![]() Instead, when you reinstall Windows 10 on that computer in the future, it will be automatically activated. You don’t actually receive a Windows license key. If you’ve taken advantage of the free Windows 10 upgrade offer, Microsoft registered your PC’s hardware as having a “ digital entitlement“. RELATED: Get Windows 10 for Free After July 29th, with a Little Prep Now Never Allowed: Moving a Windows 10 Upgrade “Digital Entitlement” to a New PC Don’t count on this working! But we’ve heard enough real-world reports to know that this is a possibility. This isn’t technically allowed according to the license agreement, so it’s not guaranteed. We’ve seen reports that this system will often activate the Windows installation for you where a normal product key fails. While your System Builder license will likely fail to activate when you enter the product key on a second computer, there may be a way around this.Īfter your product key fails, you can choose to activate via other methods and use Microsoft’s automated phone system. Specifically, this license becomes associated with that particular motherboard.Īccording to the license agreement, you aren’t supposed to install that System Builder license on a new computer. But that’s just what the license says. If you built your own computer and purchased a “system builder” or “OEM” license of Windows–which is slightly cheaper than the full retail license–that OEM license is supposed to become tied to the first computer you install it on. RELATED: What's the Difference Between the "System Builder" and "Full Version" Editions of Windows? Maybe Allowed: Moving an “OEM” or “System Builder” License to a New PC As long as you only have the product key installed on one PC at a time, you’re good. They just want to make sure you aren’t installing the same license on multiple PCs at a time. Microsoft’s representatives will allow it. If you buy a “retail” “full version” license–this is generally only something you do if you’re building your own PC, installing Windows on a Mac, or using a virtual machine–you can move always move it to a new PC.Īfter you move your license several times, Windows may give you an activation error and ask you to call Microsoft to activate your computer. However, that’s the only exception to this rule.Īlways Allowed: Moving a “Full Version” or “Retail” License to a New PC Large organizations can acquire special “volume licenses” that allow them to activate multiple computers with the same license key. You can do that by wiping the PC’s hard drive or even uninstalling the key from your Windows system. So, while you may be able to move a license to another PC, you’re supposed to remove it from the first PC before you do that. No matter what type of license you have, you can only have it installed on one PC at a time. RELATED: How To Uninstall Your Windows Product Key Before You Sell Your PC A License Can Only Be Installed on One PC at a Time ![]() ![]() In other words: if you already have a valid license lying around and don’t want to buy a new one, you’ll want to transfer it. You’ve installed Windows in a virtual machine and you want to move it to a different virtual machine on another computer.You’ve installed Windows in Boot Camp on a Mac and you want to move your Windows installation to another Mac.Your computer died and you want to use its license to upgrade another computer running an older version of Windows.Windows activation considers a PC with a new motherboard to be an entirely new PC. Your computer’s motherboard failed and you needed to replace it.You’re building a new computer from scratch and want to use your existing Windows license rather than paying $120 for a new one.
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