Windows 10: W10 licence transfer. What happens if I change/upgrade my PC later on?

Hi everyone,

I've searched for a clear answer to this question but (to me at least) the situation still seems a bit uncertain. Here's the scenario...

• I upgrade my WIndows 8.1 retail licence to Windows 10 on my current PC.
• Windows 10 is thus activated on my current PC and used for the next year or more.
• I buy a new PC or upgrade the motherboard, CPU and RAM in my current machine.
• I therefore must perform a clean install of Windows 10 on the new PC.

The question is, how do I activate my free Windows 10 on the new PC? As far as I can tell, I don't get a product key when I upgrade the old PC - activation is tied to the hardware ID instead. That's fine when reinstalling to the old machine but the new one will have a different hardware ID.

With my Windows 8.1 retail licence I can install from scratch on a new machine with no problems (using the product key), as long as I'm using the OS on one machine only. By what mechanism do I achieve the same goal with the free upgrade to Windows 10? I understand that a retail version of Windows 7/8/8.1 will become a retail version of Windows 10 when upgraded. So how do I activate it on a different PC without a product key?

Until I find a definite (and official) answer to this question I don't dare upgrade to Windows 10 in case I run into trouble when I upgrade my PC in the future (outside of the Windows 10 one year promotional period).

Thanks in advance for your advice and assistance. Great forum by the way; and the only one I use for Windows 10 info. *Smile

:)

 

Windows 7 Ultimate licence

Hi, can anybody explain to me, what is going happened to my W7 Ultimate licence after upgrading to Windows 10. Could it be possible to upgrade to W10 on my actual PC and later, say 3-4 years, use my valid W7 licence on a new PC? Somewhere I have read that
the upgrade is fixed on actual device and its lifetime - so does it mean that my transferable licence is going to change to, in fact, to OEM and I could not be able to use it on any new PC? I am totally confused now. Thanks for any information.

 

What happens to my RETAIL 7 Pro licence?

I would like to know what happens to my Retail 7 pro licence if I accept this upgrade?

If I want to transfer my licence to another pc later will I also be able to transfer the upgrade?

If not, I see no point in upgrading as I bought a retail product for the specific purpose of it being transferable.

 

Microsoft is pretty easygoing if you had to replace faulty hardware, but upgrading for the sake of upgrading, not so much.

However, the big game changes are the main core components such as the motherboard, etc. changing the video card, SD/HD drives, etc. usually aren't cause for concern.

Furthermore, since you upgraded from a retail license, Windows 10 should be bound under that license, which allows you transfer the license to another system, provided the old system is no longer being used.

I'm at a loss with the clean install on new hardware... since the upgrade is registered on the older hardware over the previous OS install.

You can find the product key that's used for your install, but from the looks of it, it's a generic key and your PID is what's unique from machine to machine.

 

As am I, and since a motherboard change would essentially be the same as a new PC from Microsoft's point of view, I'm potentially stuck either way. I'm sure all will become clear in good time but for now I'm just going to use my Insider installation of Windows 10 (installed on a second drive) and stay put with my main Windows 8.1 installation until I find the answer to my question.

 

If you upgraded a retail Windows 8.1 license, then your Windows 10 license is also retail, and you can transfer it to a new PC without issue.

This is confirmed by Microsoft, and is written in the Windows 10 EULA.

 

I also just found it explained here:
Solved Frequently Asked Questions about the Windows 10 Free upgrade - Windows 10 Forums

 

This is the first I'm hearing about this. How would you get the license key to use for the clean install on a new PC?

 

I suspect it may be the same serial key as used for the previous Windows OS version. I'm not really sure, though.

Hopefully somebody tests it out, soon, and reports here what the result is.


The key should also be in the Windows 10 registry, somewhere, after an upgrade installation:

How to Find Your Lost Windows or Office Product Keys

 

It's definitely not the same key, as you can't simply type in your 8.1 key and activate 10. My guess is, it's a generic key that will get blacklisted soon. Every where I've read, including here on these forums, says the Windows 10 license is tied to the computer it is installed on during the upgrade.

 

When it comes to OEM, yes, it's tied to the machine.

As for a retail install, I don't know how that works.

However, Microsoft seems to be shying away from OEM, etc. as I thought the OEM restriction thing stopped after 7... I kept hearing that even OEM licenses were no longer tied to the motherboards with the release of Windows 8.

 

Here is the relevant section from the Windows 10 EULA:

b. Stand-alone software. If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you. You may also transfer the software to a device owned by someone else if (i) you are the first licensed user of the software and (ii) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. You may use the backup copy we allow you to make or the media that the software came on to transfer the software. Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device. You may not transfer the software to share licenses between devices.


Here is the full EULA:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Usete...10_English.htm

 

That's what I read, but how do you transfer? That's the great unanswered question and for now it's stopping me from taking the plunge with Windows 10.

 

I dont think so. I upgraded from OEM and the dli on cmd shows its Retail. Anyway, Windows 10 will use a generic key to activate.

 

You transfer by installing Windows 7 or 8.x on the new computer, then upgrading it to Windows 10. Once your old key has been upgraded once (assuming it's a retail key) it will be recognized as a valid Windows 10 upgrade by the activation servers when you perform the upgrade on a new machine, even if it's beyond the 1 year free upgrade period. The license is tied to your old product key, even though you can't install Windows 10 clean the first time with that product key on that hardware.

The first time you install Windows 10 on any given hardware, you must perform an upgrade from the previous retail OS (For clarification this is only for the free upgrade, If you buy a Windows 10 license, you can of course install clean at any time). You are free to perform clean installs as many times as you want on that hardware after the upgrade.