A change is coming our way as it relates to how we process our refurbished computers with Windows Operation System. Microsoft has now made it a requirement for any Microsoft Authorized Refurbishers (MARs) to load Windows and digitally inject the unique product key into the refurbished computer’s bios. It will no longer physically be on the Certificate of Authenticity stickers (COA’s) that are applied to the outside of the computer.
The COA will now be replaced with a MAR Holographic sticker denoting that the unit has been officially refurbished and licensed but will not show any ID numbers nor Product Key information. Again, the unique product key will need to be obtained in the BIOS of the computer. These unique product keys that have been digitally injected are registered directly with Microsoft, the MAR and now you the customer for authenticity.
Please be aware while this new process is more secure and helps with the prevention of software piracy creates a longer process and may affect processing times of orders. You will also no longer need to activate the device with the product key which helps save you time in your deployment.
Old COA example:
New Genuine Microsoft Refurbisher Label example:
This is the Genuine Microsoft Refurbisher Label (GMRL) – which replaces the COA. The product key is now injected into the Windows image that a Refurbisher partner loads, so there is no more end user requirement to activate the device. A customer can tell if the Windows license is genuine by looking for this (GMRL).
