Windows 10: Updating Computer Motherboard and Drives; Do I need a new activation key for Windows?

Tomorrow 4/2 i'll be fully building my new pc with new motherboard and cpu. I'd also be swapping to primarily a M.2 drive from HDD where current windows is installed. Is there a way to move over my current windows installation without having to buy a new activation or license for Windows10?

:)

 

Windows 10 activation with new motherboard


I've tried contacting Microsoft support by both chat (twice) and phone, and none of it was helpful. And so I'm posting the problem here.

I have a laptop that was originally running Windows 7. I upgraded to Windows 10 last month via the free upgrade option, and things were working fine for a while. However, a motherboard issue forced me to replace the motherboard yesterday. This also required me to move the old hard drive and CPU to the new motherboard.

Now, my problem is this: while I do still have Windows 10 installed on my device, it is an evaluation copy; it is not activated as the full product. Some research told me that the free W10 upgrade is linked to the device's hardware, something I didn't know. Since I'm using a different motherboard now, Microsoft apparently doesn't recognize that I DO own a full version of W10 courtesy of the free upgrade.

So now I'm wondering whether there is a way to transfer my W10 license to the new motherboard so it will activate. And before you ask/suggest anything:

• My original sticker on the bottom of my computer with the W7 license key on it fell off a long time ago. So no, I don't have that.
• I tried contacting Dell to get my original product key, and they refused to help me because I'm out of warranty, even though what I'm asking them for is very simple.

Any help is appreciated.

 

Hard Drive ported to new computer, activation key stopped working

Apparently change the motherboard and Microsoft thinks you have whole new computer that needs a whole new key.

But being its a purchased win7 .. you can move that key to a new computer with phone call to activate your win7. Just put win7 on some old hard drive and get it activated on the new motherboard then you can use the win7 key to activate the old hard drive
win10 install.

If I look at my account.microsoft.com Devices, My Devices

it shows my motherboard serial number .

I've changed cpu's/hard drives/ram's, wifi cards, display, keyboard,,,, just about everything piece by piece several times in my laptop and never lost activation .. but never changed the motherboard.

 

Hard Drive ported to new computer, activation key stopped working

Awhile back, my partner built himself and me custom computers. We bought Windows 7 for them. We did the upgrade to Windows 10. A few days ago, his computer's motherboard died. So he built himself a new custom computer, but kept the hard drive from his old
one. His computer is claiming that his activation key is invalid.

Why did the activation status suddenly change? All we did was move the hard drive. We did not reinstall windows. Is the activation key attached to a different part of the computer? What part do we need to move into the new computer to keep the activation
key? If it's the motherboard, we're screwed...