Hey all,
Just wondering the best place to buy a Windows 11 Pro key to upgrade from Windows Home? I've seen some on https://www.keysforgames.com.au/ and https://softwareg.com.au/ for under $15 but just not too sure if they are dodgy or not.
Besides directly from Microsoft, is there another site that people buy keys from thats somewhat reputable?
Exactly. Buy a legit key, or pirate. No point giving money to dodgy people for no real value.
This answer should be stickied
they're all dodgy, take your luck of the draw
Run it keyless, no real downside ;)
Can right click images and set them as backgrounds!
Has anybody bought a "dodgy" key with unsatisfactory results? What happened?
I did years a go. Bought a Windows 7 Ultimate for $15 odd dollars. Worked for about 18 months then Windows suddenly deactivated and the key became invalid.
These are leaked or stolen volume licence keys. They will be closed off eventually. I think they are banned as deals for this reason.
You can check what type of licence key you get after activating.
Just open command line, and type: slmgr /dlv (https://www.lifewire.com/slmgr-command-4684499)
If you get a volume licence go back to your supplier (and hopefully get a refund…).
Some of the sites will tell you if it is retail or OEM, so you can test yourself.
Nothing is guaranteed, but I have never had an issue with Windows 10/11 keys (all have been OEM so far).
Cheap keys are resold volume or recycled keys from overseas, it’s legal in Europe so they’re legitimate keys, used heaps, once or twice had to call to activate but there’s an online thing now that saves a call.
Only problem is sometimes keys have (profanity) group policies that lockdown certain settings.
Others have mentioned MAS.
Your call, 220$ retail for home, 20ish recycle for pro/enterprise or find an LTSC iso and MAS it
I use these guys a lot, a few dollars more than the ones in your link, had no problems so far.
https://www.cdkeysales.com/software/p202110081507403019.html
I have used these guys no worries as well.
What does Pro vs Home get you these days?
Last time I checked (ages ago) it was Bitlocker drive encryption and the ability to join Active Directory domains.
i.e. not real useful for a lot of people. Though these days, there's more of a use case for Bitlocker (laptops.)
Group Policy Editor
Remote desktop (built in).
Free for students with education qld
Use the keys on broken dell machines found in ewaste
What are peoples thoughts on W11 compared to W10?
Am probably sticking to W10 for a while but just curious
Windows 11 is slightly better. Not a huge difference between the two IMO.
Microsoft does not care about licensing, may as well just use MAS. It's open source and hosted on Github (owned by Microsoft), thought it was funny that it appeared on my Github homepage the other day as a recommended project.
Not sure if it works to upgrade from Home to Pro, but to just get a Windows key the MAS thing through the Github link worked fine for me a couple of weeks ago and is free.