I had read it was was for XPS developer editions (the ones that come with Ubuntu), but did not test it myself.
Okay, so I went down to Best Buy and knowing all the stuff from this thread was so helpful. I think I was wrong earlier when I said the dude at Best Buy put a corporate key into the laptop. I was just guessing because I didn’t go to the store that time. After talking to another dude at the store today, I realize I was mistaken. There are a few ways things can go sideways during initial setup, and you can end in a state where you have to open a troubleshooter or something to get activated. That’s probably what they did at the store when my wife took it in. As @stusser points out, they don’t have keys anymore for these kind of machines. So it’s all cool. I went over to the mobile section and got a new phone. :)
All’s well that ends well.
What if your motherboard is on the fritz and you need to replace it? (This is me in the near future I think.)
The thing the guy at Best Buy pointed out was that you have to be connected to the internet for it to work. It seems obvious, but if you skip that step thinking you’ll do it later, it puts the machine into a state where you have to go through a troubleshooter to get the machine to try to call home again.
New mobo usually means you need to get a new key.
Which is embedded in the UEFI on any laptop you’re likely to get.
As long as you replace it with the same Dell motherboard
I finally remembered to verify it, but on FreeDos laptops, atleast made by Dell or Lenovo, there is no embedded Windows 10 Home key in the UEFI/BIOS.