Originally OEM Win 10 upgraded to Win 11 Pro -- swapping in new hardware

I'm hoping there is someone with enough experience who can give me pointers as to how to avoid trouble with my hardware swap.

My system is a Kaby Lake Z170 configuration. It had originally been Win 10/Win-7 dual boot, and with the proper utilities I eliminated Win 7 and it was all "Windows 10 Pro". Then last year we went through the great End-of-10-support/ESU/tedious-Win-11-upgrade difficulties. Win 11 works like a champ on the Kaby Lake, and updated to 25H2 with no trouble or effort.

I have newer hardware -- an i7-11700K CPU and STRIX Z590-E motherboard. I'm getting ready to open Administrator Command and run SYSPREP. Right now I'm preparing the new motherboard with a heatsink, getting it ready to install and hook up in my Kaby computer case.

Now I see a problem with the digital licensing of my OEM Windows, bound as it is to the old hardware. It will definitely present an activation issue once I boot up with the new hardware.

I have a Windows 11 Pro RETAIL in shrink-wrap. Do I need to make an in-place-repair-upgrade install with its USB media, and THEN add/change to the new retail product key to activate? Or can I simply use the RETAIL product key to directly change the old activation key? I am inclined to use the Retail install media AFTER I've made the hardware swap.

Somebody must have particular and specific understanding and expertise so I can avoid getting stuck with this hardware switchover.

The current Win 11 Pro OS on the old hardware has been cleaned and preened -- having done an in-place-repair-upgrade in recent months to eliminate SFC and DISM-detected corruption that could not be fixed without the Windows refresh. I want to keep the program installations and all of the wonderful aspects of my software configurations.

Otherwise I would incline more to a fresh clean installation of Windows leading to the trouble of installing all my old software.

Only OEM licenses are hardware bound, so it doesn't really matter when you use the retail key to activate and you have a large number of rearms

I would first backup the disk, just in case, and then try to move it to the new hardware. If the disk is SATA and you have an NVME slot on the new motherboard, maybe you can connect the old disk on the new computer and clone it on the NVME disk. So you have a backup if something goes wrong plus you gain in speed because of the faster disk. Then you can attempt to boot Windows 10 from the new disk (or from the old disk if you won't upgrade it yet). The first time it will take a while because it finds and installs drivers for the new hardware. I would at least replace the graphics driver, if not all drivers, with the latest official nVidia or AMD drivers to boost performance. Don't trust Windows Update for that. Then you can use the retail key to activate. Then you can check compatibility for Windows 11 (I don't remember how the tool is called). Then you bypass compatibility check, if the tool says you are not compatible, and upgrade to Windows 11.

PS: The default for Windows 10 is GPT partition style (UEFI boot mode). However, if by chance you have MBR (Legacy BIOS installation) then simply bypass compatibility check to upgrade to Windows 11. Also have in mind that NVME disks usually boot in UEFI mode only. They show an error when you try to boot in Legacy BIOS mode.

neemobeer said:

Only OEM licenses are hardware bound, so it doesn't really matter when you use the retail key to activate and you have a large number of rearms

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Thank you. Thank you very much. I might THINK I'm an old veteran and expert, but I'm humble, I'm old with memory starting to fail, and I can't "keep up with everything" anymore, so I certainly seek second opinions.

I THOUGHT it likely what you said, prior to your response, but for those of us who haven't bought an OEM system since 1994, this is all a lot of trouble. See, I never thought that OEMs were up to snuff for what I preferred. Cheap case metal, low-end PSUs, bloat allowing them to "fix it". I long ago decided that I could "build it better". But this is the dilemma. YOu build your systems to last, and pleased if they do, so you keep them for too long!

I'm about ready to apply Halnziye thermal paste and install my cooler on the new hardware. Then I will run SYSPREP and move the NVME boot disk to the new motherboard.

And you are in agreement? That I only need to enter the Retail product key, without re-installing Win 11 Pro (keeping programs and files)? That's reassuring.

The other "down" side to building them better is to have less experience with these swaps to make them routine.

Well! As we said in ancient prehistoric times: "It's TIME to ROCK and ROLL!"

Thanks again.

Bonzai

spapakons said:

I would first backup the disk, just in case, and then try to move it to the new hardware. If the disk is SATA and you have an NVME slot on the new motherboard, maybe you can connect the old disk on the new computer and clone it on the NVME disk. So you have a backup if something goes wrong plus you gain in speed because of the faster disk. Then you can attempt to boot Windows 10 from the new disk (or from the old disk if you won't upgrade it yet). The first time it will take a while because it finds and installs drivers for the new hardware. I would at least replace the graphics driver, if not all drivers, with the latest official nVidia or AMD drivers to boost performance. Don't trust Windows Update for that. Then you can use the retail key to activate. Then you can check compatibility for Windows 11 (I don't remember how the tool is called). Then you bypass compatibility check, if the tool says you are not compatible, and upgrade to Windows 11.

