And the license is locked to the hardware on which it was first activated. So, the OEM license key is not transferable. And this is a doubt of many users who want to transfer OEM Windows 10 to new hard drive, just like the following case. I recently bought a new disk and want to transfer my OEM Windows 10 to new hard drive.
Does it work on this computer? Do I need to buy a new license key? If anyone has any personal experience, that would be great! It is okay to say that the OEM license cannot be transferred, but it is more accurate to say that you cannot transfer the license key to another computer.
This applies to all cases of transferring Windows 10 OEM license to new hard drive, even if it was upgraded from previous version of Windows.
Open Activation settings. If you're not activated, complete the activation process with the steps you see on the Activation page. If you experience an error while activating, see Get help with Windows activation errors. In Windows 11, it is essential that you link your Microsoft account with the Windows 11 digital license on your device. Linking your Microsoft account with your digital license allows you to reactivate Windows using the Activation troubleshooter whenever you make a significant hardware change.
First, you'll need to find out if your Microsoft account What is a Microsoft account? The activation status message will tell you if your account is linked.
If your Microsoft account is not linked to your digital license, follow these steps to Add an account :. Sign in as an administrator to add your Microsoft account. Go to Your info in Settings. Confirm that the administrator account is also your Microsoft account by checking to see if an email address is displayed above Administrator. If an email address is displayed, this is a Microsoft account. After your Microsoft account has been added, the message on the Activation page will change to: Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account.
Make sure that the edition, Windows 11 Home or Windows 11 Pro, is the same before and after your hardware change. Your digital license and product key will reactivate only if the edition remains the same. You can see your edition on the same Activation page where you checked your activation status.
See your edition of Windows. To find out how to locate your key, see Find your Windows product key. For more info about product keys and digital licenses, see Activate Windows.
When you're ready to reactivate, make sure that your device is connected to the internet and then follow the steps for either a digital license or product key. After linking your Microsoft account, run the Activation troubleshooter to reactivate Windows Sign in as an administrator.
For more info, see Create a local user or administrator account in Windows. Join , subscribers and get a daily digest of news, geek trivia, and our feature articles. By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Windows licenses are expensive. And while slmgr can deactivate any retail key a key you purchased separately , it will only activate a key that matches the installed operating system. Windows 7 and 8 keys will still activate Windows 10 , but only through the standard activation process and not through slmgr.
Before you get started, make sure you have your Windows Key saved somewhere. If you have a product box or digital receipt, grab it from there. If the commands succeed, your old PC will be deactivated. If you want to activate Windows, you can purchase a new key and enter it, or buy one from the Windows Store.
To activate using slmgr , open an elevated Command Prompt and run the following command:. Note that if you use a Pro key and to activate an installed copy of Windows 10 Home, using this method will upgrade to Pro automatically.
Keep in mind that you can only use Windows keys with one installation at a time and plan ahead. But if the plan is to decommission, then save some money and transfer your existing license.
Use Google Fonts in Word. Customize the Taskbar in Windows What Is svchost. I bought a new computer a couple of days ago. Every time I try to move my hard drive to my new computer, I always get boot errors, or Windows 10 needs to be activated again!
How do I move my Windows installation to my new PC without having to format the old drive or reinstall Windows? Any advice would be appreciated. Are you in the same situation as this user? When buying a new computer, many users would prefer adding old hard drive to the new computer to doing a fresh install so that they can have all their data and old OS on the new device.
Whilst a fresh install is not very complicated, it can take a long time to reinstall all of your old applications and drivers after OS reinstallation. You will come across both software and hardware issues unless you use specialist Windows 10 migration tool. Following are two important issues you should take care when performing hard drive transfer to a new computer:.
When moving your Windows installation, you have to consider potential hardware compatibility issues — one of the main issues you need to consider is the system driver.
If your new system has identical hardware to the old one, then the process is extremely simple.
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