Windows 10: Moving a digital windows licence linked to my microsoft account to a new pc - can i erase...

Hello,I am building a new PC and I want to transfer Windows to it. I have a digital licence linked to my Microsoft account as in the screenshot.The thing is, I don't exactly have a drive to spare, as I intend to use the same drive in the new rig until I have money to replace my current linux drive with a better one. Can I erase the current Windows drive, then reinstall on it and transfer the licence to my new computer?Thanks for your help in advance!Thomas

:)

 

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.

 

Link Microsoft Account to Windows 10 Digital License


I have done some interesting tests today.

I had a VM which had an activated version of Windows 10.

This VM1 was using an MS account, and was showing as activated with a digital licence, and linked to my MS account. I could see the device in my MS account as a device.

I created a new VM2, and used the activation troubleshooter, and as expected, I could see VM1. I did not actually go ahead to transfer the licence.

So far, nothing unusual. Now, here is the interesting bit.

I went back to VM1, and changed it to a local account. As expected, the device disappeared from my MS account.

Now I used the activation troubleshooter on VM2 again, and as I feared, it could not see VM1 anymore!

So I set VM1 back to an MS account, and guess what - I could see VM1 again both in my MS account and iv VM2 via the trouble shooter.

So the inescapable logic is that there is NOT a separate list of linked devices i.e. it is the SAME list as in the MS Account (attached devices).

The implication of this is quite important i.e. you must ALWAYS remain logged in via an MS account for the digital licence to remain linked. You cannot link it, then revert to a local account.

Brink - You might want to add a warning in main text accordingly (even as a possible caveat until somebody else verifies my conclusion).

Of course, you could revert to an MS account later but if your mobo fails whilst on a local account, you would be goosed.

Additional, it gets more complicated now if you have a dual boot pc with a home digital licence and a pro digital licence on same pc (how I am setup), as I have also discovered you can only link the last one setup to you MS account, even though both have a valid digital licence on the server.

The only way round this as far as I can see is to link each digital licence to a separate MS account. I do not know (yet) what would happen if you logged in to the other account ie cross matching.