1 - is there a way to re-activate the W10 copy on the new machine
type?
Some years ago I bought a Windows 7 Home Premium CD. I installed the
software on a KVM/QEMU virtual machine running on Linux, which I had
created using Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) which created the machine as:
<type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-1.2'>hvm</type>
The software installed and activated OK. I skipped Windows 8, but
upgraded to Windows 10 Home when that came out. The Windows 10
remained activated and I have installed all the updates over the
years. Recently, a KVM/QEMU update resulted in the 'pc-i440fx-1.2'
chipset emulation no longer being supported. I modified the
configuration to change the machine to generic 'pc' type, which now
gives me:
type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-8.2'>hvm</type>
Windows 10 boots and runs ok, but the change in chipset type
apparently caused it to conclude that the activation was no longer
valid. I tried to activate it again with the original product code
from the CD, but it would not accept that. I googled some script that
was supposed to extract the current product code from the registry,
but it would not accept that either.
Two questions:
1 - is there a way to re-activate the W10 copy on the new machine
type?
2 - if I just leave it "un-activated", what problems will I run into
with running applications or getting updates?
-Don-
2 - if I just leave it "un-activated", what problems will I run into
with running applications or getting updates?
On 6/1/2024 8:44 PM, Don_from_AZ wrote:
2 - if I just leave it "un-activated", what problems will I run into
with running applications or getting updates?
It's officially alright to run without activation, but personalization functions will be disabled, and as Paul noted, you'll get a note
on the Desktop that the software is not activated. Unlike in earlier
days, you won't get messages that you're an evil pirate and that
you risk catching STDs as a result of not being "genuine".
You might try calling them. They might accept that you updated
to Win10 back when it was legit.
I have one machine where I tried
to update from 7 to 22H2 and it refused. So I downloaded the 20H2
ISO and that worked fine. It seems to think it's activated. I'm not
asking questions. With Win10 I block updates and MS spyware,
anyway, so it doesn't much matter whether it's activated. It works
and is unrestricted.
Another option would be to buy a key from a company like
nextkeys.io for about $20-25. They buy leftover corporate keys
in bulk and resell them.
On 6/2/2024 9:09 AM, Newyana2 wrote:
On 6/1/2024 8:44 PM, Don_from_AZ wrote:
2 - if I just leave it "un-activated", what problems will I run into
with running applications or getting updates?
 It's officially alright to run without activation, but personalization
functions will be disabled, and as Paul noted, you'll get a note
on the Desktop that the software is not activated. Unlike in earlier
days, you won't get messages that you're an evil pirate and that
you risk catching STDs as a result of not being "genuine".
 You might try calling them. They might accept that you updated
to Win10 back when it was legit.
 I have one machine where I tried
to update from 7 to 22H2 and it refused. So I downloaded the 20H2
ISO and that worked fine. It seems to think it's activated. I'm not
asking questions. With Win10 I block updates and MS spyware,
anyway, so it doesn't much matter whether it's activated. It works
and is unrestricted.
 Another option would be to buy a key from a company like
nextkeys.io for about $20-25. They buy leftover corporate keys
in bulk and resell them.
"You might try calling them." Well, "T" tried that and they
told him they absolutely weren't going to help him.
If you activated with a Retail license key, purchased for Win10,
then you could "Move" it, and in this case, you could re-activate
your Guest OS. I would expect the nextkeys.io would be "OEM" or
"System Builder" keys, and you'd be treated like "T" when there
is trouble.
In any case, there is an "incident limit" to any licensing behavior.
You cannot install Windows too many times, against the same key,
or that gets flagged and the key is locked out. There is an
expected frequency for re-installations, and it's not "a thousand
times a year" either :-)
Microsoft knows you could hack the activation. Someone in another
group, gives the URL for a website that has a powershell script
for the task. But the "security" of the method, that's an
acquired taste. I didn't even write down the URL, because
I can't think of a reason I'd want to give that out to someone.
Paul
 Another option would be to buy a key from a company like
nextkeys.io for about $20-25. They buy leftover corporate keys
in bulk and resell them.
