oj88 Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 (edited) I wish to donate a desktop PC to a church in a remote province in the Philippines (using PowerPoint to project sermons and worship songs). For the last half hour, I've been trying to find out if there's some sort of timer in Windows that will make it "phone home" to check the validity of the license. Anyway, the place where this PC will end up does not have an internet connection. They don't even get a cellphone reception. But since we have people coming in and out of the area twice a month, I initially decided to have the PC (a small micro-atx box) brought back to the city every few months or so to install patches and do some maintenance work. Question: Is there a concept of a "tombstone lifetime" about how long Windows could operate without an internet connection? Specifically, will it deactivate itself after x number of days? Edited December 7, 2013 by oj88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmwills Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 I've never hear of a required connection to keep an activation valid. Now of course, you will never get updates but that's a price you pay. Now for the legal side, you cannot transfer the OS license legally. You actually lease the license to the OS and do not own it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oj88 Posted December 7, 2013 Author Share Posted December 7, 2013 (edited) Even if I give away the license and NOT keeping a copy of the OS and license? EDIT: Bought Windows 8 online for $120 and installed it over the Windows 7 OEM the box came in with. Edited December 7, 2013 by oj88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmwills Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 All I know is you never "own" the OS. You paid for a license to use it. Will anyone really care...nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revengineer Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 As long as Windows was not activated against a KMS server, which needs to be refreshed within 180 days, the license will not expire. To determine what license is installed, use the command "slmgr.vbs /dlv". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oj88 Posted December 7, 2013 Author Share Posted December 7, 2013 ^ Thank you. I think that's what stuck in my mind.... the KMS thing. I know from my previous work that when a notebook user has been "off the reservation" for a significant amount of time, something like that happens. @jmwills, Read a bit on the way MS licenses Windows. Apparently, you can transfer the license to another person or entity for as long as you give them everything (original media, certificate of authenticity, license key, etc.) and never keep a copy. I guess I'm in the clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmwills Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Right, as long as you give the "media". Rather unclear if you upgrade via a download what do you give them. Nice project you are accomplishing m by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikon Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Although I believe you are legal, I also believe MS would not be upset even if that wasn't the case, because of the nature of how the OS is to be used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsox Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 you should be able to check the license expiration with the /xpr option in slmgr.vbs On my Win7 Pro desktop it reports something like "permanent", no expiration... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikon Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Nice tip jsox; not sure I've ever used that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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