Windows 10: Activate Windows after a hardware change. Licenses acquired by other machines on same account.

Hi,I have 3 licenses attached to my one Microsoft accountell Laptop - Win 10 Home OEM Licence - Product Key knownWorkstation - Win 10 Home Retail Digital License Desktop - Win 10 Pro Upgraded from Home Retail Digital LicenseThis is the second time I have had this problem first being when I upgraded the workstation hardware and I'm not 100% on how it solved itself before although it might have been a complete rebuild on the laptop. Maybe you can help with an easier solution.I have just given my desktop a new MB, CPU, RAM and fresh install on a new drive. During the couple of days it was

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Activating WIndows 10 after hardware change.

Before replacing my hardware on my main computer, I logged into my Microsoft Windows account. Once logged in, I saw that the name of the PC that I was upgrading was in my list of PCs that were activated for Windows 10 Pro. So after reviewing how to reactivate
after a HW changed, I went ahead and upgraded the motherboard, CPU and memory in that PC.

Now, when it is time to reactivate, the PC in question is still listed in the hardware list on my MS account but it will not allow me to activate Windows. I followed the instructions online and ran the troubleshooting tool. It then gave me the following
response:

Unable to activate Windows

We can’t find any devices linked to your Microsoft account that can be used for reactivating the device you’re using right now. Make sure you’re signed in with the same Microsoft account you linked to the
Windows 10 digital license on this device or try again later.

See other devices linked to your Microsoft account

So why would it not find the license that was for this PC when it had the old hardware installed? My assumption, albeit may wrong, was that the PC was activated because it was in the list. It was also activated as a Windows 10 Pro edition.

Anyone have any suggestions on this type of issue?

 

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

 

Microsoft account says I have a registered Windows 10 device but will not activate after motherboard swap

Hello! I just got a new motherboard and processor and I have attempted the following steps to reactivate my Windows but it will not reactivate. What can I do next?

• Attempted to activate via Activation screen in settings (no options to activate)
  
• Ran troubleshooter from Activation screen and the troubleshooter failed with code 0xc004f213
  
• Attempted to recover key from OS via VBS script (returned key was all BBBBB-BBBB...)
  
• Confirmed machine is listed under my microsoft account, where the key listed there is "default string".
  
• Ran through an additional online troubleshooter from Microsoft for this problem and it suggested i submit a ticket.
  

I'm not surprised that I've run into a licensing problem, as I upgraded in-place when Windows 10 conversions were free from Microsoft, from a very old version of Windows 7 which I acquired legitimately via university. I do not have access to the original Windows 7 key, nor did I receive a key for Windows 10 from the 7-to-10 conversion. That does not change the fact that the version of Windows was activated and verified before the motherboard change and the machine is still listed on my microsoft account.