Best price for legal Windows 10/11?

My 14yo got a bunch of new parts after Christmas and I helped him assemble his first tower rig. I've been out of the game for a long time so the hardest part was discovering this UEFI system on the motherboard which doesn't boot old versions of Windows.

So I'm just wondering if anyone knows the best price for a LEGAL version of Windows on there. He's 14, so I'm assuming that there's a student price somewhere but school's not back yet and I have no idea where to look (other than just the box stores). MemEx has Windows 10 Home for $149, but that's still steep for a 14yo.

Anyone have any suggestions (I've already got it cracked, but I want to start him out legit if it's doable).

Who knows anymore.

What you can do is put the installer on a usb stick and install it so that he can at least use the machine. You have 30 days to activate it.

New egg seems to have it for 120 bucks.

Much less than that and it won’t be “legit” for one reason or another. Software costs what it costs.

MSDN still a thing?

If you have a legit Windows 8 key, try that first in the Windows 10 activation process. MS REALLY wants you to upgrade.

I have not validate / checked / purchased from here myself. I was about to purchase a license when trying to revive and update a XP system.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3945...ws-10-pro.html

Note though, this license will be tied to the hardware, likely the motherboard / CPU combo. Harddrive and GPU upgrades are probably ok.

If you're fine buying a corporate license off a person on reddit it's 50USD for Win11 and 60USD for Win11 Pro. There's a few subreddits dedicated to it and people with a long history of selling keys without issue if you wanna go that route. I've used them a few times without issue, usually have the key within the hour.

You use the official installer directly from microsoft. Just copy/paste the key in is all. No cracks, phone activations, or weird funkyness.

If I ever need a license I'll be using one of the key resellers

Any of the really cheap keys are probably an OEM license. So they are possibility "legit" but will only be one time use. So whenever the hardware is upgraded windows may not activate. My dad bought one of these a few months ago and it seems to work. If you've already cracked it I don't think its even worth getting new key. Worse case its gets deactivated at some point and you can get a new key then.

Years ago I went with a retail license ( Windows 8 ) and tied it to my Microsoft account. So now whenever I build a new PC I just have to sign in and window is automatically activated. MS doesn't seem to care that I have multiple PCs with the same retail license

If you know someone going to university, try On The Hub. I got my Windows 10 license through there for like $20 a few years back and it looks like it's free now. Looks like Windows 11 could be had for cheap or free too.

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Originally Posted by pheoxs

If you're fine buying a corporate license off a person on reddit it's 50USD for Win11 and 60USD for Win11 Pro. There's a few subreddits dedicated to it and people with a long history of selling keys without issue if you wanna go that route. I've used them a few times without issue, usually have the key within the hour.

You use the official installer directly from microsoft. Just copy/paste the key in is all. No cracks, phone activations, or weird funkyness.

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I did this route back in March of 2021, worked great for me.

just find someone scrapping a machine with a windows 7 key on it (which should be easy to find now), you can use that to install win 10, i've done it dozens of times and never had an issue.

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Originally Posted by Thaco

just find someone scrapping a machine with a windows 7 key on it (which should be easy to find now), you can use that to install win 10, i've done it dozens of times and never had an issue.

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Anyone know anyone scrapping a Win 7 machine? Just curious.

Also note that Win 7 can't be installed on this machine, so this process is only valid if the Win 7 key can be entered straight into Win 10.

I've always used G2A or Amazon for cheaper keys. Never had an issue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doozer

Anyone know anyone scrapping a Win 7 machine? Just curious.

Also note that Win 7 can't be installed on this machine, so this process is only valid if the Win 7 key can be entered straight into Win 10.

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i'll get you a key, i'll send you a pm in a bit

You really don't need to activate windows anymore... You can legal run windows without activation indefinitely. They just watermark your screen and lock you out of some lame customization features.

Also ebay is a good place for cheap keys but risky. Hopefully Thaco has a key for you cheap.

Thanks everyone, appreciate the responses. Some I've heard, some were new, but I think I've got it sorted for now!