# Does Microsoft still offer the option to skip the product key while installing windows 10 ?



## 27MaD (Jan 16, 2019)

Hi all , the title says everything.


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## EarthDog (Jan 16, 2019)

Yes.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 16, 2019)

Believe you get a 30 day trial period ( before Activation via Legit Product/Serial number )


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 16, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> Believe you get a 30 day trial period ( before Activation via Legit Product/Serial number )


After which the OS will start to nag you.


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## Kursah (Jan 16, 2019)

You can do that, you can also enter a KMS key which will essentially get you through the installation process and to a desktop environment without hassle. You'll still need a genuine key to activate the OS once you've reached that point.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/kmsclientkeys


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## 27MaD (Jan 16, 2019)

The story is today i ordered a new Mobo+CPU+RAM (i3 2100 + H61M-E + 2X4GB 1600MHz) and i'm already running a 32 bit enterprise and i want to download 64 bit Pro.



dorsetknob said:


> 30


90


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## FordGT90Concept (Jan 16, 2019)

32-bit and 64-bit keys are interchangeable since Windows 7.

32-bit is pretty much discontinued/legacy support.


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## EarthDog (Jan 16, 2019)

And by nag he means that silly transparency in the bottom right asking to activate. You have nearly full functionality of the OS outside of personalization.


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## 27MaD (Jan 16, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> And by nag he means that silly transparency in the bottom right asking to activate. You have nearly full functionality of the OS outside of personalization.


Yeah i have no issues with running an unactivated windows.

Been there , done that .............. millions of times.


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 16, 2019)

27MaD said:


> 90


Very certain it's 30 days.



EarthDog said:


> And by nag he means that silly transparency in the bottom right asking to activate.


That and the notification pop-up.


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## 27MaD (Jan 16, 2019)

do you guys recommend sticking to enterprise or should i go for Pro? , i want to use it just for gaming.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 16, 2019)

27MaD said:


> do you guys recommend sticking to enterprise or should i go for Pro? , i want to use just for gaming.


Go for x64 enterprise and your current key should work, not sure if it will let you "downgrade" to Pro x64. You won't lose any functionality with Enterprise.


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 16, 2019)

27MaD said:


> do you guys recommend sticking to enterprise or should i go for Pro? , i want to use just for gaming.


If the privacy concerns are important to you, stick with Enterprise is those options are much easier to control. However, there is no option for the Windows Store and if you want to get some games there, you'll need a version of 10 that has the store included, unless there is a installer package for the Store compatible with Enterprise. It's possible, but I haven't looked.


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## EarthDog (Jan 16, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> That and the notification pop-up.


I dont get that...


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 16, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> I dont get that...


I've seen it from time to time.


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## er557 (Jan 16, 2019)

Enterprise does have the store and any other functionality, and some unique features as well.
I beleive LTSB edition does not have store nor edge.


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## 27MaD (Jan 16, 2019)

er557 said:


> Enterprise does have the store and any other functionality, and some unique features as well.
> I beleive LTSB edition does not have store nor edge.


I used the LTSB and it was good and light , then i tried the enterprise and actually i liked it more , there is no big difference in the end.


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## silentbogo (Jan 16, 2019)

27MaD said:


> Hi all , the title says everything.


Actually  it depends on the distro. Most don't require a key to install, but I had a 1709 distro that wouldn't let me skip SN window (converted ESD file from MediaCreationTool to ISO). 
Though, you can fix that by writing a few lines into _ei.cfg_ on your installation media. 



27MaD said:


> do you guys recommend sticking to enterprise or should i go for Pro? , i want to use it just for gaming.


For your PC I'd go with Enterprise LTSB. It's the lightest of all full-featured Windows 10 editions. The only downfall, is that you'll always stay behind in terms of updates and major updates (which nowadays is a good thing). Store is not there, some standard apps may be missing, but it can always be fixed via 1-2 commands in PowerShell.


