Activating Win 11 after MB change

When I went to settings and activate I cannot get to enter new key or trouble shoot ,when I click on either I get the spinning wheel for about 3 seconds then nothing ,How can I activate Win11 with doing a clean install of 10 ?

I think that you will have to do a clean instillation of either 10 or 11 and use your Windows 10 key. It works just fine for Windows 11.

If you have a real product key (not generic) for Windows 10 you can use it to activate Windows 11 by opening a command prompt with admin privileges ("Run as Administrator") and enter the following commands:


Unfortunately, the GUI interface for activation from the settings menu is broken in Windows 11 right now. I can't find a way to start the activation troubleshooter, yet, from command line. So if you need to use the activation troubleshooter to transfer a license from old motherboard to new motherboard, you will have to use Windows 10 to do that.

See the information from Microsoft below. This article is for Windows 10 but I'm guessing that it will likely still apply to Windows 11...


EDIT: I've tried this in the past and it worked flawlessly after I made major changes to a system and reinstalled Windows.

hsehestedt said:

See the information from Microsoft below. This article is for Windows 10 but I'm guessing that it will likely still apply to Windows 11...

Reactivating Windows after a hardware change - Microsoft Support

Learn how to prepare your Windows device for a hardware change and find help reactivating Windows after a hardware change is complete.

support.microsoft.com

EDIT: I've tried this in the past and it worked flawlessly after I made major changes to a system and reinstalled Windows.

Click to expand...

Except that it is currently broken in Windows 11....

NavyLCDR said:

it is currently broken in Windows 11....

Click to expand...

The GUI in Settings is broken, that's true. However that's not the only way to set a product key. From a Command Prompt (Admin) slmgr /ipk to change the key, followed by slmgr /ato to activate still does work in W11, I tested that here after you suggested it. Could that help with reactivating after a hardware change?

Bree said:

The GUI in Settings is broken, that's true. However that's not the only way to set a product key. From a Command Prompt (Admin) slmgr /ipk to change the key, followed by slmgr /ato to activate still does work in W11, I tested that here after you suggested it. Could that help with reactivating after a hardware change?

Click to expand...

Only if the user has a real, non-generic product key from their previous Windows installation.

Ended up going the long route by installing 10 and then 11 ,Thanks for all the input.

A year ago, I was having trouble with my most used pc which was on the slow lane for W10. I got fed up and changed the motherboard, cpu and ram (Asrock A320M-HDV r4.0, Athlon 3000G, and 8 Gb DDR4 2400), a low end, low power consumption but plenty for the internet. When I installed W10pro from an ISO and visited my Microsoft account, I was simply asked whether I had changed my hardware and Windows was activated. Having the Microsoft account and being on the slow lane might have been factors in my favour.

tinmar49 said:

A year ago, I was having trouble with my most used pc which was on the slow lane for W10. I got fed up and changed the motherboard, cpu and ram (Asrock A320M-HDV r4.0, Athlon 3000G, and 8 Gb DDR4 2400), a low end, low power consumption but plenty for the internet. When I installed W10pro from an ISO and visited my Microsoft account, I was simply asked whether I had changed my hardware and Windows was activated. Having the Microsoft account and being on the slow lane might have been factors in my favour.

Click to expand...

Same thing for my Son. He bought new MB and other new hardware and also a Retail Win10 Pro. I suggested he first install windows 10 pro from the newest Media Creation Tool on the new system and use his MS account to activate. Worked perfect Windows picked up the change hardware and was activated. He thought he was going to lose his original copy he had bought on the crashed older MB. He returned the recently bought win 10 pro and got a refund. Only fair seems the old MB could not be used anymore.

cheers