Windows 10 cloning multiple PCs. Cause any license issue?

Windows Desktop Windows 10
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For a client of mine, I want to set up brand new HP computers with all of the same software, logins, domain join, remove the bloatware, etc., etc., etc…

I was thinking of just cloning an image. Same computers, all with Windows 10 licenses.

I am not sure where the license actually store y googlefu telling me the license is stored in the BIOS, correct? I should be able to clone these computers, and when they boot up, they won’t have any licensing issues? It would just save a ton of time if I could do it that way, but I don’t want her to run into licensing issues form MS because I screwed up.

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You will have to purchase licenses for each machine.

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No.the licenses are not stored anywhere, but you may need to match the product keys with the hardware, especially for OEM OS products where the license keys are built into the OS products.

@VIkasmadan is right you need at least have a single volume license to perform this action

There are a few workarounds to clone OS to deploy to the same make & model.

  1. You are not allowed to alter the OS before cloning…this means you can install the OS, run windows update but into installing any software (unless you have the Win10 imaging rights (usually when you get MSVL Enterprise edition) as mentioned by Patrick. The workaround is to copy all the installers (from downloads or CDs) to a folder like c:\software. Do not install AV also…do not join Domain and use a generic hostname.

  2. Use software like Clonezilla so you can boot from Clonezilla and image the lappy into a file (requires NAS or USB HDD). Then clonezilla to boot up new lappy and “install” the image.

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