Single Windows 10 license on a single image that would be duplicated for distribution

Jon Arciaga 96 Reputation points
2021-01-06T16:37:07.437+00:00

Hello!

I have a question about Windows 10 Licensing. At my company we have a embedded computer for one of our products. This embedded computer is a barebones Windows 10 with nothing on it besides the operating system and our software to control and monitor our product. We would like one license for a "master hard drive" that we would duplicate onto other hard drives to be installed into and distributed in our product. This "master hard drive" would have the Windows 10 OS setup to how we need with all the settings and network configured. It would also have our software needed for our product.

How would we go about doing this? Is it possible to have a license that does that? If it is possible, how would the license be activated? Would the device need to connect to Microsoft's licensing server to activate after first startup?

Thank you!

-Jon

Windows 10
Windows 10
A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
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  1. Oscar Maqueda 611 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2021-01-06T17:20:00.847+00:00

    It seems that you need an OEM partner o becoming one... https://partner.microsoft.com/en-GB/

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  2. Joy Qiao 4,901 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2021-01-07T02:36:14.997+00:00

    Hi,

    According to your description, I think you might want reimaging your other devices.
    Reimaging rights is defined as deploying or copying the software (Windows 10) onto multiple devices from a “golden” or consistent image.

    Here is a detailed description about reimage right, please refer to Reimaging rights article for more information.

    But if you need to deploy Windows 10 across multiple devices and want to create a standard golden image for deployment, you’re required to use Volume License media bits and key when creating your image.

    Bests,

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  3. Jon Arciaga 96 Reputation points
    2021-01-07T14:51:40.767+00:00

    Thank you for the answer so far! My apologies though, I need to clarify a mistake. We have a Windows 7 Embedded on our devices and we want to upgrade it to Windows 10. So far it looks like we'll need to use Windows 10 Enterprise IoT which is the equivalent to Windows 7 Embedded. We then want to have That Windows 10 Enterprise IoT "master" hard drive to be the hard drive that we duplicate from onto other hard drives that would be distributed to customers for our devices.

    What's unclear to me is what kind of license would be good for this? Is there a special way to make a Windows image to make it distributable like that without any licensing issues? Also, some of these devices won't be connected to the internet, so they can't contact the Microsoft Licensing service. For our Windows 7 Embedded, we are able to have one license and distribute from that while applying a licensing sticker onto the device.

    Thanks!

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  4. Joy Qiao 4,901 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2021-01-12T07:42:59.967+00:00

    Hi,

    It is available to upgrade your Windows 7 Embedded system version to upper system version. However, it has an requirement for your Windows 7 device to meet limited of Windows 10 system requirement.

    System requirements for installing Windows 10

    As I know, there is no longer a difference between the desktop and embedded binaries that ship with the product. Also the requirement is suitable for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.

    As Microsoft official article states Overview of Windows Embedded Versions, we need to purchase Enterprise Volume License for Windows 8 Embedded system when upgrade from Windows 7 Embedded system. Even though I didn't found any information about Windows 10 Embedded system, but I suspect it would similar with previous.

    55605-capture.png

    As I know, we could buy license from Volume Licensing Service Center, but I would suggest to contact with Windows IoT distributor about upgrade and license issue on your Embedded devices to check if they are support latest system version and if any potential risk for hardware compatibility. You also could get image file and license from distributor. As I know, they are out of additional fee.

    Bests,

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