Windows 10: Activation after hardware upgrade

Just a quick question please, is there any way of reactivating a digital entitlement license obtained by upgrading from Win7 for free, on upgraded hardware, without having to link a MS account? Privacy issues and all that...I know phone activation worked for me with Win7 once after I've overhauled my PC in the past.

Thanks *Smile

:)

 

Activation after Hardware Upgrade

I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 via the free upgrade. Windows activated no issue. I then decided to upgrade my motherboard and CPU. This resulted in Windows 10 becoming deactivated. I was told by the chat support that I either had to buy a full copy
of Windows 10 (what a great trap) or revert to Windows 7 and start over. After beginning the process of reverting to Windows 7 it warns you that you will have to reinstall some software but does not say what. Before I continue this process or bite the bullet
on a whole new license I wanted to see if anyone has done this and does the advice seem correct? I seem to recall that there were other ways to deal with hardware upgrades in the past through phone activation which does not appear to be an option in Windows
10.

 

Activation after Hardware Upgrade

I believe if your Windows 7 is OEM version (came with purchase of pc), you can not use it on different motherboard. But if you purchased your Windows 7 copy than you can install it on another motherboard. But you will have to speak to Microsoft support and
explain what you did to get it activated. (Microsoft support for activation is currently overwhelmed).

Below paragraph is from Andre Da Costa Microsoft Community Moderator on Questions on installing Windows 10

Frequently Asked Questions: Windows 10

What happens if I change my motherboard?

As it pertains to the OEM license this will invalidate the Windows 10 upgrade license because it will no longer have a previous base qualifying license which is required for the free upgrade. You will then have to purchase a full retail
Windows 10 license. If the base qualifying license (Windows 7 or Windows 8.1) was a full retail version, then yes, you can transfer it.

Not sure how you got current OS on new motherboard/cpu. But if you used recovery cd/usb tool and transferred W10 activated version (incl windows.old folder-Win 7) from your old motherboard to this new motherboard then both those OS versions will not activate.

I would bit the bullet. Clean install Windows 10 on new motherboard/cpu and purchase Windows 10 product key.

 

well well 50 views and 0 replies

anyways i have a similar issue , so ill add that here too .

my mother board and processor fried pretty much , which meant transferring windows 10 to a new pc , and that i did

issue is i was unaware of linking the product to my Microsoft account after the aniversary update , but further researching showed that i didnt have to since i regularly logged into the ms account . and it was for those who were using a local account , im correct ?

i upgraded from windows 8.1 64bit pro now when i try to activate my windows linked to my account i have this error





now i cant use the change product key etc because i never wrote it down from the system window , but this surely shouldnt be a stupid reason from ms to lock users out of the windows?

 

If it's a Retail key, it retains transfer rights, and you can call MS for activation on your "new" system. Linking an MS account or not, an OEM license is not transferable. So, depending on what exactly your hardware upgrade was, you may be looking at buying a new license.

 

it was a retail copy .

the only issue is i never wrote down my key after it . and as for system change , all except for gpu

 

Well well, if it wasn't a retail key, then it doesn't have transfer rights.
There has been some talk about linking your devices to an MS account for future reactivation after hardware changes, but OEM licenses are tied to the original machine. So, if you change enough hardware to constitute a new machine, it will not activate. If it was an OEM license you moved to a new machine, there's nothing to do but buy a new license. I suspect linking to an MS account is an easy way tor MS to gather data about usage/number of devices per person, etc. However, I have seen reactivations on OEM keys for replacing MBs like for like after failure, via a phone call to MS.

 

You'll have to find your Retail key - from the purchase box, the digital receipt, something. You must have that to call MS for activation.

 

For these reasons being stated.....is exactly why I buy a retail license key. You pay more upfront but in the long run.....no headache at all with hardware changes or a complete new build.

 

One long shot is to look at your OneDrive account. If you had the OneDrive app installed and working on that old system, it will show up in your list of PCs/devices. Maybe if you can convince MS somehow that the PC listed has died and you'd like to move the key - maybe they can help (although I can't imagine how).

 

ill try calling them , rip my credit xD calling to usa is ridiculous here

 

Microsoft Pakistan

 

The key is not on the System window - that's the product ID... kind of useless TBH...

Find your Win 8 key and it will activate, servers are still accepting those.

NB: You can use slmgr -ipk to change the key but you must activate from the screen you posted
slmgr -ato won't work for Digital Entitlement.

@dexsk
The Genuine Ticket process still works - it means you need to install Win 7 first though - considering your key has exceeded online activation.