If I remember it correctly, it was possible, a few years ago, to avoid reaching the maximum number of activations per license key by first backing up the activation file to a separate storage medium and then copying it to a fresh install of Windows. Is this method workable for the latest versions/builds of Windows? Please advise.
WIndows 10 doesn't have that limit anymore. With hwid, the activation is automatically done when installing windows and as many times as you want, for the lifetime of that specific hardware (mobo).
One of my old machines used to have a Windows 10 Home (OEM) license and was upgraded to Windows 10 Pro using a Windows 7 Pro retail product key. Just over two weeks ago, I reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows 10. This time I activated it with a generic product key for Windows 10 Pro. (It starts with VK7 and ends with V66T.) It says "Windows is activated with a digital license". Moreover I bound the machine (device) to a Microsoft account. Is there a limit to the number of activations of Windows 10 Pro if my device is tied to a Microsoft account?
I recently answered a very similar question, no there is no limit on re-activating with the DL, the key is allowed to be published, it's a generic key for pro hwid activation. You don't have to link anything, the DL/HWID will be valid for the lifetime of the hardware it's generated on. Here is the other thread, also by you: https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/save-activation-file-for-use-later-in-fresh-installs.82178/
It may seem similar but no. In the other question, I was asking about backing up the activation file for use in reinstallations. In my other question, you did not mention about re-activating with a digital license. What you wrote was: "With hwid, the activation is automatically done when installing windows and as many times as you want, for the lifetime of that specific hardware (mobo)." I did not know then that when you wrote "hwid", you were telling me about activating with a digital license. Is your statement valid for ALL editions of Windows 10, including Windows 10 Education and Windows 10 Enterprise? Two additional questions to clarify my doubts: #1 - One of my machines is dual-boot because I am using one language version while my girlfriend is using another. Activating such a multi-boot device with a digital license is based on the mobo, not on whether it is dual-boot or single-boot, is that right? #2 - Suppose I upgrade my Windows 10 Home (OEM) license to Windows 10 Pro using a retail product key for Windows 10 Pro. I activate it. Does Microsoft recognize it as "activation with a retail license" or "activation with a digital license"?
From what I understand there are ~5 re-activations of the same windows key per year on different hardware You have unlimited activations for the exact same hardware. From what I remember, there is a 10-point hardware matching system that catalogs various hardware serial numbers: System drive serial, Wifi/ethernet serial (worth 3 points iirc) Memory amount Motherboard (In my experience you will always have to re-activate after changing a motherboard) If you change more than 3 of the 10 points, the digital entitlement tied to your hardware will no longer be valid and you'll need to reactivate using a windows key or other activation method. If you have a specific key (most likely) tied to your system, simply enter the key upon re-install and it will auto-detect the hardware and choose whether to restore an entitlement or burn an activation charge.
We have hwid generation knowledge for about 4 years now, for ALL windows 10 consumer, busines, ltsb and recently 2019 ltsc (except 2019 LTSC N) SKUs, is this discussion still needed? Officially the hwid says poof after only a mobo change (lan is leading) but again, since our friends mspaintmsi and anonymous made hwid on the fly possible, that all is not really important anymore. about my reply in the other similar thread you started: hwid = digital license and you simply could have replied in the first thread with the exact same subject, you didn't even show you read the answer but started a new thread.
I upgraded from X299 system to Z490 system. All components like NVMe SSD, RAM, GPU, 10GBe PCIe LAN remained same. I only swapped Motherboard and CPU. But on booting Windows, it re-configured devices but HW-ID activation remained. I was pleasantly surprised.
Could be that mobo is similar to wifi/ethernet serial in that it has 3 points by itself or that they've opened up the tolerance. Just out of curiosity, did you also change your ram amount?
Online or offline account? @murphy78 are you sure that is about hwid or is that based on MSDM activation? My test in the very early stages of hwid on the fly development was when i disabled my onboard LAN and put in a pci lan card, the Pro hwid was gone (no msdm, self built system) and when i re-installed windows 10 Pro using a hdd which never was used with a hwid either, didn't get the hwid either.
So, you changed the mainboard and used the nvme ssd with an existing install and the hwid still was valid? That's a first, in this scenario some stated the hwid was gone but re-established by generating a new genuineticket.xml and re-applying it.
So it seems storage SNs and the NIC MAC were the deciding factors in this case. I don't have the time and resources to check which parameters matter the most server-side (also, fuzzing Microsoft's activation system can't be a good idea) but I'm still convinced SMBIOS firmware tables and NICs are the most important ones.