Windows 10: Activating windows 10 on new hardware

I took advantage of the free upgrade to Win10 from Win 8.1 many years ago on my aging Core2 system.

Recently my Core2 motherboard failed. The board will no longer post, so I got a new board, ram and cpu.

I was hoping to use my current Win10 instillation in the new hardware, but I don't think it's going to work out. I had a Linux install on another SSD, and I think the grub bootloader is preventing Windows from booting. Probably for the best to do a fresh install anyway.

When I upgraded from Win8 which I purchased digitally, I'm not sure if my activation key was changed for Win10, as I can't boot Win10 on my new hardware to check.

I have a Microsoft account tied to Win10 install, but from what I've read it logs the hardware to the account as well.

I think I've found my Win8.1 activation key, but I'm not 100% sure if it's from a laptop or not.
If it's my original 8.1 key, will it still be valid to activate Win10, or even Win8, or is it invalid after upgrading?

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Activation on new hardware

In the activation troubleshooter, when it detects no problems or gets to the end screen, click "I changed hardware on my PC recently", and select the license that corresponds to your PC. You might need to restart your PC.

 

DOWNLOAD WINDOWS 10 NOW - Upgrade and ISO direct from microsoft

Click to expand... Yeah I went to that site, why do I need to buy a key?
I won't buy a key, stupid.

I'll revert back to windows 7 then.

When I still was on windows 7, about a year ago I added 4GB extra ram which is a total of 8GB now,
is that causing the problem?