Windows 10: Windows 10 activation after swapping hardware

Hi everyone,

I just upgraded my PC. New MB, CPU, HD etc.

I had an activated copy Windows 10 Pro installed on my old mechanical drive. The new copy of Windows 10 Pro has the same license key, but I can't seem to activate it. When you troubleshoot and click "I've swapped hardware on this computer", Microsoft says that it can't any devices linked with my account. So I'm kind of at a loss here. Am I really going to have to buy another copy of Windows?

:)

 

Windows 10 Hardware change

not that easy, unfortunately. fresh install is NOT the way to go, until AFTER the swap. I have swapped boards on my oiverclocking test OS that I use for reviews many times now, and that license (a retail one), de-activated after two board swaps, and then with every board swap after that. All other hardware remained the same. I do fresh installs for benchmarks in reviews, and they have NEVER activated. media creation tool makes it so the dvd will automatically activate on the hardware it was created on, IF the windows it was created on was already activated.

 

DOWNLOAD WINDOWS 10 NOW - Upgrade and ISO direct from microsoft

Click to expand... Yeah I went to that site, why do I need to buy a key?
I won't buy a key, stupid.

I'll revert back to windows 7 then.

When I still was on windows 7, about a year ago I added 4GB extra ram which is a total of 8GB now,
is that causing the problem?

 

Windows 10 Activation (Insider)

This kinda sucks. However, if one is upgrading from a retail W7/8, then it should activate on different hardware, with possible phone activation required if it's been over 120 days or whatever the timeout period is now since the last activation. Remember to erase the copy on the old hardware, of course.