Hi, had previously free upgraded win7 to 10....I then cloned that drive to a larger drive....my motherboard recently fried so upgraded that, now my windows 10 is not activated
my question is, if I were to reinstall 7 on the original smaller drive then upgrade again to 10 would I have it activated on my larger main drive when plugged back in
This depends on you original licence status.
If your original windows 7 licence was oem (mostly preinstalled when you bought pc), then that licence dies with old mobo and you require a new licence. You could try what you are suggesting, but it probably won't work. You could ask MS to help, if mobo is a like for like replacement.
If your original 7 key was retail, you can use it to activate windows 10 on new drive if running new version 10586 (open a command box and top line will say 10240 (old version) or 10586 (new version). If old version, it is better to clean install 10586 on new drive.
Note: sometimes you have to reinstall old os and get it activated, in which case, your idea of using smaller disk to install 7, and get it activated (using telephone activation if necessary) is a good idea. Then if version of 10 on new hdd is is 10586, then you can activate it using 7 key, and do not need to go through hassle of upgrading and cloning.
The old PC was originally OEM but I have disks also and have used them to reinstall 7 before........Win 10 Pro got upgraded on my machine yesterday with no problems but still not activated
It will not activate as a new mobo. It is not relevant that you reinstalled it before on old mobo.
Windows 10 is tied to hardware id of old mobo. If old mobo dies, so does licence. You cannot transfer 7 licence either to new mobo (in the past, MS might do this manually, but that was a favour not a right - they are stricter now).
Unless you can persuade MS, you have a like for like mobo replacement, you need a new licence.
So my only real option is to buy a key......anybody know if keys from sites like this [removed by admin] or on Ebay are legit?? because I'm sure as hell not paying 200 bucks for a retail copy of windows
@ gazurtoids:
Call MS 'Up and Running' team, they should be able to help you out.
Toll free - Ireland: 1-850-940-490
Welcome to tenforums.com, btw! :)
+1 on that, gazurtoids. I must admit, just the title of your thread is a bit alarming from an ethical viewpoint (I'm not assuming other than good intention on your part). Contacting MS in good faith and assuming good faith on their part would always be the right choice.
I will only add that you may consider the option of making more than one call to MS at different times and see that you get a consistent answer from different reps, possibly depending on which side of the bed a given rep got up from on that morning.
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