Can I transfer Windows 10 to a new PC?

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mgbridges

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# 179070 25-Aug-2015 13:07

Apologies if this question has been answered already - I've searched all over the place and just ended up thoroughly confused.

Can I transfer my Windows 10 licence (upgraded from Win7 Home Premium) from my old laptop to a new PC?

Background: I have a 4 year old HP laptop which was bought with Win7 Home Premium. It was getting pretty old & slow so I decided that I'd upgrade it to Windows 10 as a last chance. The upgrade went OK but the HDMI port doesn't seem to work (seems to be a reasonably common problem and no sign of a fix in sight).

So I decided to advance my plan to build a new PC and kill my laptop. My initial interpretation of the rules of the Windows 10 upgrade was that I could move it to a new device, but now I'm not so sure. Too many blogs with different answers!

So, what's the Geekzone wisdom?

Cheers,

Martin

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# 1373815 25-Aug-2015 13:09

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If your laptop was supplied with a Windows (OEM) licence, then that licence only applies to that specific laptop - you have no right to transfer it to another machine. The upgrade to Win 10 is irrelevant

xpd

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# 1373818 25-Aug-2015 13:14

How I understand it, when Win 10 installs and activates, it does so against the motherboard etc - so if you install on a new system, it will treat it as a new activation and request a key, which you wont have.

You can call MS and try to convince their staff to do a manual activation......

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trig42

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# 1373821 25-Aug-2015 13:16

Hm, so if I replace the mainboard in my desktop at home (which I will do shortly), I cannot reinstall Win10 straight onto the PC again?

I'll have to go the WIn7, update, activate then upgrade to Win10?

nathan

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# 1373835 25-Aug-2015 13:28

One person supports this post

mgbridges: Apologies if this question has been answered already - I've searched all over the place and just ended up thoroughly confused.

Can I transfer my Windows 10 licence (upgraded from Win7 Home Premium) from my old laptop to a new PC?

Background: I have a 4 year old HP laptop which was bought with Win7 Home Premium. It was getting pretty old & slow so I decided that I'd upgrade it to Windows 10 as a last chance. The upgrade went OK but the HDMI port doesn't seem to work (seems to be a reasonably common problem and no sign of a fix in sight).

So I decided to advance my plan to build a new PC and kill my laptop. My initial interpretation of the rules of the Windows 10 upgrade was that I could move it to a new device, but now I'm not so sure. Too many blogs with different answers!

So, what's the Geekzone wisdom?

Cheers,

Martin

no you can't transfer your free Windows 10 upgrade license onto a naked PC

sidefx

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# 1373839 25-Aug-2015 13:35

trig42: Hm, so if I replace the mainboard in my desktop at home (which I will do shortly), I cannot reinstall Win10 straight onto the PC again?

I'll have to go the WIn7, update, activate then upgrade to Win10?

I suspect you might have trouble activating windows 7 in that scenario too...

What I would think you can do is go through the phone activation process with windows 10; So ring the 0800 number, explain that you've had to replace your mainboard (note, I believe this is technically only allowed if you've, well technically your OEM, has to had replace it due to failure - it's not intended to activate it through upgrades) and then they will give you a phone activation code. At least that was what I had to do last time I did something like this - though it was pre win10.

JWR

762 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1373905 25-Aug-2015 14:46

nathan:
mgbridges: Apologies if this question has been answered already - I've searched all over the place and just ended up thoroughly confused.

Can I transfer my Windows 10 licence (upgraded from Win7 Home Premium) from my old laptop to a new PC?

Background: I have a 4 year old HP laptop which was bought with Win7 Home Premium. It was getting pretty old & slow so I decided that I'd upgrade it to Windows 10 as a last chance. The upgrade went OK but the HDMI port doesn't seem to work (seems to be a reasonably common problem and no sign of a fix in sight).

So I decided to advance my plan to build a new PC and kill my laptop. My initial interpretation of the rules of the Windows 10 upgrade was that I could move it to a new device, but now I'm not so sure. Too many blogs with different answers!

So, what's the Geekzone wisdom?

Cheers,

Martin

no you can't transfer your free Windows 10 upgrade license onto a naked PC

/

Does that still apply if my Windows copy is a full standalone version - not an OEM one?

nathan

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# 1373949 25-Aug-2015 15:31

JWR:
nathan:
mgbridges: Apologies if this question has been answered already - I've searched all over the place and just ended up thoroughly confused.

Can I transfer my Windows 10 licence (upgraded from Win7 Home Premium) from my old laptop to a new PC?

Background: I have a 4 year old HP laptop which was bought with Win7 Home Premium. It was getting pretty old & slow so I decided that I'd upgrade it to Windows 10 as a last chance. The upgrade went OK but the HDMI port doesn't seem to work (seems to be a reasonably common problem and no sign of a fix in sight).

So I decided to advance my plan to build a new PC and kill my laptop. My initial interpretation of the rules of the Windows 10 upgrade was that I could move it to a new device, but now I'm not so sure. Too many blogs with different answers!

So, what's the Geekzone wisdom?

Cheers,

Martin

no you can't transfer your free Windows 10 upgrade license onto a naked PC

/

Does that still apply if my Windows copy is a full standalone version - not an OEM one?

don't know. I'll go read the EULA for you

mattwnz

15026 posts

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# 1373951 25-Aug-2015 15:34

JWR:
nathan:
mgbridges: Apologies if this question has been answered already - I've searched all over the place and just ended up thoroughly confused.