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 16, 2019)

27MaD said:


> I used the LTSB and it was good and light , then i tried the enterprise and actually i liked it more , there is no big difference in the end.


Does it? The only version of Enterprise I've used is the LTSB version.


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## GoldenX (Jan 16, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> If the privacy concerns are important to you, stick with Enterprise is those options are much easier to control. However, there is no option for the Windows Store and if you want to get some games there, you'll need a version of 10 that has the store included, unless there is a installer package for the Store compatible with Enterprise. It's possible, but I haven't looked.


There is, it works just fine.


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 17, 2019)

GoldenX said:


> There is, it works just fine.


Cool, did not know that.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jan 17, 2019)

27MaD said:


> do you guys recommend sticking to enterprise or should i go for Pro? , i want to use it just for gaming.


https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compare

If all you're doing is playing games, don't need anything more than Home.  Pro has mostly business features revolving around administration and remoting in.

Enterprise licensing is for large corporations, not personal use.


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## GoldenX (Jan 17, 2019)

Enterprise, Enterprise LTSC and Education can save resources by disabling telemetry. Plus LTSC and Education don't ship Cortana.


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## johnspack (Jan 17, 2019)

Soon vulkan emulation will be complete for dx12 titles.....   come to linux....  until then,  suck it!  But as far as I remember,  yes you get at least 1 day for trial.....


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## GoldenX (Jan 17, 2019)

johnspack said:


> Soon vulkan emulation will be complete for dx12 titles.....   come to linux....  until then,  suck it!  But as far as I remember,  yes you get at least 1 day for trial.....


Now with transform feedback it's pretty near.


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## Readlight (Jan 17, 2019)

If you don't connect to the internet its free forever or one month, only wallpaper is not possible to change. in one month it already will be full of things and errors and you will think I need to reinstall.
I don't make any money whit it, it does not work in a way I like so I don't pay for it it's too expensive. For new budget computers, i take Linux Mint.


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## 27MaD (Jan 17, 2019)

johnspack said:


> Soon vulkan emulation will be complete for dx12 titles.....   come to linux....  until then,  suck it!  But as far as I remember,  yes you get at least 1 day for trial.....


idk , switching to Linux after using windows since i was a kid seems tough for me.


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## Kissamies (Jan 17, 2019)

Linux just isn't for everyone. I don't see any reason to change from Windows to Linux myself.

But yeah, like answered already, no problems using unactivated. I did that with my temporary PC, activated a license when I got my Ryzen build kicking.


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## Deleted member 178884 (Jan 17, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Linux just isn't for everyone. I don't see any reason to change from Windows to Linux myself.


Agreed, I'm happy with my modified de-bloated windows 10 pro. Probably won't change to another OS for many years to come.


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## 27MaD (Jan 17, 2019)

Hello again , today i downloaded Windows 10 on a USB flash drive , and when i boot using the USB i get stuck on the windows Blue logo , nothing spinning , just the Blue logo forever  , nothing in my life goes without issues.


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## Kissamies (Jan 17, 2019)

27MaD said:


> Hello again , today i downloaded Windows 10 on a USB flash drive , and when i boot using the USB i get stuck on the windows Blue logo , nothing spinning , just the Blue logo forever  , nothing in my life goes without issues.


Been a while since I've played around with LGA1155 hardware, but I'd check around if there is some options about USB in bios. I'd also try different USB connectors if you haven't done that already.


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## 27MaD (Jan 17, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Been a while since I've played around with LGA1155 hardware, but I'd check around if there is some options about USB in bios. I'd also try different USB connectors if you haven't done that already.


I'm still running my C2D system.


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## Kissamies (Jan 17, 2019)

27MaD said:


> I'm still running my C2D system.


Ah, you tried W10 with that? That could be just some incompatibility between that and old hardware.


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## 27MaD (Jan 17, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Ah, you tried W10 with that? That could be just some incompatibility between that and old hardware.


