Sometime from 2013 thru 2018 I had Asus X200MA laptop. It came pre-installed with Windows 8.1 64 Home which was activated with OEM key in the firmware. I had made a note of that key for my records.
Later in 2019 the laptop failed, and I sent it to e-Waste vendor for safe disposal.
This weekend out of curiosity I created one experiment.
I created a Virtual Windows 8.1 Home install with the same key in VMWare workstation. Upon getting on to the Internet I was expecting it to fail activation, due to considerable changes in HW. But to my surprise it activated itself.
How is this possible? I assume Windows 8.1 Activation is hardware fingerprint based?
