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Product key on a Proof of License Certificate of Authenticity for Windows Vista Home Premium. A product key, also known as a software key, serial key or activation key, is a specific software-based key for a computer program. It certifies that the copy of the program is original. Product keys consist of a series of numbers and/or letters.
The Activation Wizard in Office 2010. When installing a retail copy of Windows or Office, the user is asked to input a unique product key supplied on a certificate of authenticity included with the program, which is later verified during activation. [1]
A product key is required to proceed and use Windows 95. In one form, product activation refers to a method invented by Ric Richardson and patented (U.S. patent 5,490,216) by Uniloc where a software application hashes hardware serial numbers and an ID number specific to the product's license (a product key) to
During the Office 2010 retail lifecycle Microsoft, in collaboration with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and retail partners, introduced a Product Key Card licensing program that allowed users to purchase a single license to activate Home and Student, Home and Business, and Professional editions preinstalled on personal computers at a ...
Serial numbers are often used in network protocols. However, most sequence numbers in computer protocols are limited to a fixed number of bits, and will wrap around after sufficiently many numbers have been allocated. Thus, recently allocated serial numbers may duplicate very old serial numbers, but not other recently allocated serial numbers.
In software licensing, volume licensing is the practice of using one license to authorize software on a large number of computers and/or for a large number of users. . Customers of such licensing schemes are typically business, governmental or educational institutions, with prices for volume licensing varying depending on the type, quantity and applicable subscripti
A key is retrieved from the set of “Future Keys” This is used to encrypt the message, creating a cryptogram. An identifier known as the “Key Serial Number” (KSN) is returned from the encrypting device, along with the cryptogram. The KSN is formed from the device's unique identifier, and an internal transaction counter.
A software license is a legal instrument that governs the usage and distribution of computer software. [1] Often, such licenses are enforced by implementing in the software a product activation or digital rights management (DRM) mechanism, [2] seeking to prevent unauthorized use of the software by issuing a code sequence that must be entered into the application when prompted or stored in its ...