Windows 10: Windows 10 refuses new license key after motherboard change

Hello everyone,My situation is as follows:I upgraded both my motherboard and CPU this week. This lead to my Windows 10 Pro license not being valid anymore. If I remember correctly I updated from Windows 8 to Windows 10, so I never really possessed a Windows 10 key to begin with.So I bought a new Windows 10 Pro license key online, but when I tried to enter the freshly bought key in the "Change Product Key" menu, it throws me the error code 0xc004f050.It seems to me that I can not activate my copy of windows with this key because my Windows 10 version has been upgraded from Windows 8. What can I

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Windows 10 License (after motherboard change)

Hi, so recently I built a PC in 2014 and now the motherboard is starting to go really fishy and I can feel it is slowly going to die.

I've got Windows 10 Pro installed on my PC, with a Gigabyte Motherboard. It was upgraded from Windows 8 Pro. Apparently it is a RETAIL version if I check via "cmd: slmgr -dli".

Now in a few days there's two things I might do; Replace my faulty motherboard to a new one (same model) OR since it is a second fail, change the motherboard from Gigabyte to ASUS.

Now I've got a few questions;

• If I replaced my motherboard to same gigabyte model (except the serial/ID will change for sure), Windows will mostly fail to activate right? If I change/replace to another same model motherboard, can I reactivate Windows? (I tried this on my first fail
  last year, and installing win8 and re-upgrading allowed me to activate).
• If I changed motherboard from Gigabyte to ASUS, will I still be able to reactivate Windows?

I've got my license linked to my Microsoft Account. I've online that after a hardware fail/change I can still activate Windows after all.

Also I got some questions on how this account links work;

• So if I linked my License to my MS Account, I should be able to activate on a motherboard replacement right? (Gigabyte model) - by clicking "I changed hardware recently".
• How about if I change Motherboard to an ASUS one, will I still be able to activate via using MS Account Link?

Also one my first fail; I cannot remember for sure but I think I just input my Windows 8 key into Windows 10 on my first-time replaced Gigabyte mobo and activation was fine.

ALSO: As my license is Retail; And a Retail license should allow transfer rights, wouldn't I be able to transfer my license anyway from my current motherboard to my new replaced/new company mobo? If so, how would I perform this step? Would
I need to deactivate on this faulty mobo first or what so?

Thanks! I'm a bit confused!

 

Activate Windows 10 after motherboard change

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I built the PC myself and it is\was a retail Windows 8 Pro license upgraded to 10.

The guide listed that I should be able to transfer the license, and following the steps given when selecting "I recently changed hardware" in the activation process it does not list my previous device to select from.

My Microsoft account is logged in on both my old and new motherboard, and my old motherboard is unable to boot at all to deactivate or retrieve any keys.

If my license is indeed available for transfer, how can I proceed from here?

Thanks.

 

Unable to activate windows 10 after changing motherboard

Hi William,

Thanks for replying so fast to my issue.

I followed the steps from the troubleshooter, and I reach the page where it asks me "Select this device from below". The problem is that my new device (a Gigabyte motherboard) doesn't show up on the list, only my previous motherboard (MSI).

When go to Sign in to your Microsoft account my new device is listed, as is my old one, but I don't seem to be able to make the new device pop into the list to transfer the license.

Do I have to select my old MSI motherboard from the list, and then press "activate"?

FYI: My license key is one that was upgraded from windows 8.1. I do have a product/license key of that version, but it is not accepted when I try to change my product key. It finishes in an error code 0xc004f050