PS: The default for Windows 10 is GPT partition style (UEFI boot mode). However, if by chance you have MBR (Legacy BIOS installation) then simply bypass compatibility check to upgrade to Windows 11. Also have in mind that NVME disks usually boot in UEFI mode only. They show an error when you try to boot in Legacy BIOS mode.

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Also good input, reminding me as to complete preparations.

As I said -- I go under the assumption that I "build them better" than the OEMs. All the systems have an ICYDOCK 5.25" bay device for a slim ODD and two 2.5" HDDs, one of which is dedicated to daily Macrium backup which provides "Full" monthly, "Differential" every two weeks and "Incremental" daily.

I need to find -- or make new -- a thumb-drive Macrium rescue disk for the old hardware and system in question, so thanks for reminding me.

There are no technical differences between OEM and Retail keys. Only licensing terms.

BonzaiDuck said:

Now I see a problem with the digital licensing of my OEM Windows, bound as it is to the old hardware. It will definitely present an activation issue once I boot up with the new hardware.

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Your old hardware has a digital licence linked to the hardware ID of the PC and stored on Microsoft's activation servers. This digital licence is valid for both W10 and W11.

Do you sign in with a local account or a Microsoft account? If local, then switch to a Microsoft account. This will link your digital licence to your Microsoft account as well.

This may be sufficient on its own to activate after the motherboard swap. If not, run the Activation Troubleshooter and tell it that you have changed hardware. You will be asked to sign into your MS account and asked to find your old PC. You should find the old hardware listed in Devices. You can select it and the digital licence should transfer to the new hardware.

Option Four
Reactivate Windows 11 after Hardware Change with Digital License using Troubleshoot in Settings

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BonzaiDuck said:

Also good input, reminding me as to complete preparations.

As I said -- I go under the assumption that I "build them better" than the OEMs. All the systems have an ICYDOCK 5.25" bay device for a slim ODD and two 2.5" HDDs, one of which is dedicated to daily Macrium backup which provides "Full" monthly, "Differential" every two weeks and "Incremental" daily.

I need to find -- or make new -- a thumb-drive Macrium rescue disk for the old hardware and system in question, so thanks for reminding me.

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Here in Greece we have one more reason to build our own PCs, because we pay for the actual hardware we put in and the total cost is always lower than an OEM pre-built PC where you pay for the brand as well. Most build their own PCs to select the components they want and not be limited by the OEM choices which might be of lower quality to cut costs. Mostly companies order OEM PCs.

Upgrade to Education. Its the Pro Microsoft should have shipped but didn't. If your Kaby Lake has a Xeon processor, do the extra spend to obtain Pro for Workstations.

spapakons said:

Here in Greece we have one more reason to build our own PCs, because we pay for the actual hardware we put in and the total cost is always lower than an OEM pre-built PC where you pay for the brand as well. Most build their own PCs to select the components they want and not be limited by the OEM choices which might be of lower quality to cut costs. Mostly companies order OEM PCs.

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I DO understand the logic of that and didn't realize there are some places where more "mainstreamers" can build their own. Most of my friends here in So. California have desktop PCs but wouldn't have a clue how to put one together. I tend to buy high-end parts, although I only get second-tier CPUs and GPUs.

So the dilemma arises that you either don't get everything you want and still pay a high price -- for example the AlienWare Aurora sold by Dell -- or you consume your time testing and tweaking new hardware.

Anyway. I found a Patriot 8GB USB and plugged it in to the old system, then rebooted selecting it as the "boot override". It's the Macrium Rescue disk I was about to create. Got that, done that, prepared with that. Macrium has a feature on the bootable USB menu for "redeploy with different/new hardware", for which one must provide drivers. I'll take time to figure that out before I go forward with "SYSPREP".

Bree said:

Your old hardware has a digital licence linked to the hardware ID of the PC and stored on Microsoft's activation servers. This digital licence is valid for both W10 and W11.

Do you sign in with a local account or a Microsoft account? If local, then switch to a Microsoft account. This will link your digital licence to your Microsoft account as well.

This may be sufficient on its own to activate after the motherboard swap. If not, run the Activation Troubleshooter and tell it that you have changed hardware. You will be asked to sign into your MS account and asked to find your old PC. You should find the old hardware listed in Devices. You can select it and the digital licence should transfer to the new hardware.

