Even consistently upgrading an OEM PC can get Windows to claim that it’s no longer genuine, with the changes made resulting in an overhauled machine being regarded as equivalent to a new computer. Windows copies shipping on OEM machines are inherently tied to the motherboard, and cannot be moved to another computer. One of them is referred to as System-Locked Pre-installation (SLP) OEM Activation, and is only available to original equipment manufacturers.Įssentially, through OA, OEMs effectively bundle together a specific copy of Windows with a PC’s motherboard. Users must already know that Microsoft offers a variety of methods for activating its Windows operating systems. OEM Activation 3.0 for Windows 8 was mentioned by sp3ciali5t, and our friend Ankur Mittal managed to find a job posting from Microsoft which seems to confirm the versioning jump from 2.1 to 3.0. In this regard, I’m extremely curious to see whether the bump from 2.1 to 3.0 for OA will be reflected by the actual evolution of the technology which allows OEMs to activate the copies of Windows 8 they’ll pre-install on new computers. Windows 7 offered original equipment manufacturers the possibility of using OA 2.1, while Windows Vista came with OA 2.0. This piece of information has not been confirmed by the Redmond company, officially or otherwise. Microsoft is going to give OEM activation quite a bump, version-wise, in the next major version of the Windows client.Īccording to various sources, Windows 8 will feature OEM Activation 3.0 (OA 3.0).