I purchased USB version of Windows at my local computer store back in June of this year and it was my first build. So long story short I screwed up a bunch, learned a lot over the past few months and changed motherboards 2 times already since the first one.
My first board was an open box ASUS Prime Z370-A. My second board was the same board, but brand new, not open box. My third board which I got a few days ago is an ASRock Z370 PRO4.
So like I said I had a ton of problems learning how to correctly build the PC and install Windows, so over the course of the past 3 months Ive installed Windows about 10-15 times.
With the first two MBs, no issues with activation. All of a sudden when I get the ASRock board, I cant activate anymore and Microsoft is telling me to go buy another copy of Windows. I feel like they just legally stole from me.
I called support and the lady told me I have to buy another copy. Whats weird is, why wasn't this happening on the second ASUS Prime board? Even though its the same make and model as the first MB, its still a different board with a different serial number. In theory then, every person with an ASUS Prime board can have the same copy of Windows without activation issues which obviously makes no sense.
Windows even gives me the option to select "I recently made a major hardware change" yet it doesn't allow me to activate despite saying this.
I can go buy another copy of W10, but what about the future? So every time I mess up and corrupt the BIOS or bend the pins on my MOBO or mess up something up and don't know how to fix it to the point where I have toi buy a new MB I gotta buy a new copy of Windows EVERY single time?
This is seriously frustrating because its 2018 and I feel like they still don't have their act together...like why cant I just log in on my Microsoft account on their website and just like switch the computers Windows is activated on or disable the first one?
I heard buying a physical copy of Windows from a store causes this issue. If you buy it from Microsofts website via download, you eliminate this. Is this true? If I buy W10 from their website can I freely install it from one MB to the next without issue?
Sorry I sound PO like hell but super frustrated here because for months all Ive been doing is troubleshooting and Im so distracted by that I cant focus on what matters, using my PC, mostly for gaming.
My first board was an open box ASUS Prime Z370-A. My second board was the same board, but brand new, not open box. My third board which I got a few days ago is an ASRock Z370 PRO4.
So like I said I had a ton of problems learning how to correctly build the PC and install Windows, so over the course of the past 3 months Ive installed Windows about 10-15 times.
With the first two MBs, no issues with activation. All of a sudden when I get the ASRock board, I cant activate anymore and Microsoft is telling me to go buy another copy of Windows. I feel like they just legally stole from me.
I called support and the lady told me I have to buy another copy. Whats weird is, why wasn't this happening on the second ASUS Prime board? Even though its the same make and model as the first MB, its still a different board with a different serial number. In theory then, every person with an ASUS Prime board can have the same copy of Windows without activation issues which obviously makes no sense.
Windows even gives me the option to select "I recently made a major hardware change" yet it doesn't allow me to activate despite saying this.
I can go buy another copy of W10, but what about the future? So every time I mess up and corrupt the BIOS or bend the pins on my MOBO or mess up something up and don't know how to fix it to the point where I have toi buy a new MB I gotta buy a new copy of Windows EVERY single time?
This is seriously frustrating because its 2018 and I feel like they still don't have their act together...like why cant I just log in on my Microsoft account on their website and just like switch the computers Windows is activated on or disable the first one?
I heard buying a physical copy of Windows from a store causes this issue. If you buy it from Microsofts website via download, you eliminate this. Is this true? If I buy W10 from their website can I freely install it from one MB to the next without issue?
Sorry I sound PO like hell but super frustrated here because for months all Ive been doing is troubleshooting and Im so distracted by that I cant focus on what matters, using my PC, mostly for gaming.