Windows 10: Activating windows after major hardware change

I just assembled a new pc and I'm reusing the hard drive which has windows 10 already installed on it. This was upgraded from windows 8.1. The computer that the hard drive came from was a store display model, so the store already had it activated for customers to play with.


Today, I got the watermark in the bottom right saying that windows needed to be activated in settings. I went there and got error code 0x803F7001. Then I ran the troubleshooter and selected "I changed hardware on this device recently". Then I log in with the email and password for my account. After I hit enter when I type my password, it says "Oops, something went wrong but that's ok" then the window dissappears when I hit next and nothing happens.


So then I tried to change the product key and retype my key in. The problem here is that since it was a store model, I didn't get a product key as it was already installed. Any paperwork related to this apart from the recipt for the PC had been long lost. Finally, I attempted to use the default windows 10 home product key, which appeared to work at first, but the next window said I don't have a valid license and I get the error 0x803fa067.


I am out of ideas apart from trying to call the store to see if they keep a backlog of product keys for their store model PC's. Of course, this office is closed for today and I'll be very busy soon with work. Now I turn to you all. Any ideas on fixing this issue? Thanks in advance!

:)

 

Activating Windows 10 after a major hardware change.

I recently made a major upgrade to my computer that involved replacing the CPU, motherboard, and memory, and to make sure that no old drivers messed up the works, I performed a Reset install (chose to keep files). Now the machine was previously a Windows
7 Pro machine that was upgraded to 10 Pro in the free upgrade program several years back. This means the activation is tied to my Microsoft account and all I have to do is make sure I'm logged into the machine to activate it. However, I'm being asked to
activate Windows, and when I follow the instructions to activate after a major hardware change (go to Settings, Activation, Troubleshoot, select "I changed hardware on this device recently," select the device from the list, and click Activate), I get a message
that says, "we can't reactivate Windows on this device. Try again later." Is there anything else I can try, or do I have to buy a new licence?

 

Activation after reinstall with major hardware change not possible

Hi,

I did a major hardware change on my desktop pc (Motherboard, Ram, CPU, SSD). During this I did also do a clean install of Win 10 Pro.

As many Internet Sites suggested I did an slmgr /upk on my old installation before the reinstallation.

I did enter my product key during the installation. But now it is not possible to activate my windows installation.

In the activation troubleshooter when I click "I did change hardware" only my old installation is listed (different hostname). I am using the same microsoft account for login as on the old installation.

Due to my work times its hard to get in touch with the phone support during bussiness hours.

I hope you can help me.

Alexander Rabenstein

 

windows activation—hardware changed siginficantly

From time to time on my thoroughbred PC, I get a Windows activation message that says my hardware changed siginificantly and I have to re-activate Windows. My hardware hasn't changed any more than a network card (went from a wireless g card to onboard lan to a wired network card), and the install is legit. Why is it doing this, and how can I stop it?