Deploying image to OEM devices - what about Windows licensing

Hi Jean,

As long as you are using the same version of Windows in your image as being deployed to the original OEM license on these machines, you should not have any issues.  

What version of Windows are you using anyway?  In the past, OEM licenses were still tagged somewhere on the physical system so could be retrieved from the system or a CD easily and re-entered if need be.  As of the past few years though, manufacturers have been making it harder to find them.  

BEFORE you re-image, you can use a keyfinder like Magic Jellybean Keyfinder (free / no malware) to retrieve the exact OEM license key on each of your machines and make note of those (in case your resulting image does not license automatically).  I have a feeling, even then though, you may have to call Microsoft to relicense at times, but shouuld do so automatically if you use the same key that came with the system (after deploying an image - for each machine).  Otherwise, you may want to consider getting some enterprise licenses if you don't want to manually enter them each time.  Will cost more up front for sure, but may be worth it in the long run if you will be doing this a lot and you have to call Microsoft each time to license each of those machines.

With Windows 10, licenses are tied to the hardware.  If your systems have already been upgraded to Windows 10 and show registered.  You can reimage and deploy Windows 10 and they will license automatically everytime (needs Internet connectivity though)