Question Windows activation failed after hardware swap

[Erazor7]

Hi everyone,
I recently moved my old PC hardware into my parents’ PC so they could upgrade to Windows 11. I replaced everything except the two hard drives. My parents were previously using Windows 10 Home, while I had a Windows 10 Pro for Workstations license.

After the hardware swap, Windows is now showing “Windows reported that no product key was found on your device” with error code 0xC004F211 ("hardware has changed").

I tried changing the product key to the one my parents were using before, but I got error 0x803FA067 saying the key is not valid.

I also could've upgraded the system using my own Pro key, but I don’t want to use my license on this system, so I removed my key — but that didn’t help either.

How can I activate Windows again using my parents’ original Home license, considering the hardware change?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lutfij]

I replaced everything except the two hard drives.
You should reinstall the OS and at the window where you're asked for a license key, you input said license key.

 

[SkyNetRising]

How can I activate Windows again using my parents’ original Home license, considering the hardware change?

Log in with ms account on parents pc. For local accounts this will not work.
This account needs to have administrative privileges.
This account needs to have been used before the hardware upgrade. This way license gets linked to ms account.

Run windows activation troubleshooter.
Specify that hardware has been changed.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...cf19-9770-7198-40119c2a696c#id0ebd=windows_10

 

[Erazor7]

I think I found the problem the key is a oem key so I cannot activate Windows with new hardware, or is there any way?

 

[USAFRet]

I think I found the problem the key is a oem key so I cannot activate Windows with new hardware, or is there any way?

OEM is linked to the original hardware. Period.

 

[Lutfij]

Yeah, that prior working license key being OEM is bound to your motherboard's BIOS chip, new board = new BIOS chip = new license key needed. Beyond that, you still need to reinstall the OS as migrating your older OS and it's drive will lead to more troubleshooting moments.