Solved Reactiving windows on new hardware (retail box)

Sqrly · Mar 18, 2024

I just built a new PC and my original license is for a retail copy of win 7 pro. (I still have the box with everything in it)

On my old PC I had upgraded 7 to 10 then I did a clean reinstall of 10 and it automatically activated with a digital licence.

On this new PC, I installed 10 with a local account and when I tried to activate it, I entered the key I pulled from my old PC running 10. No luck.

So I entered the original key from Win 7 and it didn't work either.

I clicked the activation troubleshooter and it just sat there, circle spinning, never doing anything.

Then I closed it all (after putting in that win 7 key) and when I tried to activate again I got the option to link the key to a microsoft account. I guess the new product key had to sink in.

This worked fine but then of course I had to log on to my PC with the Microsoft account. I was able to change back to a local account fairly easy though. After changing back I removed the Microsoft account from my PC as much as it would let me.

Then I did a clean install of 11 with a local account (1@1.com email trick because offline would not work at all) and it activated with a digital license easily, though I had to do it manually.

cereberus · Mar 18, 2024

Sqrly said:
I just built a new PC and my original license is for a retail copy of win 7 pro. (I still have the box with everything in it)

On my old PC I had upgraded 7 to 10 then I did a clean reinstall of 10 and it automatically activated with a digital licence.

On this new PC, I installed 10 with a local account and when I tried to activate it, I entered the key I pulled from my old PC running 10. No luck.

So I entered the original key from Win 7 and it didn't work either.

I clicked the activation troubleshooter and it just sat there, circle spinning, never doing anything.

Then I closed it all (after putting in that win 7 key) and when I tried to activate again I got the option to link the key to a microsoft account. I guess the new product key had to sink in.

This worked fine but then of course I had to log on to my PC with the Microsoft account. I was able to change back to a local account fairly easy though. After changing back I removed the Microsoft account from my PC as much as it would let me.

Then I did a clean install of 11 with a local account (1@1.com email trick because offline would not work at all) and it activated with a digital license easily, though I had to do it manually.

Of course, you will have removed Windows from old pc, or you would be violating the EULA having two devices activated by the same licence key?

Sqrly · Mar 18, 2024

cereberus said:
Of course, you will have removed Windows from old pc, or you would be violating the EULA having two devices activated by the same licence key?

No but no matter, that Mobo is in a box (It still has the SATA nVME).

Edit: I reused my case, Cooling, PSU, and drives. I've have enough parts to put that mobo/cpu back in service. I'm going to stick a linux distro on it and turn it into a media and file server for the lan.

Bree · Mar 18, 2024

Sqrly said:
On my old PC I had upgraded 7 to 10 then I did a clean reinstall of 10 and it automatically activated with a digital licence.

On this new PC, I installed 10 with a local account and when I tried to activate it, I entered the key I pulled from my old PC running 10. No luck.
So I entered the original key from Win 7 and it didn't work either.

When you upgraded the old PC from 7 to 10 it got a free digital license for 10, linked to the hardware ID of the PC. Changing the motherboard is a significant hardware change and will not be able to activate from this original digital license. Microsoft have now (finally) ended the free upgrade from 7/8/8.1 to 10, this is why your Win 7 key doesn't work now.

Free Activation from Windows 7/8 key or upgrade to Windows 10/11 Ends

Microsoft Device Partner Center: Windows Ends Installation Path for Free Windows 7/8 Upgrade Created Date: 2023-09-20 | Last Modified: 2023-09-20 Applies To: Publicly Available Microsoft's free upgrade offer for Windows 10 / 11 ended July 29, 2016. The installation path to obtain the Windows...

www.elevenforum.com

Did you sign in to the old PC with a Microsoft account? If so, then it will be listed as a device in your Microsoft account. You should be able to use the Activation Troubleshooter to activate the new PC, tell it that you recently changed hardware. It will ask you to sign into your MS account, then should show a list of devices including the old PC. Tell it that this was the PC you changed from and it should activate the new PC. See Option Four in this tutorial.

Activate Windows 11 Tutorial

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

bobkn · Mar 18, 2024

cereberus said:
Of course, you will have removed Windows from old pc, or you would be violating the EULA having two devices activated by the same licence key?

I wish that Microsoft would include an explicit license de-activation from their servers, to facilitate license transfers. Others (e. g., Adobe) manage to do that.

Sqrly · Mar 18, 2024

Bree said:
When you upgraded the old PC from 7 to 10 it got a free digital license for 10, linked to the hardware ID of the PC. Changing the motherboard is a significant hardware change and will not be able to activate from this original digital license. Microsoft have now (finally) ended the free upgrade from 7/8/8.1 to 10, this is why your Win 7 key doesn't work now.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/free-...8-key-or-upgrade-to-windows-10-11-ends.18347/
Did you sign in to the old PC with a Microsoft account? If so, then it will be listed as a device in your Microsoft account. You should be able to use the Activation Troubleshooter to activate the new PC, tell it that you recently changed hardware. It will ask you to sign into your MS account, then should show a list of devices including the old PC. Tell it that this was the PC you changed from and it should activate the new PC. See Option Four in this tutorial.

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/activate-windows-11.14214/#Four

No offense, your name is familiar and you've always been very helpful but, you apparently did not read my post as windows is activated and the "activation troubleshooter" was useless.