Speak of the Devil, lightning struck (literally) last week and overrode/fried a perfectly good UPS...it was a pretty massive surge, I guess, and it fried my motherboard...! (Only 2nd time in decades I've had that happen to a system.) I was lucky, I guess, as all of the other components in the system are unscathed (!)...I guess the UPS did something right.... Anyway...have replaced the motherboard with an identical board and I can now definitively state that what we have with these Win10 licenses are semi-OEM licenses keyed to some motherboard identifier stored on the MS activation servers...I say "semi-OEM" because they are a little better than traditional OEM licenses in that they don't expire--exactly--when the motherboard expires. But they are not as good as the traditional retail licenses I've always had with Windows--which survived a motherboard swap handily, even if I had to do a phone activation. Speaking of "phone activation"... 1) It won't work with Win10 Pro x64 if you have to do a motherboard swap...! Found that out just a few minutes ago. Grrrr-r-r-r--rrrrr! So what will work..? According to the MS phone guy I just talked to, what I can do is a fresh install of a qualifying upgrade OS and activate it, then do the Win10 upgrade from there and activate that--after which the new motherboard will be activated permanently on the Microsoft activation servers. That represents a crap-load of work, quite aside from the hassle of having to replace a motherboard in the first place. Since I can do a clean install after the Win10 upgrade is activated, though, I'm wondering if after that I couldn't just fully restore my backup of C:\...and have the old install remain activated...? It sounds like the activation servers key to the motherboard hardware in some fashion and don't really care at all about the files on the disk. If a fresh install of 10 will remain activated, then why not a backup of previous installation...? Any thoughts...? If Microsoft plans to continue this policy after the free upgrade period expires they will be sued within an inch of their existence, I predict... This procedure is not what they've been telling people about the free Win10 upgrade--that "like upgrades to like"...retail 7/8 upgrades to retail 10, etc. I almost cannot believe I can't get activated over the phone--unreal.
Seems it is quite easy to do. I installed Windows 10 on an Acer Laptop. woops, had to remove the HDD and Install on a NEW Gigabyte Mobo. boot to and instantly it went to "Setup Devices" apparently the Video device was different & Keyboard, mouse all DEVICES were different. Setup and Is Activated and working FINE.
Sounds like you had not yet activated Win10 on the Acer laptop before removing the drive... Or it could be that your new system was sufficiently different from the Acer so as to represent a new machine to Win10 activation--but the first explanation seems likeliest. (The second may not even make sense, actually.) In my case, I had succeeded in reinstalling Win8.1 (as per the Microsoft phone talker's instructions), activating that, then upgrading to 10240 and activating that, as well. So I figured the correct hash for my new hardware was now ensconced on the Microsoft activation servers...so I restored my C:\ drive from my former 10532 build which I had backed up via Windows backup, thinking that everything should jive, now, and that Win10 should activate. It didn't--wouldn't. Apparently, all of the information relative to the activation is held somewhere on C:\, and in more places than just the key itself. (It's not buried in the UEFI/bios somewhere, etc.) So now I am about to embark on the joyful task of once again installing 8.1, getting that activated by phone, and then upgrading to 10240 RTM, at which time I will once again be activated. Then I can start the tedious process of application installation--again. This has all been so much trouble that I think I'll drop out of the Insider program--doesn't seem to be much of an upside to it now, frankly--more pain than gain. It still boggles my mind that I can activate Windows with the new motherboard (identical to the last one) by installing Win8.1 and upgrading it Win10 10240, but I cannot, under any circumstance it seems, activate my previously activated install of 10532. *Same hardware* & all of the OSes are retail (not OEM)! The first scenario works--the second no longer does. Makes no sense whatever that I can see. Phone activation for Win7/8.1 works--if auto-activation fails because the activation servers think the activation is currently in use elsewhere, you are asked "On how many machines is this OS installed?" To which the correct answer is "One." After which, the automated phone robot provides me with a product key for 7/8.1 that works, and I'm activated & done! Windows 10 doesn't work that way even via the phone...If auto-activation fails, the only route to activation is to repeat the upgrade installation from Win7/8.1 to Win10 10240! So...what happens when the free upgrade period has elapsed and people can no longer do that if they need/want to change out a motherboard...? Will they be told to butt out and buy another license at that time? If so, then all of the people warning of a snare waiting to go off, a trap in which millions of unwitting people are preparing to fall--won't sound goofy and ridiculous any more, will they? I still have difficulty believing what a mess Microsoft has made of Win10 activation, considering how they got it essentially right with Win8.1/7. But I am experiencing it myself so there's no way to dodge the reality of the situation. (Sorry to spout off here...but am not a happy camper at the moment.)
Well mine was deactivated from installing more RAM, and no, I tried 10 different activated backup's with no luck, when they deactivate you, your backups will not save you.