Really ? , i guess i'll have to wait for the new parts to arrive and install the windows using them.

But wait , can 3 Gigs of RAM run 64 bit windows ? or i need at least 4 Gigs? , i didn't think about that.


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## Kissamies (Jan 17, 2019)

27MaD said:


> Really ? , i guess i'll have to wait for the new parts to arrive and install the windows using them.
> 
> But wait , can 3 Gigs of RAM run 64 bit windows ? or i need at least 4 Gigs? , i didn't think about that.


It can run with 3GB, 4GB isn't a requirement. The first advantage (when software wasn't 64-bit) was to have more usable RAM.


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## Static~Charge (Jan 17, 2019)

27MaD said:


> Hello again , today i downloaded Windows 10 on a USB flash drive , and when i boot using the USB i get stuck on the windows Blue logo , nothing spinning , just the Blue logo forever  , nothing in my life goes without issues.



If your BIOS is set to boot in "UEFI" or "Legacy mode", then the Windows 10 flash drive image has to be created to support that. Rufus has those options on the flash drive creation screen.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 17, 2019)

27MaD said:


> But wait , can 3 Gigs of RAM run 64 bit windows ? or i need at least 4 Gigs? , i didn't think about th


It will run on 2 gig (x64) more is better unlike x86 where to much ( > 3 1/2 gig ) is wasted


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## erpguy53 (Jan 19, 2019)

2Gb is the bare minimum for x64 Win10 but will run kinda slow

use 32bit/x86 Win10 only on really old CPUs that do not have the *CMPXCHG16B* instruction set or do not have the Intel 64 instruction set (Intel "Yonah" series of mobile/laptop CPUs do not support 64bit Windows and are 32bit only)


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## 27MaD (Jan 19, 2019)

erpguy53 said:


> 2Gb is the bare minimum for x64 Win10 but will run kinda slow
> 
> use 32bit/x86 Win10 only on really old CPUs that do not have the *CMPXCHG16B* instruction set or do not have the Intel 64 instruction set (Intel "Yonah" series of mobile/laptop CPUs do not support 64bit Windows and are 32bit only)


Do you mean my old Core 2 Duo can't run 64bit windows ? i guess i'll wait for the sandy bridge i3 to arrive and try to install windows using it.


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## Aquinus (Jan 19, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Linux just isn't for everyone. I don't see any reason to change from Windows to Linux myself.


I did. It was Windows bricking my installation more than once that pushed me over the edge. I never looked back after switching.


27MaD said:


> Do you mean my old Core 2 Duo can't run 64bit windows ?


That CPU most definitely supports 64-bit. I had an older E6600 that supported it. Hell, I used to have a Pentium 4 630 that supported 64-bit.


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## er557 (Jan 19, 2019)

How does linux fare with modern gaming, hardware technology, modern display standards?


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## Shambles1980 (Jan 19, 2019)

Hello.
if you cannot get it to boot and you have multiple hard disks your boot record is probably on a hard disk that you have not set as the default boot device..


Its possible to install windows on to a hdd lets call it "D: (wd12345) Hdd1" but windows installs the boot record to "C: (wd34567) hdd0" in the bios you selected "wd12345" as the boot drive because that is where windows is installed. But you need to select "wd34567" because thats where the boot info is.
the drive letters are not important really its the drive number that generally matters.
never noticed the issue much after windows 7 to be honest but i think thats because i realized windows would do that on install.

also the core 2 duo should be able to run windows 10 just fine. Even sandy bridge cpus which are not supported work just fine. the only issue with those is there is no windows 10 gpu drivers for them so you have top use the windows7 drivers and lose some windows 10 features that most people would never notice (like cloning over multiple gpu's)
the core 2 duo's dont need any such drivers and so have even less issues.


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## Aquinus (Jan 19, 2019)

er557 said:


> How does linux fare with modern gaming, hardware technology, modern display standards?


