Upgrading motherboard in Windows 10 - will I need a new licence?

spudbynight · 20 May 2020 at 12:49

I've got a PC at the moment running Windows 10. I am just about to upgrade the motherboard and CPU with a Ryzen 3600 setup.

I have a full licence for Windows 10. This licence was upgraded from Windows 8.1 Pro. The Windows 8.1 Pro licence was a retail licence sold by Microsoft on a special promotion a few years ago. It came via email and had a serial key. I no longer have access to the email address that was received on.

As I understand it that retail licence should mean my Windows 10 activation is transferable. Is it? If so, do I need to do anything before installing the new motherboard to ensure that this activates properly?

Gray2233 · 20 May 2020 at 12:51

You might need to reactivate with the new hardware but you shouldn't need a new licence.

This could involve an online check or at worst require you to make a phone call, but you shouldn't have any problems.

spudbynight · 20 May 2020 at 13:22

I read somewhere online that I might need my old windows serial to do so. Is there any way for me to find this from within Windows 10?

SonicSW20 · 20 May 2020 at 13:23

Follow this guide: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

As long as your licence is linked to your MS account, the process should be simple.

spudbynight · 20 May 2020 at 13:29

Thanks

spudbynight · 24 May 2020 at 10:32

OK, I followed the steps above. After I installed the new motherboard and CPU I had to reactivate Windows. It gave me a prompt where I could select "I recently changed my hardware", initially it said the Microsoft servers were down and to try later. I did this a few mins later and it activated OK.

Out of the blue this morning, after being activated, I have a watermark popup telling me I need to activate Windows. When I try to activate I get this :

james.miller · 24 May 2020 at 10:48

It sounds like that licence was linked to a microsoft account, one using the email address you7 dont have access to any more. If thats the case i think you'll need to ring microsoft and talk to somebody.

TheDesX77 · 25 May 2020 at 21:27

I might be too late to be of any use here, but have you tried a key finder like Magic Jelly Bean?

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

It'll tell you your Windows product key/serial key, which you should be able to use to reactivate Windows on the new hardware. Unfortunately I suspect that you might have to put the old mobo and CPU back in to recover the key, then swap them out again.

Might be less hassle to go through Microsoft support and see if they can recover it for you as suggested above.

Good luck!