New PC need help with Windows

Robm86 · 2 Apr 2017 at 12:26

Sorry if in the wrong place.

I am awaiting delivery of my new PC parts and i have upgraded everything other than my hard drive and psu. My question is, can i transfer my windows 10 over to the new PC and if so is it easy enough to do?

I am running Windows Home and it says "windows is activated with a digital license linked you your microsoft account"

Thanks for any help.

ED209 · 3 Apr 2017 at 08:07

Do a clean install of Windows 10 and re login to your Microsoft account which then should activate it.

use the W10 creation tool to create a USB stick and then skip the stages where it asks for a key.

Did you upgrade from windows 7 to 10? if so was it a retail Windows 7? as OEM license are tied to the mobo.

Some people have had success with having the key linked to their Microsoft account and then it activates on a new PC.

Mobium · 3 Apr 2017 at 09:13

I am in the same boat Rob, New parts should be arriving tomorrow.

I plan to use my existing SSD , which has WIN10 on it , upgraded from WIN 7.

As Ed states - a lot of people have had joy in linking MS Account to the Key etc and when moving to a 'new' PC it self activates. I will give that a go tonight etc.

I also spent some time last week looking over MS Forums and you may be required to call into the MS Helpdesk and as long as you have the existing valid Key for the previous OS - WIN7 in my case - they 'should' be able to re activate. I don't think I will have built my PC by tomorrow evening , but I will let you know how it goes or you can PM me.

Like you , I really don't want to go down the path of new WIN10 License and MS do seem reasonably flexible , from what I have read - Cross fingers !!!!!

Robm86 · 3 Apr 2017 at 18:20

ED209 said:
Do a clean install of Windows 10 and re login to your Microsoft account which then should activate it.

use the W10 creation tool to create a USB stick and then skip the stages where it asks for a key.

Did you upgrade from windows 7 to 10? if so was it a retail Windows 7? as OEM license are tied to the mobo.

Some people have had success with having the key linked to their Microsoft account and then it activates on a new PC.

Mobium said:
I am in the same boat Rob, New parts should be arriving tomorrow.

I plan to use my existing SSD , which has WIN10 on it , upgraded from WIN 7.

As Ed states - a lot of people have had joy in linking MS Account to the Key etc and when moving to a 'new' PC it self activates. I will give that a go tonight etc.

I also spent some time last week looking over MS Forums and you may be required to call into the MS Helpdesk and as long as you have the existing valid Key for the previous OS - WIN7 in my case - they 'should' be able to re activate. I don't think I will have built my PC by tomorrow evening , but I will let you know how it goes or you can PM me.

Like you , I really don't want to go down the path of new WIN10 License and MS do seem reasonably flexible , from what I have read - Cross fingers !!!!!

Thanks for the reply, i got my windows 7 off of ebay and updated to windows 10. Have no idea what my activation code is.

Robm86 · 4 Apr 2017 at 12:48

So i built my new PC last night and attached my old Harddrive untouched into the build and my PC started like it did on my original build but i have no internet connection even tho i have an ethernet cable attached. Do i need to reinstall windows and erase my old HDD?

phil-k · 4 Apr 2017 at 12:51

I would imagine you have to install the ethernet driver for your new motherboard from the drivers disc that should have come with it

Robm86 · 4 Apr 2017 at 14:58

I was under the assumption i would be prompted to reinstall windows with my new build and a clean sweep of my HDD how comes it booted as normal the same as my old PC? Due to the harddrive not being cleaned?

Habakkuk · 4 Apr 2017 at 22:53

Yes because of the hard drive not being cleaned.

You could just install new drivers and clear out the old ones, but it's generally advised against for a large change.

Mobium · 6 Apr 2017 at 11:06

Hi Rob,

I am not sure if you managed to get Windows 10 Activated. I went through exactly as you have done , plugged in my old SSD , built new PC etc. PC booted into WIN10 , and of course it was not activated.

I contacted Live Chat with MS , they took remote control, ran a command with my old WIN7 Key and voila , all activated - took me about 10 minutes all told. MS were more than helpful etc.