Windows 10: I've deleted a digitally-licensed device from my Microsoft account and now I can't activate...

Hello,


I bought a digital Windows 10 Home license no product key included from the Microsoft Store around 2 years ago and activated a VM with it. I've lost the VM since then and deleted it from my Microsoft account, not knowing that I would also lose the license with it. Now I'm trying to activate a new device and was expecting Windows to still see the license in my account after signing in, but I instead get an error saying that no product key is installed on the device. The troubleshooter's "I recently changed hardware" option doesn't work because I already deleted the old device from my account. I called a support representative and after 1-2 hours of investigating, they told me they would call me back the next day to provide me a product key to use instead. I never got a callback, so I'm left with the only solution being to buy a whole new license. Can someone please help me find a way to get my license key back? I still have the receipt saved in my email for proof of purchase.


Thanks.

:)

 

Windows 10 Activation through Microsoft Account Fails

Just for the record, what account you log in with has no effect on activation. The "Linked to your Microsoft account" is just an optional extra. If you switch to a local account it will just say "activated with a digital license". Switch to a Microsoft account and it will say "activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account". You could do a clean install using an account you have never used before and it will still activate. As long as there is a digital license for that device on the activation server matching the installed edition, it will activate. The account used has no bearing on that.

And deleting / removing a device from the list won't affect activation. You just won't see it listed. Reinstall Windows 10 again latter on, on that device and it will be back in the list. That list is just another optional extra.

 

Link Microsoft Account to Windows 10 Digital License  

This is what i get on step 2

 

Link Microsoft Account to Windows 10 Digital License


Hey, I have a question.
Do you think the digital license is saved on my MSA after i changed back to my local account?

What I mean by that:
I Added MSA to my Windows 10 and it said in Activation tab "Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account", and my PC was in device list of my MSA.
But I don't like the fact that I have to type in password every time I boot up. It's my private PC, I don't need password, I never had. So I switched back to my Local account. But now it's back to "Windows is activated with a digital license" only, and the PC is also gone from the device list on my MSA account.
Do you think it actually unlinked the license, or maybe because I logged in once, it saved anyway, and I will be good with activating in the future on a changed machine?