Windows 10: Win 7 Pro product key unable to activate Win 10 Pro

First, a little backstory. I previously bought a Windows 7 Pro key from a third party seller so that I could upgrade from Win 7 home to pro, and also wipe all the bloatware off a Dell Inspiron laptop. That laptop has since died hardware failure of some kind. I recently built a new desktop pc to replace it, and I thought that I could use the Win 7 Pro key from the dead device to activate Win 10 Pro on the new desktop.


I keep getting a "Windows reported a hardware change" error, and it is failing to activate. I tried running the "I changed hardware recently" option under the activation troubleshooter, and it said it can't find any other devices on my Microsoft account that can be used to activate it.


Do I have to buy a new key, or is there a way around this?


JD

:)

 

Win 10 Pro upgrade using Win 8 Pro product key

I just bought a new computer running Win 10 Home. When I went to upgrade to Win 10 Pro using my Win 8 Pro product key from my old computer, the upgrade wouldn't activate.

Now I'm stuck with a bunch of error messages (mainly 0xC004C003) and am being told windows isn't activated. I can't seem to get my activated Win 10 Home back.

I don't have a product key for the Win 10 Home because it came pre-installed. There's no product code recorded on the packaging or labelling on the device.

So:

How do I either

• activate the Win Pro upgrade, or
• Get my activated Win 10 home back?

 

Win 10 Pro Free Activation with Dual Boot Win 7 Pro

I have Win 7 Pro installed

I have installed Win10 Pro from ISO to separate partition

Dual boot is working fine

If I use my Win 7 Pro Activation Key to activate Win 10 Pro I have the following questions:

Will Win10 Activate for free?

Wil Win 7 continue to be usable?

 

Wins 10 pro becoming wins 7 pro

I am using wins 10 pro, but during end user activation it shows wins 7 pro

Any suggestion?

**Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.**