Windows 11 Pro - Activation query

Method · Jan 21, 2025

Hi folks. Depressing how time flies, the last time I asked for help was on 7Forums!

I have just built a brand new PC (self build). Its a high spec and POSTs fine, just updated the BIOS and I am about to follow your clean Win 11 install guide.

I have purchased Windows 11 Pro and Office 2021 from StackSocial at an absurd discount. Worries aside about the low price (Ive read threads here saying they are legit) my question is this:

If I follow your guides I will be downloading Win 11 Pro from microsoft and making a bootable UFEI drive out of it. During the guide, at some point, I activate the Windows install.

Does anyone know if I can use whatever Windows code I hope I should get through StackSocial at this stage?

Also, what are the pros and cons of actually registering a Microsoft Account vs avoiding it?

Many thanks
Matt

AugPal · Jan 21, 2025

There are good and bad things written about StackSocial. Just google "Is Stacksocial trustworthy"

I saw Windows 11 Pro was $19.97. That throws up a lot of red flags to me, but a lot of people say they are legitimate.

I did read a person said, "The licenses are often offloaded bulk licenses from fleet sales that were never used or no longer in use. There's always a chance they could get deactivated."

Good luck to you with the license, I hope it works

Addendum: I have always used NewEgg in the past for a Windows OS.

PCUser · Jan 21, 2025

Method said:
Hi folks. Depressing how time flies, the last time I asked for help was on 7Forums!

I have just built a brand new PC (self build). Its a high spec and POSTs fine, just updated the BIOS and I am about to follow your clean Win 11 install guide.

I have purchased Windows 11 Pro and Office 2021 from StackSocial at an absurd discount. Worries aside about the low price (Ive read threads here saying they are legit) my question is this:

If I follow your guides I will be downloading Win 11 Pro from microsoft and making a bootable UFEI drive out of it. During the guide, at some point, I activate the Windows install.

Does anyone know if I can use whatever Windows code I hope I should get through StackSocial at this stage?

Also, what are the pros and cons of actually registering a Microsoft Account vs avoiding it?

Many thanks
Matt

Hi Matt,
Watch this video. I've used it numerous times for installing Windows 11 Pro, and it works perfectly every time.

Don't give MS what they want...

youtube.com/watch?v=EOUcvgqOV-0

Regarding your Windows 11 Pro activation, I recommend using a Windows 11 Pro activation key only. Good luck

Megahertz · Jan 21, 2025

If your MB isn't OEM (Dell, HP, Acer etc) once you boot the Win 11 USB installation drive and proceed to install, it will ask what version you want to install. Select Win 11 Pro. It will ask for a license key. Insert the Win 11 Pro license you have.

Reset BIOS or load defaults.
Set Disk mode to AHCI, not RAID
Select OS mode = UEFI
Disable fast boot and secure boot (you can turn it on after installation)

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a UEFI BIOS, you should install as UEFI-GPT
Detach any other drives (SATA or Power cable) from the MB.

During POST, press F12(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name) to install as UEFI-GPT.
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.
If you want to use a local account What is "oobe\bypassnro"

Winuser · Jan 21, 2025

When I do a clean install or setup a new computer I always setup with a local account first and then switch to my MS account. There are a few reasons why and the main reason is so that I can use the user name I want and not the first 5 characters of my email address. Clean Install Windows 11

badrobot · Jan 21, 2025

The key should be fine. If it didn't work, well, it was a gamble you took. But I don't see why it wouldn't work. They usually work. The good thing about StackSocial, you are not paying the full amount. So if somehow it didn't work or stopped working, that is somewhat expected. But again, it rarely happens.

hsehestedt · Jan 21, 2025

Winuser said:
When I do a clean install or setup a new computer I always setup with a local account first and then switch to my MS account. There are a few reasons why and the main reason is so that I can use the user name I want and not the first 5 characters of my email address. Clean Install Windows 11

That's exactly what I do and for the same reason.

@Method,

First, Welcome to ElevenForum!

As for the entry of the license key, you can add the license after you are done installing if you wish. During installation select the option saying that you do not have a license key. After installation, add in the license key to activate.

If you need any further details let me know.

Method · Jan 21, 2025

Megahertz said:
If your MB isn't OEM (Dell, HP, Acer etc) once you boot the Win 11 USB installation drive and proceed to install, it will ask what version you want to install. Select Win 11 Pro. It will ask for a license key. Insert the Win 11 Pro license you have.

Reset BIOS or load defaults.
Set Disk mode to AHCI, not RAID
Select OS mode = UEFI
Disable fast boot and secure boot (you can turn it on after installation)

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a UEFI BIOS, you should install as UEFI-GPT
Detach any other drives (SATA or Power cable) from the MB.

During POST, press F12(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name) to install as UEFI-GPT.
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.
If you want to use a local account What is "oobe\bypassnro"

Thank you for this Sir. Very informative.

A question though. You suggest "Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.". I have a 4Tb M.2 which I wanted to partition and have 1Tb for OS and other things and 3Tb for Data/Games etc. Does this pose an issue or must I install Windows into all 4Tb?

Megahertz · Jan 21, 2025

Method said:
Thank you for this Sir. Very informative.

A question though. You suggest "Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.". I have a 4Tb M.2 which I wanted to partition and have 1Tb for OS and other things and 3Tb for Data/Games etc. Does this pose an issue or must I install Windows into all 4Tb?

To separate OS+programs from data is a very good practice. You don't need 1T for OS+programs. 100G is more than you ever use. My C: partition is 80G and it's 56% free.
The UEFI - GPT drive for windows has the partition layout as follows:

If you want to have a large Data partition, I suggest you create it after the recovery partition. To do it, it's much easy to create it during installation.
When it ask where you want to install, if the drive has any partition, delete all them.
- Create a new partition for the OS+Programs (I suggest 100G) and then format as NTFS
- Create a new partition for Data the size of the remaining drive and format as NTFS
- Delete the first partition you had just created (100G). Windows must be installed on an unallocated space.
- Select the unallocated space to install Windows and proceed.
- It will create 4 new partitions on the unallocated space as shown above with the Data partition after the recovery partition.

In the future, if you decide to do a clean install, you delete the 4 partitions (but not the data partition) and install Windows on the unallocated space.

Windows 11 Pro - Activation query

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