sales and the keys aren't a physical item you have purchased they are just a technical measure to constrain users from sharing a single ISO file to their million closest friends.

GordonS 7y ago

> According to people who have purchased from there, they're VL keys that can be used many times (e.g. 2500 times), so they just sell the same key over and over to multiple people Erm, no - that's not how Microsoft's volume licensing works. Volume keys are issued to enterprises that buy them, and only that organisation is licensed to use them. Unscrupulous employees have been known to sell the keys.

herpderperator 7y ago
Did I say otherwise? That is exactly my point. The keys - bought by the enterprises - can be used many times, on their machines. However, people find those keys and sell them on eBay.
- GordonS 7y ago
  Apologies, it seems I misread the tone of your words.