Can I transfer my Windows 10 licence (upgraded from Win7 Home Premium) from my old laptop to a new PC?

Background: I have a 4 year old HP laptop which was bought with Win7 Home Premium. It was getting pretty old & slow so I decided that I'd upgrade it to Windows 10 as a last chance. The upgrade went OK but the HDMI port doesn't seem to work (seems to be a reasonably common problem and no sign of a fix in sight).

So I decided to advance my plan to build a new PC and kill my laptop. My initial interpretation of the rules of the Windows 10 upgrade was that I could move it to a new device, but now I'm not so sure. Too many blogs with different answers!

So, what's the Geekzone wisdom?

Cheers,

Martin

no you can't transfer your free Windows 10 upgrade license onto a naked PC

/

Does that still apply if my Windows copy is a full standalone version - not an OEM one?

You would need to read the license agreement for standalone software. With adobe software for example, you can move it between PC's as long as it is only ever installed on 1 desktop and 1 laptop at any one time.

Regs

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# 1374180 25-Aug-2015 20:12

trig42: Hm, so if I replace the mainboard in my desktop at home (which I will do shortly), I cannot reinstall Win10 straight onto the PC again?

I'll have to go the WIn7, update, activate then upgrade to Win10?

generally speaking, and to the best of my knowledge, I think that is ok and we handle it. Just don't go changing your hard drive, memory, video card, all at the same time.....

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JWR

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# 1374222 25-Aug-2015 21:25

Regs:
trig42: Hm, so if I replace the mainboard in my desktop at home (which I will do shortly), I cannot reinstall Win10 straight onto the PC again?

I'll have to go the WIn7, update, activate then upgrade to Win10?

generally speaking, and to the best of my knowledge, I think that is ok and we handle it. Just don't go changing your hard drive, memory, video card, all at the same time.....

Does adding, rather than replacing, another video card (as in SLI or Crossfire) affect activation at all ?

Jase2985

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# 1374224 25-Aug-2015 21:26

even if it does just call up the help line when you run into activation issues

Regs

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# 1374317 26-Aug-2015 00:46

JWR:
Regs:
trig42: Hm, so if I replace the mainboard in my desktop at home (which I will do shortly), I cannot reinstall Win10 straight onto the PC again?

I'll have to go the WIn7, update, activate then upgrade to Win10?

generally speaking, and to the best of my knowledge, I think that is ok and we handle it. Just don't go changing your hard drive, memory, video card, all at the same time.....

Does adding, rather than replacing, another video card (as in SLI or Crossfire) affect activation at all ?

little changes, over time, are handled I believe. changing lots of hardware at once causes problems (licensing thinks you suddenly have new PC). As already suggested, you can call support for offline (re)activation.

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Opila

1 post

Wannabe Geek

# 1374324 26-Aug-2015 04:20

nathan: no you can't transfer your free Windows 10 upgrade license onto a naked PC

Here in this thread from a Windows related forum you can read the complain/request a person sent to Microsoft by email regarding this subject:

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem.html#post325037

According to his latest posts in the thread he was later contacted by Microsoft Corporate HQ. After some discussion they reached an agreement and was offerend a second standalone Windows 10 licence+key with permanent full transfer rights.

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-6.html#post332784

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-7.html#post336512

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-7.html#post336680

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-7.html#post336699

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-8.html#post336737

He also mentions that is possible that the wording within the EULA will soon be changed.

nathan

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# 1374335 26-Aug-2015 07:17

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Opila:
nathan: no you can't transfer your free Windows 10 upgrade license onto a naked PC

Here in this thread from a Windows related forum you can read the complain/request a person sent to Microsoft by email regarding this subject:

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem.html#post325037

According to his latest posts in the thread he was later contacted by Microsoft Corporate HQ. After some discussion they reached an agreement and was offerend a second standalone Windows 10 licence+key with permanent full transfer rights.

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-6.html#post332784

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-7.html#post336512

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-7.html#post336680

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-7.html#post336699

http://www.tenforums.com/general-discussion/14021-windows-retail-version-upgrading-win-10-oem-8.html#post336737

He also mentions that is possible that the wording within the EULA will soon be changed.

I believe the OP has an OEM Windows 7 Home Premium. OEM copies are tied to the hardware

trig42

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# 1374399 26-Aug-2015 09:16

Regs:
JWR:
Regs:
trig42: Hm, so if I replace the mainboard in my desktop at home (which I will do shortly), I cannot reinstall Win10 straight onto the PC again?

I'll have to go the WIn7, update, activate then upgrade to Win10?

generally speaking, and to the best of my knowledge, I think that is ok and we handle it. Just don't go changing your hard drive, memory, video card, all at the same time.....

Does adding, rather than replacing, another video card (as in SLI or Crossfire) affect activation at all ?

little changes, over time, are handled I believe. changing lots of hardware at once causes problems (licensing thinks you suddenly have new PC). As already suggested, you can call support for offline (re)activation.

Thanks for that.

When I replace my mainboard, I will be putting in an SSD I have waiting for it.
I may just reinstall 7 on it, and do the upgrade that way. Or, I could put the SSD in the current win 10 installation (image it across?), check that activates OK, then install new motherboard.

Or, ring the Activation line and hope they can help.

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