Refurbished desktop with Win 11 , no product key

[Lakewood90712]

I have purchased several refurbished desktops thru Walmart over the years. All were thru 3 party sellers Always had good luck , never a problem. Just purchased a Dell OptiPlex I5 6300 with win 11 pro installed. It is advertised as " Restored " from a 3rd party seller.

In the past , all the refurbs had a Microsoft product key sticker on the case. This has none. No contact info from the seller ,no shipping invoice in the box and crude shipping package. Probably going to return it. seems kind of sketchy . Also I think this is a situation where hardware not intended for win 11 has somehow been installed on it. Would this have security issues with win 11 and hardware built before win 11 was created on an older machine

Your thoughts ?

 

[Lakewood90712]

In the past , the refurb pc's always said Microsoft authorized reseller. not so on this one.

 

[Jerry1]

I agree - send it back. One of the main things you’re buying with a refurb is the operating system. I’d want to make sure it was legit.

 

[DrRoy]

I'd pass.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

I've always been cautious about buying electronics from unknown third parties. The risk of malware being installed always struck me as too high. Maybe paranoid on my part.

I've bought manufacturer refurb things many times and have never had an issue.

I'd say return it.

 

[aja8888]

I have bought refurbished units from Dell's refurb store and have had great luck and sometimes get a 50% off deal. The latest Optiplex I bought has an I7 chip, 8 GB RAM and was ~$200 shipped. These refurb's are essentially in like new condition.

 

[NewEnglander]

Most PCs no longer have the product key sticker they instead have a digital license. See
attached link for how to find your info
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/find-your-windows-product-key-aaa2bf69-7b2b-9f13-f581-a806abf0a886

 

[Sojourner]

Just purchased a Dell OptiPlex I5 6300 with win 11 pro installed. It is advertised as " Restored " from a 3rd party seller.

In the past , all the refurbs had a Microsoft product key sticker on the case. This has none. No contact info from the seller ,no shipping invoice in the box and crude shipping package. Probably going to return it. seems kind of sketchy.

Your thoughts ?

The only way I'd keep the desktop is if you got an excellent deal on the hardware itself and wouldn't mind wiping the hard drive(s) and then installing a new OS from scratch. I absolutely would not run this possibly unlicensed install of Windows 11 Pro that came from this sketchy 3rd party seller.

 

[spencnor]

I’ve had good luck buying used HP Elitedesk desktops on eBay. I use these for my IP camera servers. I think the sweet price point now ~$200. is the 8th generation intel i7.

Here’s a good example https://www.ebay.com/itm/3646414295...XXSFAa2/MGj5MBKVEhDFY4HPQ=|tkp:Bk9SR9TO0KybYw

 

[NewEnglander]

I’ve had good luck buying used HP Elitedesk desktops on eBay. I use these for my IP camera servers. I think the sweet price point now ~$200. is the 8th generation intel i7.

Here’s a good example https://www.ebay.com/itm/3646414295...XXSFAa2/MGj5MBKVEhDFY4HPQ=|tkp:Bk9SR9TO0KybYw

+1 . I did the exact same thing. Running all my IP cameras using Blue Iris software.

 

[gwill1010]

No stickers on PCs anymore. Keep it, load free avast on it.

 

[Lakewood90712]

I’ve had good luck buying used HP Elitedesk desktops on eBay. I use these for my IP camera servers. I think the sweet price point now ~$200. is the 8th generation intel i7.

Here’s a good example https://www.ebay.com/itm/3646414295...XXSFAa2/MGj5MBKVEhDFY4HPQ=|tkp:Bk9SR9TO0KybYw

I think that is more of what I am looking for. The 8th generation processor is the minimum that microsoft says they will support with security updates in the future , if I understand correctly.

 

[jim584672]

Always do a clean OS install from the original bits, never trust pre loaded software that could have who knows what in it.

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11


Or dump MS and try out Linux. I couldn't help myself.
https://manjaro.org/download/

 

[target2019]

Summary: This article describes how Windows 11 and Windows 10 product keys work, and how to identify a Windows 11 or Windows 10 Genuine computer. https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/...at are factory,Product Key on the motherboard.

If you have a Dell, Windows installs drivers as best it can. On older system, though, you may need to download motherboard drivers and so on from Dell itself.

You type in the Dell ID assigned to the computer, and that identifies the orginal hardware, and points you to the drivers downloads you'll need.

For a 3rd part buy, there's the possibility that components may be different. for instance, the on-board ethernet went bad, and was replaced (or not) by a bus card. Tough position to be in, especially with little experience in systems setup.

 

[gwill1010]

Always do a clean OS install from the original bits, never trust pre loaded software that could have who knows what in it.

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11
https://manjaro.org/download/

If you do this I believe there's no way around purchasing a new license. Maybe you can grab the existing key and reuse it. I used to do this, but I've been out of the game for a while.

The odds vendors are inserting something malicious (rootkit, timebomb, or other virus) is extremely low. Firstly, technically, it would be challenging to find or create something to insert not detectable by most any virus scanner. Secondly, these vendors wouldn't get away with this for very long. It would be very easy to get caught.

 

[jim584672]

If you do this I believe there's no way around purchasing a new license. Maybe you can grab the existing key and reuse it. I used to do this, but I've been out of the game for a while.

The odds vendors are inserting something malicious (rootkit, timebomb, or other virus) is extremely low. Firstly, technically, it would be challenging to find or create something to insert not detectable by most any virus scanner. Secondly, these vendors wouldn't get away with this for very long. It would be very easy to get caught.

If the machine has a license it will auto activate when you do a clean install.