kdobbs: That has always been the case. I used to build PC's and was authorized by Microsoft to install OS's with their Pre-Installation Kit. It's always tied to the motherboard. If you have a PC and the motherboard fails, you are SOL and will have to get a new license key. The problem with the Surface is the company has encrypted the hard drives and their process for unlocking them ( giving us admin privileges ) didn't work for many.(I am one ) I have looked at log files and they started trying to do it on the 2nd. You can't wipe the drive if you don't have admin privileges which requires ADMIN/PASSWORD ( only available from IT and ya ain't getting that) Or they have to give you the Bit Locker Recovery Key. There is another way to retrieve it and I won't get into details because it's very in depth, but I did try and unfortunately, the key was not available. My son and I have gone through some of their instructions they sent and I'm sorry but it's bad.

I don't think they will be able to give me the recovery key to unlock the hard drive, but we will see.