Windows 10 Pro Activation with Volume License

[Migration User]

Hello All - I have used Ghost many times in the past, but am new to Ghost Solution Suite 3.x and this is my first time attempting to deploy a Windows 10 image.  I have spoken to Microsoft support (not particularly helpful) and have tried searching this forum but there seems to be an isue with getting old posts to display?

My situation is this:  I have twelve DELL PCs, brand new, that shipped with with Windows 10 Pro OEM.  I have purchased a volume license for Windows 10 Pro (MAK) so that I am legal with my reimaging rights.  I have taken one of the twelve computers and reinstalled Windows 10 Pro (1709) with the VL media.  I went in to Settings and changed the Activation to my VL MAK key.  I then create the image with Ghost and all seems successful.  I then deply this image to one of the other computers which also appears to be succesful.  The issue is that, when I boot the second computer and go in to Settings, I'm getting the "can't activate Windows on this device" error.  I try reactivating with the VL MAK key with no success.  I try extracting the OEM key via the WMIC command and reenter that but I receive the same error.  On going back to the first PC, I run dlmgr /dlv and notice something odd.  While it shows that it is activated with a Volume License key, MAK, etc., the partial key displayed is the OEM key for that PC.  I try reactivating again with the VL key and get the same behavior, no change in what is disaplyed in dlmgr. 

I feel like I'm missing an important step here.  I'm not terribly familiar with Windows 10 Pro yet, but I understand that these PCs are, for lack of a better discription, getting their OEM key from the BIOS.  I seem to be unsuccesful in getting my test computer to 'take' the VL MAK key, even after a fresh install from the VL media.  Can anyone help to shine some light on this?

[CraigEV]

Do you have a KMS server on your network?

[ITGirl22]

You may want to create a job within Ghost to run a script on each computer after the image has been deployed to it.  I have "Post-Imaging" tasks that I run on all the PCs after an image has been deployed to it and Windows 10 activation is one of them.  I do activate Windows 10 during the image creation process, but just as a precaution I run the Windows activation script that is included in the Post-Imaging tasks.

Creat a job and add the task to "Run Script".  Then enter the script information.  Your may look something like this since you are using MAK and not KMS:

slmgr /ipk <windows key>
slmgr /ato

 

Where <windows key> add your Windows 10 activation key there, minus the < >

[Sandy Mark]

The issue is likely because Windows automatically detects the OEM key from the BIOS during activation, even after deploying your VL image. To fix this, run sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown before capturing the image with Ghost this removes hardware-specific licensing data. After deployment, use slmgr /ipk YOUR-MAK-KEY to manually apply your MAK key and activate Windows properly. Also, if you need to buy a genuine Windows 10 Pro license at a cheaper price, I recommend getting it from noxkeys.com they offer keys at a much lower cost.

[Bob Brown]

Got it, the OEM key in the BIOS is overriding your MAK. On your master PC after setup run sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown in an admin Command Prompt. Capture the image with Ghost, deploy to the other PCs and finish the setup wizard. Then run:

slmgr /ipk YOUR-MAK-KEY

slmgr /ato

That should activate smoothly. If the master still uses the OEM key,reinstall with VL media, enter your MAK during setup then Sysprep. If you hit error verify your MAK or call Microsoft's Activation Support. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes!

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[keylia martie]

Yeah, that's a classic Windows licensing quirk - even when you install from VL media, Windows 10 will often auto-detect and inject the OEM key stored in the BIOS. That's why your image keeps reverting to the OEM key instead of staying on your MAK.

The best practice here is to:

Run sysprep /generalize before capturing your image to strip any activation info.

After deployment, use slmgr /ipk <your MAK key>, then slmgr /ato to activate.

You can also disable automatic key retrieval from BIOS by adding a generic VL key temporarily during setup.

If you ever get tired of juggling MAK vs OEM licensing and just need independent retail keys (especially for standalone machines), Digitlogs.com has legit retail Windows 10/11 Pro keys that activate cleanly without BIOS conflicts  I've used them a few times for smaller deployments, no issues at all.

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[keylia martie]

Yeah, that's a pretty common issue Windows keeps pulling the OEM key from the BIOS even if you deploy a VL image.
You'll probably need to generalize your image before capture and then re-enter the MAK key on each machine using slmgr /ipk and slmgr /ato.

In that case, I've had good luck with Digitlogs.com; they offer legit Windows 11 Pro retail keys at a fair price, and I've never had any activation conflicts.

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