"You might try calling them." Well, "T" tried that and they
told him they absolutely weren't going to help him.
If you activated with a Retail license key, purchased for Win10,
then you could "Move" it, and in this case, you could re-activate
your Guest OS.
"System Builder" keys, and you'd be treated like "T" when there
is trouble.
Microsoft knows you could hack the activation. Someone in another
group, gives the URL for a website that has a powershell script
for the task. But the "security" of the method, that's an
acquired taste. I didn't even write down the URL, because
I can't think of a reason I'd want to give that out to someone.
Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> writes:
On 6/2/2024 9:09 AM, Newyana2 wrote:
On 6/1/2024 8:44 PM, Don_from_AZ wrote:
2 - if I just leave it "un-activated", what problems will I run into
with running applications or getting updates?
 It's officially alright to run without activation, but personalization >>> functions will be disabled, and as Paul noted, you'll get a note
on the Desktop that the software is not activated. Unlike in earlier
days, you won't get messages that you're an evil pirate and that
you risk catching STDs as a result of not being "genuine".
 You might try calling them. They might accept that you updated
to Win10 back when it was legit.
 I have one machine where I tried
to update from 7 to 22H2 and it refused. So I downloaded the 20H2
ISO and that worked fine. It seems to think it's activated. I'm not
asking questions. With Win10 I block updates and MS spyware,
anyway, so it doesn't much matter whether it's activated. It works
and is unrestricted.
 Another option would be to buy a key from a company like
nextkeys.io for about $20-25. They buy leftover corporate keys
in bulk and resell them.
"You might try calling them." Well, "T" tried that and they
told him they absolutely weren't going to help him.
If you activated with a Retail license key, purchased for Win10,
then you could "Move" it, and in this case, you could re-activate
your Guest OS. I would expect the nextkeys.io would be "OEM" or
"System Builder" keys, and you'd be treated like "T" when there
is trouble.
In any case, there is an "incident limit" to any licensing behavior.
You cannot install Windows too many times, against the same key,
or that gets flagged and the key is locked out. There is an
expected frequency for re-installations, and it's not "a thousand
times a year" either :-)
Microsoft knows you could hack the activation. Someone in another
group, gives the URL for a website that has a powershell script
for the task. But the "security" of the method, that's an
acquired taste. I didn't even write down the URL, because
I can't think of a reason I'd want to give that out to someone.
Paul
Thank you all for the replies. I may try to contact Microsoft and
explain the situation. In essence I am just reinstalling a legit copy of Windows 10 on new hardware, which should be allowed, right?
When I log on to my Microsoft account, I see two entries for devices: a
Dell laptop that I dual boot with Linux and Windows 11, and an entry for
a "Windows10 Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996)" which is what I have
been running as a guest on Linux.
It isn't much of a loss if I can't re-activate. I run very little on
Win10; I keep it around because I like to do my taxes with TurboTax, and apparently TurboTax won't run under Wine. I also have a very old copy of
the mapping program "Streets & Trips" that I like to plan my RV trips
with. If TurboTax will install and run on a non-activated Windows, I'm
fine. If not, I can run it on the Win11 on the laptop.
-Don-
On 02/06/2024 14:09, Newyana2 wrote:
Another option would be to buy a key from a company like
nextkeys.io for about $20-25. They buy leftover corporate keys
in bulk and resell them.
They don't give you their physical location. Are they hiding something?
I never buy anything from a website that doesn't give you their physical location. They could be based in Russia or China so out of principle I
don't support them. Chinese are OK but I am very careful what I buy from
them directly and how much I pay them. Russians are a NO NO for me.
snip <
Thank you all for the replies. I may try to contact Microsoft and
explain the situation. In essence I am just reinstalling a legit copy of Windows 10 on new hardware, which should be allowed, right?
People tend to talk about black market and illegal activity
when this topic comes up. People say, "Just be safe and buy a
key from Microsoft." But that's $150. The cheap keys are not
all illegal or shady. They're just resold, unused licenses.
Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> wrote:
...
People tend to talk about black market and illegal activity
when this topic comes up. People say, "Just be safe and buy a
key from Microsoft." But that's $150. The cheap keys are not
all illegal or shady. They're just resold, unused licenses.
