Re-activating Windows 10 Pro after a motherboard replacement

I think I'm royally screwed here, but want to confirm with you guys who are far move savvy than I am.

I had an Asus Eee (mini) with Win7 that I upgraded (and I use the term loosely) to Win10 a couple of years ago when it was free. Shortly thereafter I purchased the MS upgrade from Win10 Home to Win10 Pro. All worked flawlessly, albeit very slowly, because the Asus has marginal memory and slow clocking.

The Asus gave up the ghost... some sort of failure on the MB. I was able to remove the HDD and ISO-mirror it to another drive running off an new MB. Wonder of wonders, it all worked, the computer is faster than ever, but some Win10 functionality is missing because Windows is no longer activated. Most things work fine, and even functions that can't be turned on now still work because they were turned on before the swap; that is, the 'permission' is grandfathered from the HDD.

Because the Asus was originally a Win7 machine, and upgraded to Win10 for free, I am unable to get a product key/license code to re-activate the OS. After more than an hour on the phone with MS Customer Service, I was told I have to buy a license for $200 to regain full functionality of this computer. I am having trouble coming to grips with the unfairness that a hardware repair requires essentially purchasing the OS all over again.

Am I missing something here, or am I up a creek without the proverbial paddle?

Are you logged in with a Microsoft account?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530

Usually if you tell them you had to change the mobo, they will reactivate for you.

Electrojim said:

I think I'm royally screwed here, but want to confirm with you guys who are far move savvy than I am.

I had an Asus Eee (mini) with Win7 that I upgraded (and I use the term loosely) to Win10 a couple of years ago when it was free. Shortly thereafter I purchased the MS upgrade from Win10 Home to Win10 Pro. All worked flawlessly, albeit very slowly, because the Asus has marginal memory and slow clocking.

The Asus gave up the ghost... some sort of failure on the MB. I was able to remove the HDD and ISO-mirror it to another drive running off an new MB. Wonder of wonders, it all worked, the computer is faster than ever, but some Win10 functionality is missing because Windows is no longer activated. Most things work fine, and even functions that can't be turned on now still work because they were turned on before the swap; that is, the 'permission' is grandfathered from the HDD.

Because the Asus was originally a Win7 machine, and upgraded to Win10 for free, I am unable to get a product key/license code to re-activate the OS. After more than an hour on the phone with MS Customer Service, I was told I have to buy a license for $200 to regain full functionality of this computer. I am having trouble coming to grips with the unfairness that a hardware repair requires essentially purchasing the OS all over again.

Am I missing something here, or am I up a creek without the proverbial paddle?

What were the term of the original Windows license?

A cheapskate solution is to buy a new key for the Home version then a cheap Pro upgrade key but watch out for dodgy suppliers.

Yes when I had to change my Z97 motherboard I replace it with another Z97 motherboard then at activation time I selected use phone activation that call let to a tech I explained my situation he gave me a set of numbers to put in and told me to save the set of numbers in case I have to reinstall or whatever they would activate me again in the future.

Might be worth a retry a different tech might be more helpful?

In answer to NavyLCDR, the subject computer had never been logged in with a Microsoft account, but to make my purchase of the Win10 Pro upgrade visible to Tech Support (who was sharing my screen and system), I did log in with my MS account to make my purchase of the Win 10 Pro upgrade visible. Notwithstanding my full cooperation, I got nowhere with the friendly fellows in Mumbai (or wherever), and was almost resigned to purchasing a license for $200 when I came across what looked like a 'gray market' solution on the Web. Feeling very self-righteous (because I came by the OS and its upgrades through the proper channels), I availed myself of the perhaps-dodgy service and within minutes had my Windows 10 installation reactivated.

I'm morally and philosophically opposed to sources of software and/or their activation and keys without payment for the 'intellectual property,' but in this case I felt neither nagging from my conscience beforehand nor remorse afterward. I'm back in business as I feel entitled to be, and stand ready to defend myself against the MicroGestapo if the need ever arises.

Thanks to everyone for comments, suggestions and support.

Hi folks
Sometimes - provided it's a decent Retail version of W7 the free upgrade still works !!!! If you have an old W7 iso it´s worth having a go. Just uðgrade and should be fine öö I tried about 2 weeks ago and it´s still working at least for me -- especially if you use an earlier W10 installer - use the Ms tool (I think the latest one - 1803) doesn't work for this but I haven't tried that yet.

Cheers
jimbo

cereberus said:

OP - this is the crucial question - were you using an MS account as @NavyLCDR asks?

It isn't really a crucial question. You can transfer a retail license using MS account but you can't transfer an upgraded OEM - it will just inform you there is no valid license found on your account.

I've found phone activation works if you are willing to spend several attempts and several hours - if they say no then phone and again and ask another guy. That is how I exchanged an anytime upgrade from 7 Pro to Ultimate into a Windows 10 retail key - first they said no, then they said yes which meant I could continue to use Windows 10 in bootcamp (both VM and native).