One you have your install, drivers, updates, and software installed,you should be able to create an image so you can restore it to a new hard drive. I have a 512 GB ssd, and I will buy a 2 TB ssd in the future. Everything else about my rig will remain the same. I see no reason why I can't buy a larger ssd, and restore the image.
From personal experience on Windows 8.1, I upgraded both the processor and the graphics card, at the same time, and my DIY machine remained activated... Not sure about Windows 10, though...
Avoid changing the MAC address of your computer (ie: replacing your network card after activation) and motherboard, there might be some other hardware I'm not aware of. If that can shred some light about hardware changes and activation, here is the silly issue I ran into with windows 8.1: I replaced two aging HDD by a HDD/SSD combo, added some memory and replaced the gfx card once. When I reinstalled and restored the Windows 8.1 activations, the Pro activation I had done using the phone activation process didn't deactivate. However, my free WMC key wouldn't activate online anymore. I had to phone to get a new activation code. On the other hand, both activations deactivated the day I replaced the network card.
So, if I build two computers with the same motherboard and MAC address (yes, it can be changed), if I activate one, the other will be probably activated too ?
Seems plausible they would use your MAC address on your NIC as a unique identifier. Most motherboards now come with one or more embedded NIC so it could be coincidental that people think it's linked the motherboard / BIOS (could still be). Of coarse it's all speculation and conjecture.
Question. When upgrading from 7 or 8, does win 10 have the generic key after install or does everyone get their own or is the key from original installed ? TY It can't be Mac address or motherboard, changing from MBR install to UEFI caused a act error.
I know that OEM-DM activation requires an onboard network adapter so I think the MAC address is pretty important. Back in the XP era most network adapters were add-in cards so the MAC address didn't have as much weight.
I have Win10 activated permanently. I have tested changing the SSD and then the GPU. I'm still activated.
ok, so.. after reading this hole cr$p topic all I can assume is that I need to assume something... Microsoft is not going to give away the genuine activation for pirates. The activation is based on motherboard id (thats a fact) so it can be bypassed (atleast in theory) with a loader (not to activate but to "lie" to wat10 and make it guess that your copy is licensed). well, just guessing and making some voodoo in here so my motherboard can become immortal..
This is an interesting thread, I am having a discussion with s1ave77 over this. What I am trying to understand is what else microsoft could be tracking when they allow us to activate from a Windows 7 activated by Daz loader for example. I am thinking this whole easy free activation thing is very temporary... Apart from the HW info taken from the mobo, could they be gaining info on the slic data which was different prior to the clean install? As u all know this data gets deleted when installed with the standard Daz loader method and when you wipe clean the HDD unless it was hard coded into the bios. If they are getting this info then couldn't they just scan back the new slic data to your HWID and determine it has changed? In that case are we burnt? I am beginning to think we need a bios mod to stay green. I am also suggesting everyone to stop free activations if u don't got a bios mod otherwise u may get flagged.
The SSD and GPU and most likely not included in the makeup of the HWID that MS generates from the extracted individual IDs of hardware components on your system. It is reasonable to expect these 2 components to be replaced in the lifetime of any given system, and thereby be excluded from the algorithm mix that makes up the the unique HWID that MS has assigned to your system at the moment you first do your upgrade or clean install. For certain, the mobo is included, and probably the CPU. It would be a good experiment to start replacing parts one by one to see what flags your system as non-genuine. The problem with this though, is it could take months before this happens. This was my experience when I replaced my first motherboard years ago. Everything ran smoothly for about 6 months, then the screen would turn nasty black with the nasty message in the taskbar about being non-genuine. No operating system changes were made, just the mobo changed out.
Had some issues a few days ago...any how I just got around to fixing...I had to replace my 990FX motherboard as a thunderstorm took out the PCIE slots ( lucky me) So I just only replaced the motherboard today from ASrock 990FX Fatal1ty Killer to my Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 All other hardware remained the exact same and in the same configuration. My win 10 Activation was gone. I am currently having to roll back to win 8 to get reactivated. So I can enter my valid retail key. THen I have to update to 8.1. And well then can upgrade to win 10.
Hahaha i'm no longer reading any activation theory, it always bring some FUD and no real knowledge. As long i'm activated i'll be happy, then if everything goes wrong, there's always gonna be a solution over the internet.
Did nothing to my laptop except update the bios with an official bios from manufacturer and ended up having to reactivate my windows license via phone.