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Getting rid of PC but keeping product key

pete6032

pete6032

Diamond Member
I have a very old system with Win 10 installed on it. At some point I will be building a new system, maybe in a year or two. I plan to recycle the parts from the old system and wipe the drive. Is it possible to save the product key and reinstall Win 10 on the new system I build?
 
Depends. Is it a retail Win10 key that you purchased and installed? That may be eligible for transfer to a new PC. Any other scenario, probably not.

Edit: RE: "Save the product key" - you don't already have it in the box or on a card?
 
Probably not. IIRC, and upgraded Windows 7 to Windows 10 is an OEM license.

But, if you purchased Windows 10 as a full retail version, then yea....if should be fine
 
"Recycling" parts speaks of reusing rather than replacing them. So I gather the mainboard will be the same one you use now, which has an activated installation, and just the windows installation itself will be new ? Under this scenario, the new installation will be activated .If your current build of windows is activated then a clean install will activate automatically. You don't need a licence key for the install process. Windows activation servers track the mainboard primarily . So even if the original installation was an oem, the board should remain activated after a new install so long as you have installed the same version of windows.
 
VirtualLarry said:
Depends. Is it a retail Win10 key that you purchased and installed? That may be eligible for transfer to a new PC. Any other scenario, probably not.
Click to expand...

If it's a retail licence key, you can transfer to your hearts content. Only issue is perhaps having to call MS to get it activated, but that's usually no big deal.

I'm not totally sure about Windows Store purchased keys. I've heard different things about transferability, and terms.

An OEM licence is tied to the system in question, so such would not be eligible for a transfer. System builder ditto (more specifically tied to the mainboard), with the exception of Windows 8(.1) keys, which are elegible for transfer under the original licence.

Ah, the wonderful world of Windows licencing. 🙂
 
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