Windows 10147 Signs of Product Keys and Microsoft Product Activation

1. You will be able to skip entering the product key during Windows 10 Setup. Windows 10 will activate online automatically on such devices. The skip option is only available when booting from media and launching setup
2. The automatic online activation will occur seamlessly after clean installing Windows 10 if the device had previously upgraded and activated online the same Edition of Windows 10. No product keys are required.

Thanks Andre this required more testing so I've done some...

Clean Installation after an Upgrade to Windows 10147:

I had Windows 10130 in a different VM signed in with a Microsoft Account. On the Windows Desktop with the same Windows 10147 .iso and this leads to an install with "Windows is Activated":

A scan with Berlarc Advisor gives two unique keys. One for "Internet Explorer" and the other for "Windows 8.1 Professional" (Berlac Advisor doesn't yet have the ability to distinguish between Windows 10 Insider and Windows 8.1).

After booting from installation media I used DISKPART → CLEAN ALL to wipe the drive and remove traces of the old Windows installation.

At the input your product screen I selected skip...

Then I selected the Pro Preview:

I got this after the reboot:

I selected "Do this later". Then I selected Express Settings and I logged in with my Microsoft Account and got:

Then I ran Berlarc Advisor again and this time the "Windows 8.1 Professional Key" matched the "Windows 8.1 Professional Key" from before. This time the "Internet Explorer Key" was the same as the "Windows 8.1 Professional Key".

This key began with NJ4MX.

Then just for kicks I decided to remove the Microsoft Product Activation using slmgr.vbs /upk:

Then

Then:

I then tried to input the "Windows 8.1 Product Key" from Berlarc Advisor.

Then:

Repeating this process on a different VM "VM2" upgraded from Windows 10130 and upgrading to 10147 using a different Microsoft Account"Microsoft Account 2" yielded the same product key: "NJ4MX-VQQ7Q-FP3DB-VDGHX-7XM87". Using DISKPART → CLEAN ALL and then reinstalling on "VM2" with "Microsoft Account 1" instead of "Microsoft Account 2" lead to an activated product.

Repeating the process on physical hardware and signing without a Microsoft Account ave me an activated product.

I will buy a second hand Latitude 5510 with Windows 7 OEM Professional and try the upgrade from a wiped drive to ensure it doesn't work when it arrives. I will then reinstall Windows 7 Professional OEM 64 Bit with SP1 and test the .iso to see if Product Activation works in the same manner.

Clean Installation using a Different Machine and Difference Microsoft Account:

The first install was a fresh install with a Microsoft Account and the generic product key was input in a VM. As seen it lead to an unactivated Windows... Also reinstalling by skipping the key twice leads to an unactivated product.

The product ID was different (the last 5 digits) for the install with my other Microsoft Account:

As you can see product activation suing the same key failed:

Philip,

Could you check for me if this build has the option of creating reinstall media that you could actually use to do a full reinstall?

While build 10147 gives us a clue about where Microsoft is heading, I'm curious why they haven't released it to Insiders - are they changing something, or is 10147 broken in some way?

We need a 10150 release candidate ASAP to see if 10147's behavior is where it's gonna be, or if it was just an aborted experiment and that's why it wasn't released.  It's risky to make judgements based on unreleased code.

Note I also tested the ability to move documents, pictures, music and videos to another drive it seems to not work correctly:

Maybe that's why it wasn't released.  Problems with basic file operations are a definite showstopper.

Okay so some more testing. This time I have done the following....

Windows 10130 to Windows 10147 in a VM1 installed with Microsoft Account 1. Product is activated. The key is found with Berlarc Advisor and given as "NJ4MX-VQQ7Q-FP3DB-VDGHX-7XM87". This machine has been clean  installed with the drive wiped prior to installation and it reactivated. Removing the product key and inputting the product key obtained by Berlarc Advisor reactivated the product.

Second Windows 10147 clean installed directly in a VM2 using Microsoft Account 2 with and without the product key listed by WinAero led to Windows not activated. The use of product key NJ4MX-VQQ7Q-FP3DB-VDGHX-7XM87 did not allow product activation.

Installed Windows 10130 in VM2 and then went to Windows 10147 and installed with Microsoft Account 2. Product is activated. The key is found with Berlarc Advisor and given as "NJ4MX-VQQ7Q-FP3DB-VDGHX-7XM87".

Windows 10130 to Windows 10147 in a LatitudeD820 installed with Microsoft Account 1. Product is activated. The key is found with Berlarc Advisor and given as "NJ4MX-VQQ7Q-FP3DB-VDGHX-7XM87". This machine has been clean  installed with the drive wiped prior to installation and it reactivated. I will check the procedure of making a USB recovery drive. I managed to make one in VM1 but can't boot from it.

I plan to test the recovery drive in the physical machine and I will clean install Windows 10 in VM2 this time using Microsoft Account 1 to see what happens.

The keys appear to be generic but product activation only is allowed if the machine has been originally upgraded via Windows 10130. Its possible it also accepts a Windows 7 or 8.1 base license but I've not tested that.

Philip,

Could you check for me if this build has the option of creating reinstall media that you could actually use to do a full reinstall?

I managed to make the Recovery Drive:

I used DISKPART → CLEAN on the SSD. Then attempted to restore from the Recovery Drive however in my case my Recovery Drive didn't work:

This highlights the flaw of this procedure, a .iso has to be made available...

I'm sure in five weeks it will be perfect, right?

I'm sure in five weeks it will be perfect, right?

The rest of it on the whole is performing extremely well... I have done some playing with the Apps and documented some screenshots here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-sneak-glance-at-windows-insider-10-10147/