Did a w10 reinstall with new MB and cpu .....

country2

Senior member
May 1, 2001
598
4
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Built a new system and used my old w10 os which had been installed using the free ugrade.W10 would not activate saying it did not have digital rights even though I upgraded it using a retail version of w8.1 previously on the old system which should of gave my the rights to use it as a retail version.

I tried using the w10 key but it did not work for some odd reason I had to use the old w8.1 key that I used to upgrade to w10.Just a heads if anyone else runs into this issue.
 

nerp

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,865
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It is widely known that Windows 10 entitlements are tied to the motherboard. But, if you have a retail version, the key should be transferable. Call MS and they should give you a new product ID to activate.
 

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,236
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I'm convinced that MS has gone this route to prevent people from breaking the EULA with OEM versions of the OS.
 

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,236
4,915
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OEM cannot be transferred to new hardware so upgrading your pc constitutes new hardware thus breaking their UELA. Having used retail licenses which are supposed to be transferable to new hardware and having MS invalidate those keys after several re installs I prefer this new scheme. Besides it dropped the OS prices down to reasonable levels so if you can afford to build new you can afford the extra bucks for a new OS.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
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OEM cannot be transferred to new hardware so upgrading your pc constitutes new hardware thus breaking their UELA. Having used retail licenses which are supposed to be transferable to new hardware and having MS invalidate those keys after several re installs I prefer this new scheme. Besides it dropped the OS prices down to reasonable levels so if you can afford to build new you can afford the extra bucks for a new OS.


this is true, but if you simply call them and tell them something died they give you an activation key

they have been doing this since XP
 

TeknoBug

Platinum Member
Oct 2, 2013
2,084
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It is widely known that Windows 10 entitlements are tied to the motherboard. But, if you have a retail version, the key should be transferable. Call MS and they should give you a new product ID to activate.

Key IS transferable, I did so already between 2 different NUCs using a retail key. Key said "digital entitlement" in product info afterwards.

I did this just a week ago, and had no problems.

- Had Windows 7 Pro OEM on a PC
- Upgraded to Windows 10 (and activated)
- Motherboard died right after I upgraded to 10, and since it was an old board I had to replace it and the CPU.
- Booted Windows 7 (an image I made before upgrading to 10), clicked Activate Online: - Activated without a problem.
- Clean installed Windows 10 with Windows 7 key: Activated itself instantly.

Pretty cool but an OEM shouldn't be doing that. Was the repalcement motherboard of the same chipset? A couple years ago my Z77 Pro4 motherboard died and I sent it in for RMA and bought a Z77 Extreme4 and plugged everything to it and Windows didn't even deactivate, guess it thought that it was the same motherboard.
 
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country2

Senior member
May 1, 2001
598
4
81
Mine was retail so was not tied to motherboard...strange thing was that the old w8.1 worked even though that was the one I used to convert to w10 and the w10 serial did not...

Unless things were changed I thought ...

  • If you upgraded from a retail copy of Windows 7, Windows 8 or 8.1, the Windows 10 license carries the retail rights from which it was derived.
  • If you upgraded from an OEM Windows 7, Windows 8 or 8.1 license, these are licenses that come preinstalled on a new computer from a manufacturer, and then your Windows 10 license maintains the OEM rights.
 
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Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,236
4,915
136
this is true, but if you simply call them and tell them something died they give you an activation key

they have been doing this since XP

I spent 4 hours on the phone with MS trying to get them to reactivate my vista ultimate key which they refused to do. That was $400 down the drain and it something that I'll never do again. I flat out told them that they encourage people to pirate when they do things like this.
 

country2

Senior member
May 1, 2001
598
4
81
Well I just did the slmgr-dli in a command prompt it shows retail>I'm almost tempted to try it again and see what the end result will be this time.

Actually in my case it did work as it should I just did not think about how it works.I have w10 PRO and the serial number for w10 is just for the installation generic one for pro NOT for activation.The 8.1 serial I used to activate it is what I should of used as it was converted to w10 so I'm guessing if I would of used it on a w8.1 it would not of worked.
 
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