Windows 10: I have a Windows retail license I purchased on my own and just upgraded my motherboard and...

My computer is a custom-built desktop, not OEM, and therefore, I did not have an OEM license of Windows. I purchased this license three years ago Windows 10 Pro retail. I recently updated to Windows 11 per Microsoft's recommendation. This weekend, I upgraded my motherboard and processor but am having issues with activating. When going through Activation Wizard, Windows says, "We weren't able to activate Windows on this device." Understandable, since I have new hardware. HOWEVER, when I click on "Contact Support to Get Help", and follow the prompts to "Reactivate Windows 11 after a hardware

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Purchased Windows 10 pro retail version and want to move it to a new motherboard

Yes, a retail purchased license includes unlimited transfer rights. Its a full version and you can move to new motherboard without hindrance. Learn more:

• How to Transfer your Windows 10 License to a New Computer

 

im upgrading my motherboard, will i have to purchase windows 10 again ????

It depends on how Windows 10 was originally configured on your computer.

If its a full retail store bought license online or offline, it is transferable to a new computer or motherboard.

If its the free upgrade from a retail store bought Windows 7 or Windows 8 license, it is transferable to a new computer or motherboard.

If its the free upgrade from a OEM preinstalled Windows 7 or Windows 8 license, it is NOT transferable to a new computer or motherboard.

Learn more about transferring your license:

• How to Transfer your Windows 10 License to a New Computer

If its a retail license, learn how to reactivate:

• Activate Your Windows 10 License via Microsoft Chat Support

 

Retail license W10 upgrade permanent?

Well Microsoft cannot unilaterally void your owned retail license. That license, according to its terms upon purchase, is your personal property. After upgrading, it will retain all its original definition - which means transferable but can only be used on one PC at a time.

OEM keys are meant to be tied to a particular system's hardware, and so the life of the license is equal to "for the lifetime of the device". But in the case of a retail key, the license is good permanently for one machine. If the license has received upgraded status, then it has upgraded status. And if Microsoft provide an upgrade to that license for use with Windows 10, then that upgraded status is the new definition of the personal property which is a retail license, and it is no longer for Microsoft to say whether or not that license may be transferred, because Microsoft does not hold domain over a person's retail license.

A license purchase is not a rent, or a lease. An owned software license is a personal property - not over the software itself, but over the right to access and use a particular software. Transferable, single-PC use is already the identity and definition of a retail license, and Microsoft cannot take that from a retail license owner, because that license is not Microsoft's to make such unilateral changes over.

If Microsoft wishes to provide an upgrade to that license, that is Microsoft's call to make. However, it is not in Microsoft's power to amend the terms of the retail license from what they were at the time of their purchase, because, again, that licenses originally-agreed-to rights is the legal property of the purchaser, and not the company who sold those particular rights in a license-agreement.

An upgrade to that license still preserve's the license-agreement as a right of the purchaser.

That's the legal reality.