It's gotten better over the last few years of me using it. AMD's open source drivers have made some pretty big leaps, even recently. I don't agree with nVidia's driver practices, but their drivers are pretty solid in Linux too from what I've read. The kernel has support for FreeSync/Variable Refresh for supported devices as well as overclocking on more modern hardware. With >4.20 I can overclock and alter the power cap. Vulkan support is pretty solid now (even on my old 390.) Even a lot of games in Steam using Proton work fairly well at this point. As for modern games, it depends if it targets Linux or not. Most of the games that target Linux as well as Windows tend to run pretty well and there are a number of games that run well in Proton/Wine, such as DOOM. Projects like DXVK which convert DX calls to Vulkan is making some pretty incredibly strides. With that said, I wouldn't expect most of the biggest blockbuster games to work because they don't ship with Linux support.

Mind you, gaming has taken a back seat to what I do professionally (which is building software,) and that it's more important that my machine just work and do the things I need to for my career than just using it for gaming. With that said, I'm happy with the games that I do play, not that many of them are incredibly graphically demanding, but most of the time I can get away with playing most of my games at 4k with the Vega 64. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the only exception in my library. I need to play that at 1080p because performance otherwise is terrible.

tl;dr: It works well for me and my hardware for the things I do and the games I play.


Shambles1980 said:


> if you cannot get it to boot and you have multiple hard disks your boot record is probably on a hard disk that you have not set as the default boot device..


Windows tends to install the bootloader on the first drive in the boot order from the BIOS.


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## Shambles1980 (Jan 19, 2019)

Aquinus said:
			
		

> Windows tends to install the bootloader on the first drive in the boot order from the BIOS.


the 1st boot order device would be a USB pen / dvd most of the time when installing windows.. in my expirience it tends to default to hdd 0 (but this could well be because that would be my boot order as well)
havent really noticed the issue since vista possibly 7 (cant remember) But i know it used to happen quite a lot untill i figured out whatr windows was doing and adjusted my install methods to suit. So it could be it does not happen any more, or my install method has just changed because of it and so i dont notice any more.


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## Aquinus (Jan 19, 2019)

Shambles1980 said:


> the 1st boot order device would be a USB pen / dvd most of the time when installing windows.. in my expirience it tends to default to hdd 0 (but this could well be because that would be my boot order as well)
> havent really noticed the issue since vista possibly 7 (cant remember) But i know it used to happen quite a lot untill i figured out whatr windows was doing and adjusted my install methods to suit. So it could be it does not happen any more, or my install method has just changed because of it and so i dont notice any more.


My motherboard has a boot device list and a HDD list. All of the hard drives are represented by a single item in the boot list along with all of the UEFI entries. When I did run windows it would use the first device in the HDD list which includes internal drives and RAID devices and even if the OP's motherboard isn't as new as mine, I would expect the installer to be smart enough to not put the bootloader on the drive you're installing from.


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## Shambles1980 (Jan 19, 2019)

just saying it is something that windows will do, easy thing to test so its Worth checking.
the device your installing from would not be hdd 0 99.99999% of the time, as hdd 0 is always the hard disk/ssd connected to the 1st drive port on the motherboard. But it can and often is the 1st hard drive in any default boot list.


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## Aquinus (Jan 19, 2019)

Shambles1980 said:


> the device your installing from would not be hdd 0 99.99999% of the time, as hdd 0 is always the hard disk/ssd connected to the 1st drive port on the motherboard. But it can and often is the 1st hard drive in any default boot list.


I never said it was the drive in the first port, I said the first in the boot order. We're saying the same thing here, man.


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## Kissamies (Jan 19, 2019)

I always disconnect every other SSD/HDD than the one where I'm installing the OS. Just in case.


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## EarthDog (Jan 19, 2019)

I do the same thing as well.. 100% success rate with this method.


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