A Windows product key that tells the system to use OEM activation instead of the traditional Microsoft activation process.These certificate files are unique to each OEM so Dell has their own, HP has their own, etc. A certificate file that matches up against the “SLIC” string that is stored in the BIOS.Home built systems will not (unless you modify the bios yourself) The bios of the system must contain what is called a “SLIC” string, all systems made by a major OEM such as Dell, HP will include this.In windows Vista, 7, server 2008, 2008r2, and server 2012 OEM activation is accomplished by the combination of 3 elements.
I recently came across a system that had been rebuilt and the activation was not re-applied so after 90/120 days the system started reporting it was not genuine and realized a few of you may not know how to re-apply OEM activation.
