Windows 10: Retrieve my previous Windows 10 Pro license. Why doesn't My Microsoft account show my...

In 2016, I bought a desktop with a preinstalled OEM installation of Windows 10 Pro and Office 2010 Professional. The organization that sold the PC to me gave me a paper with the product keys to both the Windows 10 key and the Office 2010 key.


In 2018, I got a virus from a rogue CPU app and the system would not respond. I was hasty and formatted the PC and set it up to use UEFI. I bought a USB with Windows 10 Pro on it and installed this newer version.


My question is this. I had an active copy of Windows 10. My PC was not configured to use a Microsoft account to login or else I probably would have been better off now.


Now, I need a another copy of Windows 10, and I am thinking that the Microsoft Activation Servers should have my details from that installation. Why do I need to pay for another version of Windows 10 Pro when I had one?


What would I like to do.

Get a digital license for that copy I had. I remember I had entered the product key that Goodwill Industries had given to me into some Microsoft website but I think that it did not recognize it, or I was having problems. That is why I went out and bought another copy of Windows 10 Pro.


I also tried to get the Office 2010 key from a website and that did not work either.


I was online for a long time with that previous version of Windows 10 and I must have updated it. If I updated it, it was more than likely Activated with a digital license. I would like to get the right to install that older copy of Win10 on my laptop. Why must I have to buy again.


My Microsoft Account does not show that prior license and why? I am almost positive that I had seen the the former name of my PC as it was configured with that first copy of Windows 10.


Do I have any chance of getting credit for that copy back? If so, how?


Would I have to install it on the same desktop if I did get the digital license details or could I install it on my laptop, as my desktop now has a newer Windows 10 license attached to it?


I guess the previous Office 2010 license is history like the Windows license seems to be. I used a get prior Office editions but when I entered the product key it would never recognize it. WHY is beyond me. So much for COA's stuck to paper.

:)