Motherboard dies. Windows 7 upgraded to Windows 10. Will the new and different motherboard see the hard drive installation as activated? If so, what would it take to do an new installation at a future date?
No you can't If you read link above all you have to do is call That key is linked to your bad motherboard HWID, call them
good deal, I got a few systems wanting to be added to an MSA then. I plan to do unplanned upgrades to them sometime haha
Don't get too excited The key statement is at the bottom of the MS page... The type of device you’re activating doesn’t match the type of device you linked to your digital license. I already tested this last week... Installed a vm with VMware---activated with the xml and added to my a/c---then installed another vm with VirtualPC---could not activate using the MS a/c...reason given was incompatible hardware I can only guess that any motherboard change has to be minimal---has to have the same architecture, chipset, etc... But no doubt, having a digital license linked to your MS a/c is important... We can at least argue that we owned a valid license and MS may oblige
Fine. If my mobo dies as long I link my MSA to the Digital License still I can reactivate my Windows. Nevertheless I have a bad feeling linking my identity to a damn Windows activation, I just don't feel comfortable. Someone said: Food for thought. Come on guys time to speculate pros and CONs (more likely) about this procedure.
You do not feel comfortable linking your identity to the activation, but you are using w10 which treats privacy with contempt already??? The pros are you can activate another mainboard with that method. Since we do not know how the HWID is generated, I presume onboard IDs are considered, linking to an account is the reference then..
Worked for me 1st time when I changed motherboard, using the troubleshooter, but that board turned out to be faulty, and I replaced it again with another variant. This time it wouldn't work? So, some sort of limit? I could have phoned them up, but couldn't be assed, so just ended up using another of my Win7 Technet keys, which done the job nicely
For the discussion in this thread, you have to consider the licensing (legal) and practical position separately. From licensing point: - If you upgraded from a retail version of Windows 7, you have transfer rights, which are retained by your Windows 10 licence. You are then (legally speaking) allowed to change your hardware however you like, and even move Windows 10 to a different computer. - If you upgraded from an OEM (pre-installed) version of Windows 7, you have no transfer rights, the licence is tied to the motherboard, and a replacement motherboard (which is not of the same make/model) invalidates the licence. From practical point (activation technical point): - Windows 10 digital entitlement is linked to a hardware ID, which is in part based on the motherboard. Changing the motherboard changes the hardware ID, and most likely you lose activation. - Linking your digital entitlement to a Microsoft Account may allow you to reactivate even if you change motherboard. As you can see the licensing position and the technical position are not entirely in line with each other. On the one hand, if you have transfer rights, then you have the right to change the motherboard, even if you don't link to a Microsoft Account. On the other hand, if you have no transfer rights, you don't have the right to change the motherboard, even if you do link to a Microsoft Account. What they enforce via MSA is different from what your licence actually entitles you to. Therefore, in order to fully utilise your rights under your licence, you may have to give MS a call over the phone.