Use Activation Troubleshooter in Windows 10

Matthew Wai · 02 Apr 2017

Assuming that I have to reinstall Windows after changing the motherboard, then switching to my Microsoft account beforehand will make no difference. In this case, can I use the Activation troubleshooter to reactivate Windows?

Brink · 02 Apr 2017

If you had previously linked your Microsoft account to the digital license for that PC, then it should automatically activate the same PC when you setup using the same Microsoft account.

However, I would always recommend to have your product key written down and kept somewhere safe as a backup.

Matthew Wai · 06 Apr 2017

How can I check that my Microsoft account already contains my PC's info?

Brink said:

it should automatically activate the same PC when you setup using the same Microsoft account.

It will not be the same PC because the motherboard is changed.

Brink · 06 Apr 2017

The digital license for the PC will still be tied to your Microsoft account, but you will be able to use the troubleshooter as described in the tutorial to reactive the PC after changing the motherboard on it.

It's just that I would always recommend to write down your product key as a backup to be safe.

Find Product Key in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

RK1997 · 18 Jun 2018

Comport Colin said:

I installed 2 VMs with 14372, A and B. Activated A, used your manual to activate and tie the activation to my MS account. Logged into my MS account and it shows Machine A under my devices. Logged into B with the same microsoft account and checked online that now 2 devices show up under that MS account. Tried the activation troubleshooter to activate B but it tells me that there are NO devices tied to my microsoft account that may be used to activate the currently used machine. Then, when I click on "Show other devices linked to this microsoft account", to my surprise, the error is "windows cannot be activated another time on these devices" while listing NO devices at all.

If I insert the product key once more I get "windows cannot be activated on this device because the product key that you entered is already in use on another device".

Has your 'B' activated successfully?