Hey everyone!
I got my desktop with dual boot (Kubuntu & W11) and wanted to know if I ever go fully Kubuntu, am I able to reinstall Windows again?
I don’t have a disc, but my desktop came with it pre-installed. Is it tied to my Live account?
You can download the Windows ISO from Microsoft. The Windows License information is stored in your BIOS, IIRC
Just as pee is stored in the balls, sure. Any computer with a BIOS that did the bidding of Windows like that is automatically insecure garbage. Thankfully it isn’t a thing, your license info is stored by Microsoft attached to your account.
It really is.
sudo strings /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM
Spec straight from Microsoft: https://download.microsoft.com/download/1/3/8/13818231-a8ad-4fe7-b4e1-a63cbc5d6027/microsoft-software-licensing-tables.docx
An UEFI shell application that can extract it as well: https://blog.fpmurphy.com/2018/01/accessing-acpi-msdm-from-uefi-shell.html
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/pKQp61e94VE
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
I just set up a brand new Lenovo laptop today, that came with Win11. I quickly decided Win11 was hot garbage, and installed Win10, removing all partitions and wiping all drives. I never signed into a Microsoft acct on the machine, created only a local acct in Win11 and again in Win10.
When I installed 10, it never asked me for a product key, which had me scratching my head, until I googled and found that it had already activated Win10 home and how I could activate pro.
Long story short, it does appear that newer laptops have the key in their hardware somehow.
Anyway, the writing is on the wall - I can’t keep going with Windows. Which led me to lurking here.
