this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2024
249 points (94.6% liked)
linuxmemes
20686 readers
809 users here now
I use Arch btw
Sister communities:
- LemmyMemes: Memes
- LemmyShitpost: Anything and everything goes.
- RISA: Star Trek memes and shitposts
Community rules
- Follow the site-wide rules and code of conduct
- Be civil
- Post Linux-related content
- No recent reposts
Please report posts and comments that break these rules!
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I recently found out that these keys are nowadays embedded in the BIOS. The following command will retrieve it:
sudo strings /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM
This works even if you nuked Windows and installed Linux. Do note that this key will be locked to that particular hardware; you could reinstall Win on that specific computer, but you can't use that key to activate Win on a different machine.
I had no idea you could dump it from Linux.
So I did this. I nuked Windows when I bought a new laptop. About a year later I changed jobs and now needed to use Visual Studio. Now I know why Windows never hassled me for a key when I reinstalled...