Windows 10: I had a digital licence linked to my microsoft account but I cahnged hardware!

I had a digital licence linked to my microsoft account but I changed hardware the motherboard and cpu as the blew!I originally had windows 8 and upgraded to 10 when it was free. but I cant get it activeated now unless I use my windows 8 with my product key!Can you help me please? Its a daunting task Ive tried all sorts of things.ThanksM.Reynolds

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Is Digital activation tied to a microsoft account as well as hardware?

It's optional. If you only ever signed in with a local account then it will just say 'activated with a digital licence' and it will just be tied to your hardware, but you can link the digital licence to your Microsoft account. In fact, this is recommended practice if you intend to upgrade the motherboard and run the activation troubleshooter afterwards if it doesn't activate. See these tutorials...

Link Microsoft Account to Windows 10 Digital License

Use Activation Troubleshooter in Windows 10

 

Linking digital licences to MS Account.


We all now that we can link the digital licence now to our MS account, using Redstone.

However, I have just discovered something slightly disconcerting.

I have 14393.5 Home, upgraded from retail 8.1 on my PC, and it was registered as a device on my MS account, and shows as being linked to my MS account.

I have since installed 10586.494 10 Pro N, as an upgrade from retail 8.1 Pro N key on my PC as a dual boot option. This has new registered as a device on my MS account. This shows as activated ok.

Now here's the thing - the 14393.5 Home install no longer shows a device in my MS account. I am sure the digital licences are ok (easy to test by installing another copy temporarily in a vhd), but it seems you can only see the last digital licence that was linked.

So I am struggling to see how you could reactivate both digital licences e.g. if mobo failed if you can only see one of them.