Unable to reactivate Windows and at a dead end

SIW2 · Jan 10, 2026

You rent Windows, you don’t own it

You are mistaken.

Where the copyright holder makes available to his customer a copy – tangible or intangible – and at the same time concludes, in return for payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period, that rightholder sells the copy to the customer and thus exhausts his exclusive distribution right.

Many software companies are trying to move people onto a rental model, '

dacrone · Jan 10, 2026

SIW2 said:
You are mistaken.

Many software companies are trying to move people onto a rental model, '

You pay for the rights to use it. You do not own it.

SIW2 · Jan 10, 2026

right of distribution is exhauted on the first sale
that means you can sell or give away any item you have bought. You can smash it to pieces if you want. You own that item.

right of reproduction remains with the copyright holder
that means you are not allowed to make copies of the item and sell them.

Everything works like that, it is international copyright law.

dacrone · Jan 10, 2026

SIW2 said:
oh dear.

A license is what you purchase to lease the software. Any licensed software. You own nothing. You don’t have the source code. If they change 26H2 to a monthly subscription and choose to no longer acknowledge retail product keys from 25H2, they have every legal right to do so. Nothing you, I or anyone can do about it.

MisterEd · Jan 10, 2026

I bought Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade Retail in October 22, 2009 for $219.99 from Best Buy. It included both 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs. Note Even though this was an upgrade edition I started with a clean install on a newly built computer with no problem.

Over the years I have replaced the motherboards and CPUs and was always able to reactivate Windows. What made the difference was probably that I started with a retail license for Windows.

I first installed Windows on a 3.5" HDD. I later cloned that to a 2.5" SSD. I finally cloned that to an M.2 NVME SSD.

Motherboards:
ASUS M4N82 Deluxe AM2/AM2+
Gigabyte GA-990FX-UD3 AM3/AM3+
ASUS Prime X370-Pro AM4

Processors:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE AM3
AMD Phenom II X4 960T BE AM2+/AM3
AMD FX-8350 AM3+
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X AM4
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X AM4

Operating Systems:
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Windows 10 Professional (free upgrade)
Windows 11 Professional (free upgrade)

SIW2 · Jan 10, 2026

If they change 26H2 to a monthly subscription

That is different because that is renting.

read it again

The following constitutes a sale

in return for payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period,

If you agree to rent something, the right of distribution does not pass to you.

Surely you understand the difference between buying a car and renting a car. Software is the same and so is everything else.

It is good for the software companies to try to push the punters into renting, for obvious reasons. It is not good for the punters ( except in limited circumstances )

dacrone · Jan 10, 2026

SIW2 said:
That is different because that is renting.

read it again

The following constitutes a sale

If you agree to rent something, the right of distribution does not pass to you.

Surely you understand the difference between buying a car and renting a car. Software is the same and so is everything else.

It is good for the software companies to try to push the punters into renting, for obvious reasons. It is not good for the punters ( except in limited circumstances )

You just quoted it yourself. THE RIGHT TO USE. I’m tired of typing the same thing over and over. Enjoy.

Marcus Vinicus · Jan 10, 2026

dacrone said:
You pay for the rights to use it. You do not own it.

Correct.
From the current Windows 11 EULA:

SIW2 · Jan 10, 2026

Most jurisdictions do not allow circumvention by sneaky clauses

ECJ:

Such a transaction involves a transfer of the right of ownership of the copy. Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy

DennyZenny · Jan 10, 2026

SIW2 said:
Most jurisdictions do not allow circumvention by sneaky clauses

ECJ:

Windows is an American operating system made by Microsoft an American company. Its clear we are talking about US law.

cheaterslick · Jan 10, 2026

DennyZenny said:
Windows is an American operating system made by Microsoft an American company. Its clear we are talking about US law.

Rightly or wrongly, which the rest of the world can choose to ignore.

john1955 · Jan 10, 2026

This thread was just a RANT
The OP is not at a "dead end" and not "screwed"
You dont need to activate Windows and the other SIMPLE options were mentioned.
He never asked for help because he already knows the solution

SlicEnDicE · Jan 10, 2026

Guys don't fight over license terms. A software license agreement is whatever it says in the documents. If you agree to it and install, then US or EU law or whatever excuses you bunch try to come up with does NOT apply. It clearly states that you agree to the terms that you have the right to install the software on one machine by agreeing to the terms. There is nothing further to discuss regarding this.

Ok, so since Windows 7 activations are completely killed off, one can't even do the long route anymore. Meaning that you install and activate Win7, then upgrade to 10 and activate that with the automatically generated new key and finally do the same with Windows 11.

There is no other option than to either install Win11 on the original HW or to buy a new key.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't activate Windows 7 at all anymore, unless I do a manual KMS workaround, which is illegal and may get anyone who attempts this, into trouble with the law enforcements.

SlicEnDicE · Jan 10, 2026

john1955 said:
This thread was just a RANT
The OP is not at a "dead end" and not "screwed"
You dont need to activate Windows and the other SIMPLE options were mentioned.
He never asked for help because he already knows the solution

The OP did ask for help, in case someone knew a way to get this working without buying a new license. It was also a rant, but who wouldn't be frustrated in this case?

cheaterslick · Jan 10, 2026

SlicEnDicE said:
It was also a rant, but who wouldn't be frustrated in this case?

What frustration. Purchase a $10 key from Stack Social. Or get a new license mentioned in post #2. Problem solved.

john1955 · Jan 10, 2026

SlicEnDicE said:
The OP did ask for help, in case someone knew a way to get this working without buying a new license. It was also a rant, but who wouldn't be frustrated in this case?

I guess I'm getting too old . . . I read the OP three times and did not see any question.

JLArranz · Jan 10, 2026

I think some of you are speaking about "my" right (or anyone's else) to use the software as it is (for example install it in a computer, run Edge, enter a web address and see it, etc) and others "my" right to "do a fork of Windows" (an extreme case) or copy-paste algorithms etc to produce my own sw, including a competing OS. I believe this is what MS means when they say they own the sw. Time ago an enterprise of home cleaning articles demanded other for copying its designs, not for cleaning its own offices etc with (up-to-date or outdated) stuff from the competition.

SIW2 · Jan 10, 2026

US or EU law or whatever excuses you bunch try to come up with does NOT apply

You have it back to front.

Slavic · Jan 10, 2026

SlicEnDicE said:
Ok, so since Windows 7 activations are completely killed off, one can't even do the long route anymore. Meaning that you install and activate Win7, then upgrade to 10 and activate that with the automatically generated new key and finally do the same with Windows 11.

This is just my case. About 3 years ago I used the Windows 7 Pro product key to activate Windows 11 on a new laptop which was sold without installed OS. It was successful because at that time this option still worked (it was cancelled by MS a year later). System is activated with a digital license and I can reinstall OS on current hardware as many times as I want; also I made some upgrade (RAM and SSD) without breaking the activation.
However, the keys from Windows 7 and 8 no longer can activate Windows 11, so if I change a system board, current activation will be lost forever.

SIW2 · Jan 10, 2026

so if I change a system board, current activation will be lost forever.

Have you tried? If you have it registered to an ms account maybe you could.

Unable to reactivate Windows and at a dead end

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Semper paratus

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

the green man

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Jack of all trades

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Jack of all trades

My Computers

Active member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers