Windows 10: Reactivating Windows 10 After Changing Motherboards

Several years ago I purchased a Windows 7 Ultimate Key that I no longer have. A year or so ago I upgraded this computer to Windows 10. I recently purchased a new motherboard. Before I went to install and swap my hardware over I was worried about not having the key anymore, so I wanted to look into recovering it, and then I came across this web page from Microsoft support that put me at ease: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change


After following those instructions I saw "Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account" and so I see "No further action is required. You are ready to use the activation troubleshooter."


So I spend the next couple hours swapping to the new hardware (motherboard, RAM, processor) and reused everything else and completely wiped clean my SSD and reformatted. Once I get Windows 10 Pro installed, I go back to following the instructions on that page under "Reactivate Windows 10 after a hardware change" and troubleshoot it to reactivate windows 10 due to a hardware change. I see my old computer and I click activate, but I still see the error that "Windows reported no product key was found on device. Error code: 0xC004F213". So now I am confused, and I assume since there is a digital key that is "Linked to my Microsoft account" that maybe I need to remove my old build from the account and then re-add this computer to the account for the digital license to be freed up. So I go and remove the old computer from the account, and try the reactivation and get the same error, except now my old computer build is off the account. So I go ahead and call support so they can access my account and see my digital license.


I tell them all of the above and support does not even bother to ask for my account information and goes on to say that the page I have been reading is basically bs since I had a Windows 7 Ultimate Key and without it I am basically screwed. I beg them to at least take my account information so they can check for a "digital key on my Microsoft account", which I literally confirmed before taking my computer apart, and they would not do it. They said they cannot look at my account without that key, and that I may be able to get the key off the old account if I reput my old build back together... Which would have wasted the last couple hours of work and then taking it apart, putting old build back together, only to take that back apart and put the new one back together... absurd! I even talked to a supervisor! Why the hell wont they check my account for a digital license? What the hell do I do? I spent hundreds of dollars on a key that was supposed to be linked to my account...

:)

 

win 10 motherboard change, reactivating windows

Hi Famie,

If you are planning to change your motherboard, you will still be able to activate your Windows 10. In Windows 10 version 1607, there is a feature that you can link your Microsoft account to Windows 10 digital license on your device.
This can help you reactivate Windows using the Activation troubleshooter if you make a significant hardware change later, such as replacing the motherboard.

That being said, we suggest that you follow the steps given on this article
to reactivate your Windows 10 after a hardware change.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

If you think this was useful, do not hesitate to "mark it as an answer" to help those are facing the same problem.

 

Motherboard change unable to reactivate Windows 10 Pro -


I have searched this topic and everything seems to be almost a year old. This is a homebuilt machine circa 2015. It started with an ASUS FM2+ motherboard with an AMD A5600K processor. It was Windows 7 Pro, upgraded to Windows 8.1 Pro then to Windows 10 Pro.
Saturday the motherboard died. An exact replacement could not be located so a Gigabyte card was installed. No changes to the hard drives. Booted the machine and Windows automatically started and then did a "revert" then installed the latest updates. C Drive was in the red so I deleted all of the old install files using Windows Clean-up. Went to reactivate, checked the significant hardware change and entered my MS account information - The computer (none of my computers) were listed and now it is telling me that I have to spend $200 to buy a copy of Windows 10 Pro.
Have not yet called Customer Support as the computer is at home and I work during the day -
I do have a disk image or two that may be a year old -

Suggestions - should I just shell out the $200 and move on

TIA

 

Motherboard change unable to reactivate Windows 10 Pro -

Activate using windows 7 pro key.