Link Microsoft Account to Windows 10 Digital License  

New forum member here.
Have been reading this thread with interest as I have just upgraded my 2 desktop PC's to Windows 10 Pro (both formerly Windows 7 Pro). Both just boot up to Windows without any password (how they used to in Win 7).
Both PC's are showing as activated with a digital licence. I do have a Microsoft Account (from which i purchased Office 2016 Home & Business prior to OS upgrade), however do not have MS Account set up on either PC. One PC is for general use, ie email, web browsing, some photoshop use, CD collection software, and is usually online 70% of time. The 2nd PC is for hobbyist music production and video editing exclusively and is usually only online in order to update existing software or to get Windows updates.
I have both PC's set up how I want with their various applications and settings, however I thought about adding an extra user to each PC (with administrator rights), and changing that user to sign in with Microsoft Account for the sole purpose of having each PC's digital licence linked to Microsoft Account, for reactivation in case of hardware failure ie motherboard change etc. The idea of this is that my current profile would be a local account and then afterwards I can just log on to Windows 10 with my local account and continue to use how i have it currently set up.
What I am reading in this thread is that if I use Microsoft Account to link the digital licence and then afterwards use local account that the digital licence then removes from Microsoft account. Am I reading correctly or misunderstanding?
Also, can I use the same Microsoft Account for each of the 2 PC's or do I need to set up a separate Microsoft Account with a different email address?
Thanks in advance for any help/clarification or suggestions. I have no problems with Windows 10, am just a bit confused about this Microsoft Account stuff.

ozradar said:

What I am reading in this thread is that if I use Microsoft Account to link the digital licence and then afterwards use local account that the digital licence then removes from Microsoft account. Am I reading correctly or misunderstanding?

No. Logging into a local account will not remove the digital license association contained in the Microsoft Account.

ozradar said:

Also, can I use the same Microsoft Account for each of the 2 PC's or do I need to set up a separate Microsoft Account with a different email address?
Thanks in advance for any help/clarification or suggestions. I have no problems with Windows 10, am just a bit confused about this Microsoft Account stuff.

Yes, you can use the same Microsoft account on any number of devices. You can view the status of your devices linked to your Microsoft account:
https://account.microsoft.com/devices

cereberus said:

For clarity, if you only have one local account setup and you link that to MSA, then the account is changed to an MSA. However if you revert that to a local account, the link is removed (the device is removed from your MSA).

OP is nearly right but just creating a second MS account does not work as MS accounts are linked at install time.

OP needs to create a second LOCAL admin account, then link that account to MSA, converting that to MSA.

then OP can login with original local account but link to MSA will be retained.

Thanks, that is what i was seeking clarification on. Creating the second Local admin account then linking that to MSA then logging in with original local account what what I was thinking to do. Thanks for the clarification

Hi all... new member here...

Of all the articles & forums I've read, this one is the most useful, but I am still unclear on a few points.

I upgrade my version of Windows 10 from Windows 7. I have the latest update and will need to link the license to my MS account. The query I have is....

My machine is quite old (an old Core 2 Duo E6600). It is not my primary machine any longer as I have a decent laptop, however I would like to breath some life back into the old boy, and was thinking of loading Linux for basic day to day mail and browsing, and running Windows 10 in VMware Player or Oracle VirtualBoxx on the same machine, for Office and some games.

Would I be able to use this license linked to my account in the VM, and would Windows activate?

Brink said:

Hello h00vs75, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

The VM would be considered a different PC than your primary machine.

Thanks Brink.... Will give it a try and report back