Potential OS Issues...

[devinhelgeson]

Ok so once apon a time I purchased a Dell computer... Oh, what a great deal! Plug and play! Upgradable! This is awesome!!! Turns out I got a super bad deal out of my Dell Inspiron Gaming Edition desktop. Was doing some upgrades then realized Dell wouldn't let me do JS. Oh well. I decided to build my own. Got a new power supply, mother board, GPU, heatsink, etc,etc. I did, however canabalize my Dell. I stole the processor, memory, and hard drive knowing those were the few parts I could transfer over...

Now about the hard drive: it has Windows 10 on it. So I decided to not worry about a new OS. It'll just transfer the OS AND my files. I was told by a friend who has his degree and career in IT (He really does know alot in-depth about computers) that it will, indeed, transfer over to my newly built computer, however after talking to another friend who is the head software dev at an insurance company, he says it MAY not work, and I might have to buy W10 again. I've also talked to a couple of you guys about it, and your talking about licenses and stuff and that it definitely won't work as I have a new motherboard. This only comes from a couple people, and it was just mentioned alongside other topics in threads.

So what do you guys have to say? I'm officially asking what you all think about the W10 licenses and stuff.

My equipment so far:
Intel i5 6400 (from Dell)
Intel standard retail heatsink
DDr3L 1x8gb (from Dell)
725w power supply
1TB hard drive
Asus B150 D3 "pro gaming" motherboard
750ti Graphics Card

Thanks!

 

[Colif]

You going to love this: It depends.

Before the Anniversary edition build of windows 10 was released, changing your motherboard meant win 10 would deactivate itself and you would need a new licence. Since the last update win 10 now doesn't auto deactivate if you swap motherboards but it depends on what build of win 10 was on your Dell and which one you install now.

If Dell was on the Anniversary edition and you logged in using an email address, then its possible your win 10 install is linked to your login now. As such, you could swap it onto your new PC - have a look here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change
If Dell wasn't on Anniversary edition, then your digital entitlement is still linked to the motherboard of the Dell.

Now if you had swapped motherboard and CPU, I would be able to guess that it would still say you have a new PC now, but as you kept CPU it might still activate. I still think it won't but you can try and then call Microsoft up after its installed and see what they say.

 

[codygriffy]

I think this fully answers your question. http://windowsreport.com/windows-8-license-transfer-to-new-computer/

 

[Colif]

Product keys been replaced by Digital entitlements (DE). DE are stored on Microsoft servers, not on PC anymore. DE is way to delink the licence from the hardware and link it to users.

 

[devinhelgeson]

You going to love this: It depends.

Before the Anniversary edition build of windows 10 was released, changing your motherboard meant win 10 would deactivate itself and you would need a new licence. Since the last update win 10 now doesn't auto deactivate if you swap motherboards but it depends on what build of win 10 was on your Dell and which one you install now.

If Dell was on the Anniversary edition and you logged in using an email address, then its possible your win 10 install is linked to your login now. As such, you could swap it onto your new PC - have a look here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change
If Dell wasn't on Anniversary edition, then your digital entitlement is still linked to the motherboard of the Dell.

Now if you had swapped motherboard and CPU, I would be able to guess that it would still say you have a new PC now, but as you kept CPU it might still activate. I still think it won't but you can try and then call Microsoft up after its installed and see what they say.

OH YES. That makes sense. I did update to anniversary, and the CPU is indeed the same, so if it works like it should, I would have to hand over the $!!!!!

 

[devinhelgeson]

Product keys been replaced by Digital entitlements (DE). DE are stored on Microsoft servers, not on PC anymore. DE is way to delink the licence from the hardware and link it to users.

So here's my follow up question... I did have my Microsoft account linked to the device, however I don't think I did the whole other thing with activating/linking my account and stuff... Will I have to reassemble my Dell and do that, or can I do that online, or, can I do it with my laptop?! That would be great if I could link the os on my laptop and use that license with the new PC, not having to reassemble the Dell (Which seriously, would be absolute murder.)

 

[Colif]

As far as I remember, anyone who used a MSA after the Anniversary edition was released automatically have their email accounts linked, so in theory all you need to do is reinstall win 10 on new PC and then follow the steps in there to link new PC to the digital entitlement.

 

[Shaun o]

The rule is simple for all versions of the windows os.
If you swap the motherboard, then you are required to do a clean and fresh install of the version of windows OS you have.
As long as you are only ever running that version on one system at any given time you are not required to buy a new licence key from Microsoft.

Due to the change from the range of custom chip sets and brands of them used from one motherboard to another including the brand of the board, or the model number version of the board where the controler chip set of the motherboard will always differ a fresh windows installation needs to be performed so the OS it`s self can work with the said d chip set model of the current board, as to not cause any software conflict selecting the right set of base drivers for the chip set of the board.

Just install a clean fresh install of window 10.

 

[devinhelgeson]

As far as I remember, anyone who used a MSA after the Anniversary edition was released automatically have their email accounts linked, so in theory all you need to do is reinstall win 10 on new PC and then follow the steps in there to link new PC to the digital entitlement.

Ok stupid question, how do I reinstall windows?

 

[Rocky Bennett]

Follow these very simple directions;

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html