Activating Windows on a refurbished PC

[ksud]

I've bought a refurbished Mini PC from Bharati Systems. It came pre-installed with Windows 10 Pro. I used power shell to display the license key as I was planning to install a fresh copy of Tiny10 Windows.

After installing Tiny10 in settings the version of windows is showing 10 Enterprise LTS. It was showing an error that stated it could not connect to the organizations server for activation. How to I use the license key that they gave me in the first place instead of the enterprise one which I don't have?

 

[enthusiast29]

Don't install Tiny10 or whatever you're trying to do.
Install the from the genuine installation image from Microsoft.

You can only install Win 10 Pro if you want to use your key.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Thats because Tiny10 is mostly based on Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC. The key that is in your bios is for Windows Pro only. Hence the mismatch

Either format and reinstall Windows 10, it will works without needing any key OR if you want to continue using Tiny10, use the MAS scripts from massgrave.dev to activate.

EDIT - even if you reinstall Windows 10 Pro, you may not be able to activate the device. I recently rebuilt a machine that was digitally activated but not linked to an account, after changing SSD, it wasnt reactivating. In such cases, ensure you connect with MS support.

 

[ksud]

Thats because Tiny10 is mostly based on Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC. The key that is in your bios is for Windows Pro only. Hence the mismatch

Either format and reinstall Windows 10, it will works without needing any key OR if you want to continue using Tiny10, use the MAS scripts from massgrave.dev to activate.

EDIT - even if you reinstall Windows 10 Pro, you may not be able to activate the device. I recently rebuilt a machine that was digitally activated but not linked to an account, after changing SSD, it wasnt reactivating. In such cases, ensure you connect with MS support.

Would like to keep on using Tiny10 if possible. It's strictly for office use and isn't used for anything apart from billing & printing documents. If I can activate it still will install official ISO only.

Don't install Tiny10 or whatever you're trying to do.
Install the from the genuine installation image from Microsoft.

You can only install Win 10 Pro if you want to use your key.

Is Tiny10 not trustworthy is it people claim it is? Any other alternatives for striped down the OS?

 

[enthusiast29]

Is Tiny10 not trustworthy is it people claim it is? Any other alternatives for striped down the OS?

I avoid OS which are modified by 3rd parties to such extent that they can't be updated for security vulnerabilities / bug fixes the normal way.
Also if I face an issue with some application or windows I won't ever know if it's caused by the unnecessary stripping of the OS or the application.
Best to avoid such headache.

 

[nRiTeCh]

Is Tiny10 not trustworthy is it people claim it is? Any other alternatives for striped down the OS?

Whats so much with a stripped ver.? What you want to achieve? Why not stick to the genuine ver. by official MS?
All these experiments looked great back in the XP era when there were 1000 ver. god knows what not editions and it was relative;ly safe to try as that time there were no daily vulnerabilities or such dangers.

 

[ksud]

I avoid OS which are modified by 3rd parties to such extent that they can't be updated for security vulnerabilities / bug fixes the normal way.
Also if I face an issue with some application or windows I won't ever know if it's caused by the unnecessary stripping of the OS or the application.
Best to avoid such headache.

I see your point. The PC will be relegated to basic task so I'm not concerned about debugging the OS. It'll be used for MS Office, PDF viewing & browsing. If issues arises I can install a fresh copy without needing to backup anything local (office use)

Whats so much with a stripped ver.? What you want to achieve? Why not stick to the genuine ver. by official MS?
All these experiments looked great back in the XP era when there were 1000 ver. god knows what not editions and it was relative;ly safe to try as that time there were no daily vulnerabilities or such dangers.

Having a stripped down version has many benefits for ageing hardware. I'm mostly interested in de-bloating the OS of unnecessary stuff that will result in less system resources being used. I've been using Tiny10 on our first laptop (3rd gen i5 U series processor) and it fairs much better than the stock windows OS. But TBH that's a laptop with soldered-on ram which sees very less usage and not entirely sure if it would give the same performance increase on a desktop (i5-6500T) where you can upgrade components.

As for vulnerabilities, the PC will not have no sensitive data stored on it. But yeah, it will be connected to the internet so there's a risk always.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Would like to keep on using Tiny10 if possible. It's strictly for office use and isn't used for anything apart from billing & printing documents. If I can activate it still will install official ISO only.

If used in office, stick to Windows Pro as that is what you are licensed for.

Is Tiny10 not trustworthy is it people claim it is? Any other alternatives for striped down the OS?

LTSC variants are meant for specific tasks devices only. Not general purpose work etc.

Plus there is always risk when getting stuff from 3rd party sites.

I see your point. The PC will be relegated to basic task so I'm not concerned about debugging the OS. It'll be used for MS Office, PDF viewing & browsing. If issues arises I can install a fresh copy without needing to backup anything local (office use)


Having a stripped down version has many benefits for ageing hardware. I'm mostly interested in de-bloating the OS of unnecessary stuff that will result in less system resources being used. I've been using Tiny10 on our first laptop (3rd gen i5 U series processor) and it fairs much better than the stock windows OS. But TBH that's a laptop with soldered-on ram which sees very less usage and not entirely sure if it would give the same performance increase on a desktop (i5-6500T) where you can upgrade components.

As for vulnerabilities, the PC will not have no sensitive data stored on it. But yeah, it will be connected to the internet so there's a risk always.

Just upgrade the HDD to an SSD - this will be more than enough to run W10 even with 4GB of RAM for your usecase.