Activate Windows 11

This tutorial will show you available options to legally activate your Windows 11 PC. Activation helps verify that your copy of Windows is genuine and hasn’t been used on more devices than the Microsoft Software License Terms allow. When you purchase an OEM PC that comes with Windows 11...

www.elevenforum.com

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The old hardware and the OEM OS bound to it is a machine registered as one of three or four on my MS Account. I log in to that system in a local account, but it somehow also logs onto my MS Account. For this crap they put on us with the online MS account, I went through several hoops to get my systems to connect again with each other for peer-to-peer sharing -- I think the trouble began when I'd updated another (decommissioned) system from Win 10 to 11 -- the last and final of such updates on old hardware. That's now resolved.

With retail-box as yet unopened, I think I could just register the system as a "new computer" on the MS Account and delete the old registration under the old computer name.

Did I say? I just finished installing the 64GB RAM and TR Grand Macho RT cooler with a new thermal paste from China: Halnjiye HY-P17, which has a thermal conductivity of 17.3 W/m-k. Thermal Grizzly Conductonauit rates at about 70, but it's electrically conductive. Some of the diamond pastes rate below ten.

Well, end of that, done that -- movin' on.

Other than laptops, I don't buy brand name computers. I buy parts and assemble my own, I get what I want and don't have to put up with the artificial limitations that many factory configurations come with.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention that for the exorbitant price of $13, through an outfit called "PremiumCDkeys", I purchased a "retail" product key in addition to the as-yet-unopened retail box I already had. I tried to install this key they sent me, and it returned a message with an error code.

I contacted PremiumCDKeys, who returned a set of instructions in about six steps with a new product key. This of course didn't install in the first step, which required using Settings->System->Activation as previously attempted. The second step involved opening CMD (admin) and entering "slmgr" commands, first to uninstall the old key, and then to install the new one.

This step worked. ShowKeyPlus now shows the (gray-market) Retail key I entered as "Activated", although it shows the "original edition" as "Windows 10 Professional OEM:NONSLP", but that indeed WAS the original edition.

Either way, this should all work out eventually. I just need to swap the motherboard assemblies and move the NVME boot disk to the new board. I've got the Macrium backup, the Macrium rescue disk, and essentially everything I need to get through this.

IF I can feel confident of making this process routine from now on, I can upgrade to new hardware more frequently, never loose my files, always be able to get online and do my banking and finance, always be able to tweak my budget spreadsheet, answer and send e-mail, and even do some mild "simulator" gaming.

78 years old. I was playing with hardware parts as early as 1983. I evolved in my life to depend on the technology to make my life "easier". Little did I imagine when I was younger, however! That's why everyone has shifted to cell-phones -- primarily -- while literacy in this country has plummeted and John Milton's Satan character is alive and well at 3AM tweeting -- not just "flying around" as in the classic epic poem or offering Eve the apple. Much worse than that.

EDIT -- BY THE WAY! I ALWAYS check for indicators of legitimacy with these gray-market businesses like Premium CD Keys. They have a good Trustpilot rating. I was prepared to fall back on my $75 shrink-wrap Win 11 Pro, and still am. But this cheap $14 product key has worked. What am I going to do, really? Otherwise? Under the stern jaundiced eye of Eleven Forums purists for paying "full price"?

No matter what they say "everyone uses smartphone or tablet", this is no true. Many software and almost all games run better on a much capable and upgradable desktop than a laptop or smaller device. For some applications and most games there is no Android equivalent, so the smartphone cannot fully replace a desktop PC running Windows, unless all you do is typing text and checking the socials.

spapakons said:

No matter what they say "everyone uses smartphone or tablet", this is no true. Many software and almost all games run better on a much capable and upgradable desktop than a laptop or smaller device. For some applications and most games there is no Android equivalent, so the smartphone cannot fully replace a desktop PC running Windows, unless all you do is typing text and checking the socials.

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I was basically saying that many people who may have purchased and used a "PC" at turn of the millennium don't have the patience for windows updates and the occasional troubleshooting that we suffer. PC desktops (only as much as I know or can guess) include some sort of service arrangement in the event that something goes wrong. Mainstreamers do not likely attend to the routine maintenance that would reduce the odds of something going wrong.

Laptops gave them mobility, but they still contend with Windows and the hardware in the laptop. Cellphones are mobile, small, and don't provoke the worry of the other technology.

I've seen family and friends dump their desktop PCs for laptops -- all good and fine. I began to worry if I were "behind the times", but I need a full-size keyboard and 32" monitor. For online banking, I NEED an accounting program and a spreadsheet program.

All along, hardware ages or becomes obsolete with new OS versions. One has to "keep up".