How do buyers know if they are never used?
On 6/3/2024 5:25 PM, Ant wrote:
Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> wrote:
...
  People tend to talk about black market and illegal activity
when this topic comes up. People say, "Just be safe and buy a
key from Microsoft." But that's $150. The cheap keys are not
all illegal or shady. They're just resold, unused licenses.
How do buyers know if they are never used?
 It worked fine the one time I tried them. I think you just have to
look around and use your judgement. I don't doubt that there are
scammers out there. I just figured that $20 was fine for a legal
license. The company seemed legit. The reviews were good. And if
it hadn't worked I probably would have just kept using Win10 without activation. As it turned out, it worked out fine. Though I had trouble
at first. I'd already tweaked the system quite a bit when I let it call
home for activation and it failed. I had to re-install, then activate
before I started tweaking.
 I wasn't going to pay $150 when the parts for the whole computer
were only about $400.
wasbit wrote:
On 02/06/2024 22:31, Don_from_AZ wrote:Not true.
snip <
;
Thank you all for the replies. I may try to contact Microsoft and
explain the situation. In essence I am just reinstalling a legit copy of >>> Windows 10 on new hardware, which should be allowed, right?
Unfortunately not.
Microsoft only allows small hardware changes before it considers it to
require a new licence.
There used to be a list of the allowable hardware changes but i can't
find it.
A Windows 10 or 11 device activated with a digital license *and* linked
to a Microsoft account can be activated after a major hardware change(motherboard, cpu).
When the license is linked to MSFT account that specific logged on MSFT account has access(unlike a Local Account) to the Activation
Troubleshooter which provides the ability to select ' I changed
hardware', validate the selection with the MSFT account username/pw,
select the device from the list of devices linked to the MSFT account,
then select 'Activate'
cf. <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reactivating-windows-after-a-hardware-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665#ID0EBD>
wasbit wrote:
On 03/06/2024 17:00, ...winston wrote:You're welcome.
wasbit wrote:
On 02/06/2024 22:31, Don_from_AZ wrote:Not true.
snip <
;
Thank you all for the replies. I may try to contact Microsoft and
explain the situation. In essence I am just reinstalling a legit
copy of
Windows 10 on new hardware, which should be allowed, right?
Unfortunately not.
Microsoft only allows small hardware changes before it considers it
to require a new licence.
There used to be a list of the allowable hardware changes but i
can't find it.
A Windows 10 or 11 device activated with a digital license *and*
linked to a Microsoft account can be activated after a major hardware
change(motherboard, cpu).
When the license is linked to MSFT account that specific logged on
MSFT account has access(unlike a Local Account) to the Activation
Troubleshooter which provides the ability to select ' I changed
hardware', validate the selection with the MSFT account username/pw,
select the device from the list of devices linked to the MSFT
account, then select 'Activate'
cf.
<https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reactivating-windows-after-a-hardware-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665#ID0EBD>
Thank you. I stand corrected.
For the home user that chooses to buy or build any device with Windows
10 or 11 ***and*** purchase something that can be upgraded(at the mobo,
cpu level) then making that first use account a MSFT account linked to
the digital license makes a lot of sense.
 - and that also may be good idea as insurance protection for possible mobo/cpu failure.
There is no need for that linked MSA to be the primary logon. In fact
once it's linked to the digital license it can be removed from
WindowsIit will remain and show in that MSA's online account) and if necessary added again after a cpu/mobo replace to take advantage of the
'I changed hardware' option provided by that same MSA only available Activation Troubleshooter.
Meant to include this in my earlier reply since it refers to both Win11
and Office 2021 at reduced pricing.
<https://deals.bleepingcomputer.com/sales/the-ultimate-microsoft-office-professional-2021-for-windows-lifetime-license-windows-11-pro-bundle?>
Note:
Not a recommendation to purchase, but an example of low price bundle
and most likely some inventory reduction to book revenue to current assets.
Office 2021 is old but supported and Win11 Pro included to solicit
bargain type interest.
- Win11 is likely clean install only(to existing or new device)
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