Windows 10: help me understand digital activation and email

• I gave my old win7 home built computer (asrock extreme6 lga1150) to my nephew in 2017. I had bought an oem windows 7 key from newegg when i built it this pc for myself back in ~2015.
• I think at one point i did the free win10 upgrade on it, but when I gave it to my nephew I put in a new SSD and installed that original oem win7 on it. He has been using win7 till yesterday.
• I put in another new SSD and installed win10 via dvd having downloaded the iso on my win10home pc using the download tool.
• In activating this win10 on my old extreme6 lga1150, since that window of opportunity to do the free win7 to win10 thing as come and gone I was under the impression we would be paying $99 for win10 home. After the win10 install, under settings I click activation, it wants an email. So I have my nephew type in his @gmail.com because he wanted to do games from the microsoft store, and going forward wanted it to be set up for him so he could make use of the microsoft store. In typing in his gmail during activation, windows activated automatically and we didn't pay anything. why/how does this happen?

Same scenario for my mom's computer: she is still running win7 and I had done the free win10 upgrade on it couple years ago, she didn't like it so I reinstalled my oem win7 on it. She doesn't not have an @gmail or @live email, i think it's some old @att email. Is there a way I can take my mom's computer, with no hardware including the ssd changing, and install win10 on it and get it activated for free like i had happen on my nephew's pc ?

:)

 

help to remote connect

not sure how to use both programs u 2 suggested, i need more helpful steps thanks

 

How do I get a 7 digit code to reinstall windows 10

If you previously had Windows 10 installed and activated on that PC
during the installation process skip the steps which ask for a product key and select the option 'I am Reinstalling Windows 10 on this PC', and activation will not be an issue, your PC will have a digital entitlement stored on the
Microsoft Servers

The 7 digit code is used to confirm your ID with your Microsoft account

Please follow these steps:

• Open the Settings App, go to Accounts
• You should see the "Verify" link just above your picture
• Check your Email to see if Microsoft have sent you a 7 digit code
• Enter the 7 digit code when asked

 

Windows Activation error code 0x80004005

Hi Ganesha,

Thank you for replying.

I understand that you have a digital license linked to your Microsoft account, and as you are unable to activate Windows on your computer with the same Microsoft account, I would suggest you to get in touch with the Activation team and they will help you
with the appropriate troubleshooting steps.

Regards,

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator