Activation and Component Swapping

martygj72

Commendable
Jun 8, 2016
15
0
1,520
Here is the jist of my problem.
Built a PC for Friend with Retail W7 and upgraded to WX for free
Built my PC bought an OEM WX Licence

No I am preparing to:
Upgrade my PC to new Mobo, CPU & RAM
Swap my old Mobo, CPU & RAM with Friend
Get Friends Old Mobo, CPU & RAM, to sell.

I want to:
Activate my new build.
Activate my old components on friends new build.
Have both rebuilds with WinX.

Keep in mind, both my friend and I will be using all other old hardware, SSD, HDD etc..

What problems do I face with activation?
What steps to activate both my friends and I new build's, do I need to Purchase a new WinX Key?
 
Solution
The 'Old' free upgrade from Windows 7 to 10 activation still remain valid even if new components?

No, it will still need to be reactivated, but since it's a retail version versus OEM, the license is transferable to a new system (motherboard).

Only a few days left before the free upgrade finishes, I know my new parts won't arrive before then. Got dicked around because someone was too lazy to post stuff.

As long as you have a valid Windows 10 Key (your Windows 7 key became a Windows 10 Key when you upgraded), you should be able to download and install Windows 10 at any time, even after the free upgrade period ends.

I edited my post because I mentioned reinstall. Will do the reinstall on both because of the change of...
You should have no issues with activation. Since your Windows 10 OEM license is staying with the your old motherboard, it should not be an issue. As long as your use your Windows 7/10 Retail key on your new motherboard, it also should not be an issue.

It's just a matter of installing the OS (if even necessary on your old components going to your friend) and then activating after the installation. If your friend doesn't want/need a clean install, then activation is not even necessary.

On your new build, it should just be a clean install of Windows 10 and then activation of the Retail key.

-Wolf sends
 
The 'Old' free upgrade from Windows 7 to 10 activation still remain valid even if new components?

Only a few days left before the free upgrade finishes, I know my new parts won't arrive before then. Got dicked around because someone was too lazy to post stuff.

I edited my post because I mentioned reinstall. Will do the reinstall on both because of the change of components/drivers to avoid future problems. Probable get away without the reinstall if everything was similar but the components are far too different and Windows OS would probably have a hissy fit.
 
The 'Old' free upgrade from Windows 7 to 10 activation still remain valid even if new components?

No, it will still need to be reactivated, but since it's a retail version versus OEM, the license is transferable to a new system (motherboard).

Only a few days left before the free upgrade finishes, I know my new parts won't arrive before then. Got dicked around because someone was too lazy to post stuff.

As long as you have a valid Windows 10 Key (your Windows 7 key became a Windows 10 Key when you upgraded), you should be able to download and install Windows 10 at any time, even after the free upgrade period ends.

I edited my post because I mentioned reinstall. Will do the reinstall on both because of the change of components/drivers to avoid future problems. Probable get away without the reinstall if everything was similar but the components are far too different and Windows OS would probably have a hissy fit.

As I understand it, Windows 10 has gotten a lot better and handling the drivers when swapping out components, but if you have the time, I still recommend a clean install.

-Wolf sends
 
Solution
Did the upgrade on my PC, kept the old OS. Booted up, checked activation. no problems for the past 2 days. This was the OEM Key I bought of Playasia.

The trouble started upgrading my friends PC with my old components. Same deal kept her old OS, but this time I ended up with 'Windows Is Not Activated', 'Key Is In Use On Another PC'. The component combo I pulled from my friends PC, assembled a bench-top build with the her OS SSD and combo (her old build), de-activated windows via cmd.exe slmgr. Hooked everything back up to the new build, entered the Windows 7 Key, same problem, did phone activation, 'ERROR'. Spoke to Microsoft Customer Support, they did Remote Desktop Activation'.

All is well, got both PC's Activated.

Edit:
After reading back through this thread, I kind of stuffed it up a little, it worked out in the end. Instead of swapping keys & components with my friend, we kept our keys but changed components