Why the key is tied to this PC

The key is tied to this PC so one key cannot be shared across a hundred computers: on activation w0a computes a hardware id from the board's firmware UUID, the motherboard's serial number and the processor's identifier, and locks the key to it. Only a one-way hash of those values leaves your computer, not the serial numbers themselves.

What it is

When you activate, w0a computes a hardware id — a single value derived from a few stable properties of the machine — and the key is locked to it. That is what stops one key being shared across a hundred computers.

What it is made of

Three things read from the hardware itself, not from Windows:

• the product UUID the manufacturer wrote into the board's firmware
• the motherboard's serial number
• the processor's identifier

None of them belong to the operating system, so formatting or reinstalling Windows does not change the id — the key re-activates on the same machine without anyone having to reset anything.

The one exception: on a machine whose firmware carries no usable identity (some virtual machines, boards shipped with placeholder values), w0a has to fall back to the machine GUID Windows generates at install — and only on such a machine does a reinstall change the id.

What actually leaves your computer

A hash. Not the serial numbers.

The values above are combined and put through a one-way function; only the result is sent. The result cannot be turned back into the parts it was made from, so we do not learn your processor's serial number, your board's serial number, or anything that identifies the hardware to anybody else.

We keep that hash beside your key so that a second machine asking to activate the same key can be told no, and that refusal lasts only until you release the binding yourself. Telling one machine apart from another is the only thing the hash is ever used for — it is never used to build a picture of what you do.

Activation is not the only message it travels in, though. The same hash also goes with the licence check at start-up, the live connection while w0a is open, the sign-off when you close it, the release of the binding and a lifetime licence's Discord support link; with the error diagnostics (on by default, switch in Settings > Privacy), where it is what separates one machine hitting a fault twenty times from twenty machines hitting it once; with a problem report you chose to send; and with a Discord trial claim, which is how the trial is held to one device.

How do you move the key to another PC?

You do not need us to move the key. On the machine it is bound to, open Settings, find the License section and press Unbind. The key stops working there and can immediately be activated on another machine. A second machine is refused until you do this — the release has to come from the bound device.

There is a limit: at most 2 unbinds in any 30 days. If you reach it, the application tells you the earliest time you can try again. If the old machine is dead and cannot release the binding, see I changed my PC.

The one exception is the Discord trial: a trial key cannot be released — not by you and not by us. The trial is for one device only and short-lived, so there is nothing to move, and your unbind allowance stays where it belongs: with the licence you buy. When you move to Pro you activate the new key on the same device directly.

What changes the hardware id?

• Replacing the motherboard — almost always
• Replacing the processor — usually

Not changed by: formatting or reinstalling Windows, adding RAM, changing the graphics card, changing disks, a Windows update, or a feature upgrade.

If it changed and you are locked out, see I changed my PC.

Related

• What w0a collects about you
• Entering your licence key