Will a PC that had Win10 on an SSD accept a new Win10 activation if the SSD is replaced with a different drive?

[TheophilusNZ]

Hey everyone

I just sold my PC on TradeMe. I sold it saying, "New unactivated Window 10 installed (requires a CD Key to activate)." I had Windows 10 installed on an SSD and the PC also had a HDD. I sold the PC with the HDD, but not with the SSD. So, when it sold, I unplugged my SSD, reformatted the HDD (with a boot disk image reformatting programme), and then installed Windows 10 onto the HDD without activating it with my Windows 10 CD Key.

Now I have built my new PC and n00bishly anticipated that I could just plug in my SSD and that Windows 10 would work. It turns out that it links with the hardware drivers and thinks that it does not belong to this device. I'm trying to change that with Acronis True Image etc. and in the future will link my Windows 10 to my Hotmail account.

But my question is this: When the guy who purchased my old PC tries to activate Windows 10 with his own CD Key, will he have problems with it syncing with the hardware, because the hardware is linked to my Windows 10 CD Key? Or will his Windows 10 activation wipe previous Windows 10 activations that the hardware is linked to, so he will be alright?

Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers

 

[Samaratin]

I have a feeling he won't even have to activate anything. Having purchased a few refurbs last sprring that came with win 7 64 bit, i did the free upgrade to win 10. Upon seeing that windows 10 was activated on those refurbs, i immediatly ripped out the refurbed hard drives and put in brand new WD 1 TB's. Insalled a clean copy of win 10 from discs i created using media creation tool. windows 10 installed and activated with no other input. MS has a way of 'remembering' if a device had win10 activated on it previously, regardless of drive installed on that device.

 

[slyverine]

windows activation is a complex thing, noone knows how exactly it works if you change hardware but 90% you gave the man your windows copy. Windows 10 key once it is activated it is tied to the motherboard(most likely, as i explained noone knows how exactly it works) and is automaicaly activated when you install windows . So the fact that you kept the ssd with windows doesn't secure your windows copy. You must now buy a new key or try to talk with Microsoft.

 

[TheophilusNZ]

I have a feeling he won't even have to activate anything. Having purchased a few refurbs last sprring that came with win 7 64 bit, i did the free upgrade to win 10. Upon seeing that windows 10 was activated on those refurbs, i immediatly ripped out the refurbed hard drives and put in brand new WD 1 TB's. Insalled a clean copy of win 10 from discs i created using media creation tool. windows 10 installed and activated with no other input. MS has a way of 'remembering' if a device had win10 activated on it previously, regardless of drive installed on that device.

Hey, thanks for your feedback. However, I feel like I'm going to have a different experience to you. Firstly, I did manage to get my windows 10 cd key registered to my new PC. So once the buyer starts up the old PC I don't think Windows 10 will work as it is now registered to mine. Also, after I reformatted the old PC, I did reinstall Windows 10 right away and it did not automatically activate. Instead it remained unactivated. I just hope that the guy who bought my old PC will still be able to install a new Windows 10 cd key onto the old PC even though the hardware is expecting mine.

Cheers

 

[TheophilusNZ]

windows activation is a complex thing, noone knows how exactly it works if you change hardware but 90% you gave the man your windows copy. Windows 10 key once it is activated it is tied to the motherboard(most likely, as i explained noone knows how exactly it works) and is automaicaly activated when you install windows . So the fact that you kept the ssd with windows doesn't secure your windows copy. You must now buy a new key or try to talk with Microsoft.

Hey, thanks for your feedback. However, I feel like I'm going to have a different experience to you. Firstly, I did manage to get my windows 10 cd key registered to my new PC. So once the buyer starts up the old PC I don't think Windows 10 will work as it is now registered to mine. Also, after I reformatted the old PC, I did reinstall Windows 10 right away and it did not automatically activate. Instead it remained unactivated. I just hope that the guy who bought my old PC will still be able to install a new Windows 10 cd key onto the old PC even though the hardware is expecting mine.

Cheers

 

[slyverine]

well that's good news for you!.Usually windows 10 just get activated by the time they get online. Have fun!

 

[Colif]

If the person who buys the PC enters the key for his licence, and enters a different Email address to one you registered the upgrade with, I think it should work out fine for him. Your activation on the old PC is made up of a combo of the email address, the licence key & a machine code (that is made up of the part numbers of the parts in the PC). Once new user creates his details, two of those lines wouldn't match the old activation but be enough to create a new one.

I don't think changing hdd would be enough to make machine code all that different. He has a new licence, it should be fine

 

[Steve_M]

Windows 10 Product keys are stored in the BIOS now.

 

[13thmonkey]

Windows 10 Product keys are stored in the BIOS now.

Not really no.

 

[Steve_M]

Windows 10 Product keys are stored in the BIOS now.

Not really no.

Well it's stored in the UEFI Firmware chip.