Windows 10: Changed hardware and ended up with the wrong Windows 10 edition

I had to do a fresh reboot of Windows and selected Windows 10 Home not realizing my old account had a digital key for Windows 10 Education. Is there a way to upgrade to Education without having to wipe everything out?

:)

 

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.

 

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