Closing MS account that I used for Win licensing - question about new

The Windows Settings Email and Accounts doesn't simply allow you to replace the account you are using for a digital license, which I need to do.

Issue here is that my Win 10 digital licenses on all my PCs are tied to an outlook.com email account that I haven't used since 2018. I just closed that account, but MS gives you a 60 day grace period so you can re-open the account, before it totally wipes the account.

So for my Win 10 digital is it safe to simply let the clock run on this outlook.com account and then "re-register" the digital license with my remaining live.com account. Or should I go through all the steps necessary to remove this outlook.com account now? From a web search, it's a whole bunch of steps.

x509 said:

...Issue here is that my Win 10 digital licenses on all my PCs are tied to an outlook.com email account that I haven't used since 2018. I just closed that account....

Relax. Your digital licences are not tied to your Microsoft account. Whether you have a Microsoft account or not, every digital license is stored on the Microsoft activation severs and the only thing they are 'tied' to is the unique hardware ID of the PC. This is the primary way that Windows is activated, by sending the hardware ID of the PC to the MS activation servers and receiving back confirmation whether or not a digital license for the edition you are running (Home or Pro) is linked to that hardware ID. The MS account plays no part in this activation, in fact you don't need one in order to have a digital license. I don't use a Microsoft account and all my PCs have digital licenses.


Linking the digital licence to a Microsoft account is an optional extra that can be useful in limited circumstances, such as running the activation troubleshooter after changing a motherboard (and hence changing the hardware ID). Hard drives are not included in this hardware ID so can freely be changed.

Bree said:

Relax. [...]
Linking the digital licence to a Microsoft account is an optional extra that can be useful in limited circumstances, such as running the activation troubleshooter after changing a motherboard (and hence changing the hardware ID). Hard drives are not included in this hardware ID so can freely be changed.

Bree,

Thanks for letting me know that for my laptops I don't need to do anything. However, I have 3 desktops that homebuilt, and every so often, I do swap out motherboards. Since I'm a belts-and-suspenders (belts-and-braces for my friends on the other side of the pond) kind of guy should I do the work now to link my licenses to my remaining MS account?

x509 said:

However, I have 3 desktops that homebuilt, and every so often, I do swap out motherboards. Since I'm a belts-and-suspenders (belts-and-braces for my friends on the other side of the pond) kind of guy should I do the work now to link my licenses to my remaining MS account?

Yes, it would be sensible in those circumstances. As far as I am aware, you simply need to switch from using an MS account with the old address to a local account, then switch back to an MS account that uses the new address.


Switch to Local Account in Windows 10

Switch to Microsoft Account in Windows 10