Is it possible to install from a clean medium and have all this activation and licensing stuff handled on an OEM machine without paying for another license?
Last time I used Windows (Vista era) the only choice was OEM installer pre-filled with crapware and The Pirate Bay, neither exactly optimal.
Of course you can reinstall your OS from clean state and you could do it with any Windows. AFAIK Windows 10 will send your hardware information to Microsoft servers and will be activated automatically when you reinstall it.
Installing clean Windows and activating it with fake KMS server should work too, if you want to steal it.
I think in the newer Windows, they put the license key in the bios. That's the case with my Thinkpad at least. Whenever I reinstall Windows from scratch it detects the key automatically.
Thankfully, you can now also just download the Windows ISO from Microsoft directly.