In the future, please stop buying stuff which cannot be upgraded, especially RAM.

 

[Tracer_Bullet]

LTSC variants are meant for specific tasks devices only. Not general purpose work etc.

LTSC works well though if one is looking to avoid bloat and have something like win7. Haven't faced any issue with it for general stuff.

 

[nullpc]

Just upgrade the HDD to an SSD - this will be more than enough to run W10 even with 4GB of RAM for your usecase.

In the future, please stop buying stuff which cannot be upgraded, especially RAM.

This is far from the truth in my experience even if it considerably improves things if one were still stuck with HDDs. Because of Microsoft's marketing department's agenda to thrash W10/11/12? with unnecessary bloat, spam and all kinds of bullshit experiments, the quality and stability has taken a massive hit. There are most certainly teams doing excellent work inside MS but all that is negated by the constant need to push crap without the user asking for it. The OS itself feels like an adware these days and this is coming from someone who has been using unreleased preview builds since W8 days.

The only great liberation for these underpowered machines is Linux even if it means you have to live with all of its quirks and pray that its stable.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

This is far from the truth in my experience even if it considerably improves things if one were still stuck with HDDs.

As someone who has purchased nearly 50+refurbs and some with 4GB, I do know what i am talking about.

Even if you put a 7200rpm HDD, Windows 10 can be absolute crap when you need to work with MS Office apps.

Because of Microsoft's marketing department's agenda to thrash W10/11/12? with unnecessary bloat, spam and all kinds of bullshit experiments, the quality and stability has taken a massive hit.

I hope you do know how product lifecycles work. Windows 10 is not getting any new features for the most part, only ports of things like Copilot or so.

There are most certainly teams doing excellent work inside MS but all that is negated by the constant need to push crap without the user asking for it. The OS itself feels like an adware these days and this is coming from someone who has been using unreleased preview builds since W8 days.

I have been doing this shit since XP days with a P3 - name it and it has been done.

The only great liberation for these underpowered machines is Linux even if it means you have to live with all of its quirks and pray that its stable.

Thats the next step, this is for those who need Windoze and have no other option and have to use a system with 4GB

LTSC works well though if one is looking to avoid bloat and have something like win7. Haven't faced any issue with it for general stuff.

True, have used it, but going by recos, its not supposed to be used for normal use cases.

 

[nullpc]

As someone who has purchased nearly 50+refurbs and some with 4GB, I do know what i am talking about.

Even if you put a 7200rpm HDD, Windows 10 can be absolute crap when you need to work with MS Office apps.

I meant it's not just enough to put an SSD and 4 gigs of RAM. Given Chrome is a baseline requirement for most legit usage of the system in question, unless you want your SSD's lifespan to reduce dramatically within few months, one would be smart to have 8 (ideally 16) gigs of RAM or more.

I hope you do know how product lifecycles work. Windows 10 is not getting any new features for the most part, only ports of things like Copilot or so.

That doesn't stop them from adding crap that's forcing users towards their next big shit which also adds unnecessary entropy into a stable checkpoint. Given you are an experienced user, you must remember all the deliberate hiccups caused during Win7 → Win8 and Win8 → Win10 migrations. And we're still in the beginning phases of Win10 → Win11 migration.

I have been doing this shit since XP days with a P3 - name it and it has been done.

I didn't mean to measure lol but I'm sadly a lot older than that My point was specifically to compare against the "modern era"'s beginnings which kind of kicked off with W8 and its ambitions. Things have strayed quite a lot w.r.t focus of the OS itself and their marketing dept seems to have a lot more control.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

I meant it's not just enough to put an SSD and 4 gigs of RAM. Given Chrome is a baseline requirement for most legit usage of the system in question, unless you want your SSD's lifespan to reduce dramatically within few months, one would be smart to have 8 (ideally 16) gigs of RAM or more.

Yes, but when life gives no options, what to do, change machine or kill SSD?

That doesn't stop them from adding crap that's forcing users towards their next big shit which also adds unnecessary entropy into a stable checkpoint. Given you are an experienced user, you must remember all the deliberate hiccups caused during Win7 → Win8 and Win8 → Win10 migrations. And we're still in the beginning phases of Win10 → Win11 migration.

IMO XP to 7 was the biggest change in terms of device support etc

I didn't mean to measure lol but I'm sadly a lot older than that My point was specifically to compare against the "modern era"'s beginnings which kind of kicked off with W8 and its ambitions. Things have strayed quite a lot w.r.t focus of the OS itself and their marketing dept seems to have a lot more control.

Neither did I, just saying that nothing is sacred, always something which was supposed to be the cornerstone of Windows has changed over time.

 

[guest_999]

I meant it's not just enough to put an SSD and 4 gigs of RAM. Given Chrome is a baseline requirement for most legit usage of the system in question, unless you want your SSD's lifespan to reduce dramatically within few months, one would be smart to have 8 (ideally 16) gigs of RAM or more.

I can assure you there is almost no scenario in which chrome usage on 4GB ram with even 16gb pagefile will shorten the lifespan of a ssd nowadays. For a typical user, nothing except daily downloading 100GB of torrents would dramatically reduce ssd life span.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

I can assure you there is almost no scenario in which chrome usage on 4GB ram with even 16gb pagefile will shorten the lifespan of a ssd nowadays. For a typical user, nothing except daily downloading 100GB of torrents would dramatically reduce ssd life span.

True, but I think he was adopting a worst case scenario.