Question Building new PC, what happens to old PC if I transfer the license

[gamemaster3000]

When I built the PC I'm typing this from, I went to Best Buy and got a physical copy of Windows 10.

I read online that I can transfer this to my new motherboard if I go to system and uninstall from this. I'm assuming my Microsoft account is activated because I have always used a hotmail address and my outlook password is the same as the password I use to get on the PC, and changing one automatically changes the other.

The thing that is unclear to me from googling is what happens to this PC after I deactivate the license? I intend to use this "old" PC to bring my stone-age roommate and her mobile-gaming kids in to the PC gaming fold. (This includes World of Warcraft so both PCs will need to be online.)

 

[tennis2]

[SOLVED] - Remove Windows 10 Auto Activation (from mobo)?

I've searched for a conclusive answer to this, but have come up empty-handed. It seems like this would be a relatively common occurrence, and yet, nobody seems to know what to do? I recently replaced my rig (new mobo,CPU,RAM,SSD). In doing so, I transferred my (Windows 7 upgraded to Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

I had this same question. My unofficial conclusion is that both PCs would now be licensed under the same license key. I am/was unable to find any way to remove a PC from Windows' activation servers.

 

[Eximo]

My old 7700k build sat on a shelf for about a year. When I re-installed Windows on it, it activated. Despite having used the same license/account to build my current system. I too had originally purchased separate licenses for all my systems. Only the one is registered using a MS account. I similarly gave that PC to my nephews with an old GTX980 in it.

I honestly think MS gave up caring since the direct sales only account for a fraction of their total sales. They get their money from the telemetry data. Both systems are dedicated gaming machines, so I don't care about the telemetry.

If it works, ignore it until it becomes a problem.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I honestly think MS gave up caring since the direct sales only account for a fraction of their total sales. They get their money from the telemetry data. Both systems are dedicated gaming machines, so I don't care about the telemetry.

Nitpicking on this.

How Do Big Tech Giants Make Their Billions?

The Big Five tech companies made $1.4 trillion in revenue combined—more than Mexico’s entire GDP. Here's how they earned it all.

www.visualcapitalist.com

How Do Tech Companies Make Money? Visualizing Tech Giants Business Models In 2022 - FourWeekMBA

The top five tech giants (Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple) use different business model strategies. Facebook and Google make money through Advertising. While Amazon, and Apple make money by selling products (Amazon at low margins and Apple at high margins). Microsoft has a...

fourweekmba.com

I'm going to assume they pulled this data from investor meetings or whatever other publicly available information there is, but Microsoft's top 3 money makers are Azure, Office, and Windows. Pretty sure most of those make money from corporate support.

In any case, I don't think Microsoft really cared about sharing keys since XP, since I was using a friend's retail key. You just can't install using the same key in a short amount of time.

 

[USAFRet]

When I built the PC I'm typing this from, I went to Best Buy and got a physical copy of Windows 10.

I read online that I can transfer this to my new motherboard if I go to system and uninstall from this. I'm assuming my Microsoft account is activated because I have always used a hotmail address and my outlook password is the same as the password I use to get on the PC, and changing one automatically changes the other.

The thing that is unclear to me from googling is what happens to this PC after I deactivate the license? I intend to use this "old" PC to bring my stone-age roommate and her mobile-gaming kids in to the PC gaming fold. (This includes World of Warcraft so both PCs will need to be online.)

Transfer the license to a new system, the old system no longer has a license.

If you are going to give it to your roommate....you need to purchase a new license.
2 systems, 2 licenses.

 

[USAFRet]

I am/was unable to find any way to remove a PC from Windows' activation servers.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...nt-selling-gifting-windows-10-device-xbox-one

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...10-on-it/cce23fed-bc37-46bb-9b8c-5da9efe7cb65