Question New Build - Windows 10 activation - Don't have Windows 7 key....

[YeetSkeeterson]

This is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

I have my perfectly working (before I wiped my hard drive and did a fresh install) Windows 10 product key. Tried to enter it twice thinking I made a mistake, and it wouldn't work. So I called Microsoft and apparently because it was part of the "free upgrade" you need your original Windows 7 key.

That key is a decade old.

I am indeed very organized, but I wasn't as organized when I was 16 years old... I had that CD case with the product key for the longest time and now I can't find it in the literal only remaining use-case scenario for a Windows 7 key.

Am I going to have to shell out the cash for Windows 10 or is there something I can do that I'm not thinking of?

 

[britechguy]

I don't understand what the issue is, unless you're trying to re-use an old Windows 7 retail license to install Windows 10 on a different machine than the original Win7 and Win10 upgrade from it ran on.

Windows 10 licenses are directly linked to the motherboard in a machine and once a machine has had a Windows 10 license activated on it you can install Linux, Windows 7, name your alternate OS and then go back to Windows 10 any time you like without needing a license key at all. You just skip entering it when you're reinstalling and it will be fetched from Microsoft's servers.

If it was Windows 7, whether way back when it was new or now, you'd need the license key any time you reinstalled, even on the same hardware. No so with Windows 10, whether the license was obtained via upgrade or not.

Since your own topic says, "new build," I presume that means just that - a new machine. You would have to have a license key for that regardless, whether it was a Win7 retail license being used or a Win10 license. This is no different than it ever has been when installing Windows on a machine that has no OS>

 

[YeetSkeeterson]

Why should I need the version's key unused on my machine for nearly 4-5 years to activate the version that was in use, rather than the key of the version in use that I'm actually trying to activate?

Edit : I also have the proof that I purchased it because it's still available in my old email's Newegg account.

 

[britechguy]

Why do you think?

As I explained, and has been known for years, a Windows 10 digital license is tied to the motherboard associated with the machine on which it's licensed.

If you get a new machine or build a new machine with a new motherboard, there is no connection between that motherboard and an existing digital license that can be matched.

So what is Microsoft to do in that case, divine the license key you say you had by mystical processes (whether it was a Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10 license key code to start with) and magically associate it with new hardware?

It's never worked that way, and it's never going to work that way because it can't . You need to produce a license key when licensing on hardware that has never had a Windows 10 license on it before. This is not new and not rocket science.

And Microsoft does not and never has cared that you (or I, or anyone) has a purchase receipt for a license key. You give 'em the key or you procure another one.

Based on what you've offered so far I interpret this as your saying that you had an unused Windows 7 retail license that you wanted to use for a new machine to get Windows 10, which you can do. But since it is a new machine you need to produce some license key that Microsoft is willing to use to create a Windows 10 digital license. Unused Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 license keys still work to do that.

 

[YeetSkeeterson]

I don't give a <Mod Edit> about transistor ID in 2019 for software malleable from year to year and hardware to hardware. Should be just like any other software I use.

I get 1 activation at a time. Before wipe I should be able to remove that activation linked to my account and have the key ready for its single activation after the build is complete.

M$ Windows is staying unactivated. Thanks.

Edit : replying to your edit. I have the paper trail full of receipts and emails from purchasing Windows Vista in 2008, upgrading to Windows 7, Windows 8, then Windows 10. But that's not enough because of the transistors and their supra-intelligent electricity and I lost the disc and case with the product key I kept hold of for 10 years, maybe I lost it to a hurricane, maybe I lost it to a torando or divine act to keep me from activation. It's fine however, I'm not even mad. The unactivated status only appears in a single spot in settings, no watermark there anymore.

 

[FALC0N]

You can give this a try:

How to Use Your Free Windows 10 License After Changing Your PC’s Hardware

The free Windows 10 license you receive is tied to your PC's hardware.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[britechguy]

Throwing tantrums is not going to change how MS, or any other entity, handles user presentation of licensing credentials.

The fact that Microsoft will accept unactivated license keys for earlier Windows versions to activate Windows 10 is mighty generous. They didn't ever do that for prior versions of Windows. You either had a key for the version you wanted to license or you bought one.

 

[USAFRet]

This is on a whole new PC? Different than what was originally with Win 7 and then Upgraded?

This is what the Activation troubleshooter is for.
You link that Win 10 license to your MS account, build the new system.
Install the OS.
When it fails to activate, and it will, this is when you go to the Activation Troubleshooter, and tell it "this PC is what I'm using now".
This usually works. usually.

For the OS activation, read and do this before you change any parts:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/windows-build-1607-and-activation.2786960/

 

[kerberos_20]

if u got your windows 10 from upgrading from windows 7, then u have no windows 10 key, ull get digital licence. its not localy stored, and u can reuse it only with online account. even if u get key from windows registry...its just some random mambo jumbo key.

if u dont have it, then ull have to find your old key (win 7/8/8.1)
othwerise purchase new key

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12440

u can try activation troubleshooter if it fins your digital licence on ms servers

u can open it with this command on browser page
ms-settings:activation?activationSource=SMC-Article-20530