Thought I'd let folks in the thread know that this finally worked out..! I am now running my original 10532 build *activated* properly...! I am delighted that my situation has rectified itself...! Readers need read no further into this thread on my account--and thanks to everyone who responded to this baffling situation. I'm not quite sure what happened, but man, this is so much better...! I finally got Windows 10 activation to take my key and activate...! I used NirSoft's produkey to find my key (it's generic, but I had forgotten it) and this afternoon I must've entered it half a dozen times to no avail (Change Product Key)--Windows 10 Activation kept blocking it religiously, for some reason. I was only moments ago preparing to install windows 8.1 for the second time today and then upgrading 8.1 to Win10 10240, when I decided to try my generic key one more time...I pasted in the key and held down the shift key when I hit the "Next" button in the Win10 activation...and Windows 10 10532 activated once again...new motherboard and all...! (I have no idea whether holding down the shift key had anything to do with the outcome...but "something" told me to hold it down--it was used to bypass HP's printer drivers years ago to force-install the drivers into a different OS--so don't ask me why I held it down because I don't know! Heh!) But in case some kind soul at Microsoft happened to hear my pleas and shoot an activation through my MSA, I'll just say thank you! Pleased to note that this case is "solv-ed", as Clusoe might put it...! These are the kinds of endings I like...!
Really not sure why I suddenly activated...prior to, the Win10 activation module would take the generic key without error, but when hitting the "next" button, the error would manifest feedback that the key was blocked..."Windows was unable to activate." Then that last time I put in the key I held down the left-shift key while I hit the "next" button...and bam!...activation was immediate for my installed backup of 10532...! (No idea whether left-shift has anything to do with it, though.) This morning I'm wondering if perhaps the problem all along was that the activation servers were slammed earlier, but then I'd have seen a different error message, I would think. Good luck...! I'm surprised that a simple ram expansion would trigger a block...Before my motherboard problems I had changed out hard drives & the GPU without seeing a deactivation.
Why does that matter. Taking a activated windows and dropping it in another PC, sure it going to show activated. How can windows activate using a HWID, but then ignore it and allow people to change systems for ever when you get a OEM 10. If a server activates windows, then we should expect that until windows sends the HWID and see's that it's changed, the system will remain activated. How does anyone know when windows itself checks the HWID and collects the data after it's activated. I can't see MS allowing a once activated system to have hardware changed for the rest of 10's life. I think a few months need to pass before people are told to take an extra drive, activate it and keep it around for another system or allowing them to think they can drop their activated win 10 into another system and the day comes when they need to clean install and find out they where blocked. Just my thought on this. Any reply's, thought's, ideas, will be appreciated.
Oke got my new mobo cpu and ram installed and NO it was not activated any more. Friendly as I am called Microsoft and they jus said 2 choices buy windows or install windows 8.1 again and upgrade on your new pc again. Life is bitch I must say ! Reinstalled windows 8.1 on a different partition upgraded to 10 and activated with no problems then went back to my main system and YES it was activated again down side why make it so difficult MS Just to make same few bucks shame on them !! Peace out Base
Thanks for the post. There's so many conflicting reports. People who say it remains and some say it doesn't. Have read people saying they ACT with a 8.1 KMS to 10, and 10 gets ACT as permanent. As for you, the way it went this time, if the free 10 was over, you wouldn't have been able to keep 10. I also don't think you should have used your retail 8.1, you should have used a 7, as there might come a time when you need the 8.1 but MS calls it deactivated due to the free 10.
Good...Like you, yesterday I reinstalled 8.1, activated, then upgraded to 10, which also activated. Then I restored my C:\ partition from backup through Windows Backup (which reformatted C:\ and reinstalled the backup), but once again, the 10532 build was deactivated upon boot with the new mobo! Thought I was going to have to do it all again--when suddenly the generic key I'd used for 10532 before finally succeeded in activating my original 10532 installation...! So...I don't know if the 8.1/10 upgrade activation I did before I reinstalled my 10532 backup with the new mobo resulted in a successful activation--or whether the activation servers were simply busy when I tried to get the initial 10532 installation activated the first half-dozen times--or whether holding down the left-shift key had anything to do with it (doubtful)--or whether somebody at MS read my pleas on the Windows Insider site and elected to help me via my MSA...! But like you I can say definitively that Win10 phone activation won't work if you replace a motherboard--I was also told to go back through the 8.1/10 upgrade path as the "solution" by the Microsoft employee. They really need to fix this...
I did not think it would either but, it did, again all I thought was put on a activated backup copy and all would be OK, that I believe is bigger story than RAM crap. Backups do not hold activation, and adding RAM deactivated me, MS must hate me. Not only is Windows 10 Spyware it is HWID Crapware!!!!!!!!
Eh?... All the Insider Previews are timed out. It certainly "counts" as in it's now activated for me (again), Lol... What do you mean, "It doesn't count"?... The Insider program has not ceased, you know, and Gabe Aul is still releasing new builds. I'll install a new build long before the present 10532 (latest build) expires. But I agree the program is not for the faint of heart. We might even get a new build today, according to Aul. It simply means that Insiders see new features before the people who stick with the RTM will see them, that's all. Now that I got my original 10532 install activated (which I installed after RTM) I feel much better about the program. EDIT: I meant to add that phone activation won't work on any build if you change the motherboard...RTM included. The Microsoft guy I spoke with never even got to my build number--as soon as he heard "changed the motherboard" he immediately told me that all was lost and that I had to do it all over again--install 8.1, activate, and then upgrade to Win10 and activate. Fortunately he was wrong...maybe...since I'm not sure how it was that my backup 10532 finally activated after refusing to do it many times. (I think I'm written out on this topic.)
Why do they need to fix it, they already stated with free upgrade if motherboard is changed activation is lost it is classed as a new machine.