OEM Product Key

[Nilley]

Hey Forum!

Last week I upgraded my motherboard, only to find windows being bound to my old one due to OEM. So yeah, my windows apparently isn't genuine anymore.

Support told me to downgrade back from Win10 to my old OS, which is 8.1, which should fix it. I did it, but no fix. Windows still not activated. It might be because I didn't have the option to roll back, but I had to do a complete factory reset.

When I bought my PC, I didn't get a product key for windows with it, but I dl'ed the program Magical Jelly Bean, which can tell me my product key.

But I'm not sure if it's the correct one. Would I need to plug in my old MOBO to find the correct key, and THEN get microsoft to free it up for me, or is the key I found actually the correct one?

 

[Barty1884]

If you built your computer & used an OEM copy (ie you input the key yourself), then MGB will find the correct key.

If you purchased your computer pre-built, its likely it's a generic OEM vendor key on the system.

 

[Nilley]

Yeah, I suspected it to be a generic key, concidering I could google my key and such.

But is there anything I can do to not go out and buy myself a whole new key? It's not really affordable for me at the moment, so it'd be nice to just make it work with the one I had before

 

[festerovic]

not sure, but you might be able to use a generic win 8 oem disc, and use your vendor's key. Contact the vendor for a replacement install disc or disc image.

 

[Barty1884]

Yeah, I suspected it to be a generic key, concidering I could google my key and such.

But is there anything I can do to not go out and buy myself a whole new key? It's not really affordable for me at the moment, so it'd be nice to just make it work with the one I had before

As far as I know, W8 is tied to your 'system' which would allow realistic hardware changes, but changing your motherboard is generally not considered the same 'system'.

Your options are pretty limited. If you go back to your old board & reinstall W8 (or 10 if you went the upgrade path), your 'system' setup should report to MS servers and activate for you - then you could use the 'chat' option with MS and maybe claim your mobo is dying & ask for their advice?

Otherwise, you could run it not activated for a while (not recommended) and purchase a key as soon as viable? Maybe if you chat with MS they might have something they can offer you (if you plead poverty), but I wouldn't hold your breath. You're likely going to need to buy a new W10 key at full retail price.

 

[Nilley]

Yeah, I suspect that I'll need to buy a full one. Should've known that before I bought all my hardware upgrades, might then have cut down on a few pieces

But thanks for the help everybody!