Windows 10: Windows Reactivation upon Hardware Change

Hi all,


I switched the motherboard and CPU in my Windows 10 Pro PC, and how Windows is requesting to be reactivated.


I attempted to go through the troubleshooter in Settings, to no avail. I clicked on the "I changed my hardware recently" button at the end of the troubleshooter as well, which didn't help much.


Here is the screen I see:




I can't seem to find my license key in my Emails, since I bought it at least four years ago back when it was Windows 8. Although if anyone could point me in a direction to find it, I would love to know about the way!


Otherwise, how could I get Windows reactivated?


Regards,


Bob

:)

 

Windows 10 reactivation on hardware changes

Hi Florea,

It is possible that Windows won't be able to identify your computer correctly that is why the operating system is not activated. To address your issue, we suggest that you follow the steps in this
article on how to reactivate your Windows 10 after a hardware change.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

 

Unable to activate Windows after hardware change

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

Usually the error code 0xC004F213 comes when there is a hardware change done on the computer (like Motherboard or Hard drive). The Windows license is associated with the device hardware. If there is any significant hardware changes, such as replacing
motherboard or hard drive, Windows won’t be able to recognize the license.

I suggest you to try the troubleshooting steps from the article
Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change and see if Windows gets activated.

If you are using an OEM computer that came with Windows 7, and the motherboard has not been changed, then you can follow the steps to retrieve the product key that came with your OEM computer. To retrieve the product key follow the steps mentioned
below:

1. Type Command prompt in the search bar, that is on the taskbar.
   
2. Right click on Command prompt icon and select Run as administrator.
   
3. Type the command and press on Enter: wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey
   
4. You will find the product key.
   

Hope it helps.

Please reply with the status of the issue, we will be glad to help you further.

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator

 

Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change

Before changing my MB and CPU I thoroughly read an article on how to reactivate Windows 10 after hardware change. I connected my activated Windows 10 that I bought from a retailer (so it's not a free upgrade) to a Microsoft account, changed hardware, went
to settings-account-troubleshooting and was surprised buy it saying "We can't reactivate Windows as our servers aren't available right now. Wait for a few minutes or try adding your Microsoft account again.". It's been more than couple of hours
since I tried it for the first time and I don't really believe that Microsoft servers can have that much downtime. So what is my next step now?