Can i reuse my windows 8.1 key on new pc?

[oliverwelton21]

My old drive has died. So i bought a new HDD and SSD.

It was running windows 10 (upgraded from windows 8.1).

I still only have a windows 8.1 licence key, so can i reinstall windows 10 onto my new SSD with that key?

 

[USAFRet]

My old drive has died. So i bought a new HDD and SSD.

It was running windows 10 (upgraded from windows 8.1).

I still only have a windows 8.1 licence key, so can i reinstall windows 10 onto my new SSD with that key?

If you've Upgraded that Win 8.1 to Win 10, and if this is in the same system....you do not need nor can use your old Win 8.1 license.

Simply install Win 10 on the new drive.
When it asks for the license key, skip that part and proceed on.
It will activate itself when the system goes online later.

How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10

 

[oliverwelton21]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from oliverwelton21 : "Windows 8.1 key on new installation of windows 10?"

So my hardrives died and stopped working. I have a new drive with an ssd.

Now can i install windows 10 onto my new drives with my windows 8.1 licence key?

 

[ubercake]

I had a PC with the same issue; Windows 8.1 Pro PC upgraded to Windows 10 through the free upgrade.

Boot drive failed and the PC required new boot drive with a fresh install.

I called Microsoft and explained the situation to them.

They had me install Windows 10 using the media creation tool downloaded from the MS web site from another PC.

They had me enter the Windows 8.1 License Key in the Windows 10 activation screen and it worked fine.

I did not expect to get the prompt for activation as USAFRet alluded to but for some reason it did prompt. I was glad the MS support people could walk me through it and that I still had my Win 8.1 Pro box with the key in it!

 

[USAFRet]

I did not expect to get the prompt for activation as USAFRet alluded to but for some reason it did prompt. I was glad the MS support people could walk me through it and that I still had my Win 8.1 Pro box with the key in it!

It always asks, but there should be a link at the bottom of the dialog box to skip that.
Installing on a new drive in the same system is no different than just reinstalling.

You should not have to enter a license key at all.

 

[ubercake]

I did not expect to get the prompt for activation as USAFRet alluded to but for some reason it did prompt. I was glad the MS support people could walk me through it and that I still had my Win 8.1 Pro box with the key in it!

It always asks, but there should be a link at the bottom of the dialog box to skip that.
Installing on a new drive in the same system is no different than just reinstalling.

You should not have to enter a license key at all.

I've seen it and expected it with motherboard failure by which you could no longer procure a one-to-one swap for motherboard due to manufacturers lack of availability on older boards, but never with a disk until recently.

 

[USAFRet]

I did not expect to get the prompt for activation as USAFRet alluded to but for some reason it did prompt. I was glad the MS support people could walk me through it and that I still had my Win 8.1 Pro box with the key in it!

It always asks, but there should be a link at the bottom of the dialog box to skip that.
Installing on a new drive in the same system is no different than just reinstalling.

You should not have to enter a license key at all.

I've seen it and expected it with motherboard failure by which you could no longer procure a one-to-one swap for motherboard due to manufacturers lack of availability on older boards, but never with a disk until recently.

Yeah, a motherboard swap is completely different.
A new drive? bah....just like a wipe and reinstall on the same drive.

 

[ubercake]

...

Yeah, a motherboard swap is completely different.
A new drive? bah....just like a wipe and reinstall on the same drive.

I think the difference may be that the one where it required me to enter the activation key again had no associated Microsoft account whereas on other machines, I sign in with a Microsoft account and the key is not required.

I really should start paying attention so I can definitively say one way or another, but that kind of makes sense with a fresh install on the same hardware with a replacement OS drive.