Uninstall Product Key and Deactivate Windows 10  

Brink said:

You can't. The free upgrade offer EULA states that you cannot use the Windows 8.1 product key as long as you still have the free Windows 10 installed and activated.

But the top answer here says that I can?

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...8-04cb71dae9d5

What happens if I change my motherboard?

As it pertains to the OEM licenses this will invalidate the Windows 10 upgrade license because it will no longer have a previous base qualifying license which is required for the free upgrade. You will then have to purchase a full retail Windows 10 license. If the base qualifying license (Windows 7 or Windows 8.1) was a full retail version, then yes, you can transfer it.
From the end user license agreement:
15. UPGRADES. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from.
17. TRANSFER TO ANOTHER COMPUTER. a. Software Other than Windows Anytime Upgrade. You may transfer the software and install it on another computer for your use. That computer becomes the licensed computer. You may not do so to share this license between computers.

It also says this in the windows 10 terms and conditions:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Uset...10_English.htm

4. Transfer. The provisions of this section do not apply if you acquired the software as a consumer in Germany or in any of the countries listed on this site (aka.ms/transfer), in which case any transfer of the software to a third party, and the right to use it, must comply with applicable law.

a. Software preinstalled on device. If you acquired the software preinstalled on a device (and also if you upgraded from software preinstalled on a device), you may transfer the license to use the software directly to another user, only with the licensed device. The transfer must include the software and, if provided with the device, an authentic Windows label including the product key. Before any permitted transfer, the other party must agree that this agreement applies to the transfer and use of the software.
b. Stand-alone software. If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you. You may also transfer the software to a device owned by someone else if (i) you are the first licensed user of the software and (ii) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. You may use the backup copy we allow you to make or the media that the software came on to transfer the software. Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device. You may not transfer the software to share licenses between devices.

This seems to be saying I could transfer it over to a new computer(with a new motherboard). The question is, it says you have to remove the software from the prior device, so by that do they just mean wipe the hard drive?

If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you.

So your saying that I would need to uninstall (or deactivate) windows 10 first, then I could use the product key on a new computer? Would I have to uninstall/deactivate windows 8.1 as well?

So then if I installed windows 10 using the media creation tool (https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10) onto my new computer and put in the retail windows 8.1 product key, it would work? This seems to indicate that it would:

If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you.

Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device.

But how does windows know if windows has been unistalled/deactivated?

They dont half make it complicated do they? Why isnt there an option to deactivate windows in the options? Or why dont they tie your product key to your email address or something...

I also have another issue if you don’t mind…

My brother was a bit dumb and use this guide (but the windows 7 version) to uninstall his windows 7 product key which was on a partition on his macbook. He wanted to deactivate so he could use the product key on his new pc build, but he never wrote down or saved his product key which he got given. He tried to use NirSoft’s ProduKey to see if the product key is still there but it said there was no product key. I was just wondering if there is a way for him to recover his product key still or if it’s completely gone.

Brink said:

It sounds like the key is gone for good if he didn't write it down somewhere.

Just to be clear, you can either deactivate or just uninstall/format the retail Windows from a PC to be able to reinstall it on another PC.

oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ok I understand it now thanks for your help

AddRAM said:

As long as your Retail key is only used on 1 computer at any given time, you will never have any issues with it activating windows, the worse case scenario is you`d have to make an automated phone call, which only takes a few minutes.

right, gotcha thanks :P