windows 10 activation

[Gabe_Gerzevske23]

Hey guys I have a question I tried windows 10 for a while like last year and I used Microsoft toolkit to activate it and then wiped out everything and decided to buy a product key i put the key in and activated it. However when i got a new motherboard I installed it without wiping my hard drive and when I got to my desktop I checked if it was activated and it was. So my question is is the activator carried over or is it just my key code I'm just worried I'll get in trouble with Microsoft. I look forward to hearing from you thanks.

 

[Darren]

Are you signed in with a Microsoft account? If so then MS ties the activation to your account regardless of the motherboard. Even then I don't think motherboard swaps alter the activation as I do swaps regularly at work for customers laptops and never have an issue. You can reinstall and swap hardware to your hearts content and it should still stay activated. My current Windows 10 Home copy is activated with a Windows 7 Home Premium key I bought in 2011 that has been activated on 4 different motherboards, and at least 10 fresh installations of 7 or 10. Never had an issue.

Don't worry about MS getting after you. They're pretty relaxed about activation these days. The activator you used likely did leave some stuff in the Windows directory so I'd get rid of that if you're using a legitimate key now.

 

[Gabe_Gerzevske23]

Hey Darren thanks for your help, I have some questions for you just to chat. You said that you swap hardware out for customers at work do you own a computer repair company, and when did you become interested in computers? I look forward to hearing from you thanks.

Are you signed in with a Microsoft account? If so then MS ties the activation to your account regardless of the motherboard. Even then I don't think motherboard swaps alter the activation as I do swaps regularly at work for customers laptops and never have an issue. You can reinstall and swap hardware to your hearts content and it should still stay activated. My current Windows 10 Home copy is activated with a Windows 7 Home Premium key I bought in 2011 that has been activated on 4 different motherboards, and at least 10 fresh installations of 7 or 10. Never had an issue.

Don't worry about MS getting after you. They're pretty relaxed about activation these days. The activator you used likely did leave some stuff in the Windows directory so I'd get rid of that if you're using a legitimate key now.

 

[Darren]

I'm the senior technician at just a local shop in a small-medium sized city. We've got 2 stores, and 6 employees so pretty small scale. I handle most of our more difficult repairs like laptop motherboard swaps and the like and we do a lot of refurb stuff so I'm an expert on Windows activation. Been there close to 2 years, although leaving soon. I've had my own computer since I was 5 and just always been interested in them and messed around with them. Built my first machine at the age of 16 in 2011 and about to finish up a bachelor's degree in IT/Management Information Systems and get into the industry.

 

[Gabe_Gerzevske23]

nice, I have been intrested in computer since 2nd grade when we had windows 95 there was an issue with our classroom computer which i was able to fix. fast-forward to now ive taken classes at college of dupage, and i have been looking for a job, and i have found one though this service i'm using its a small computer repair shop so that will be cool, when you install windows for work how do you activate it like do you have a endless supply of keys, and from an technician standpoint are you worried about hackers, and what antivirus software do you use on your personal system and what software do you give to customers when doing a reformat or a swap? I look forward to hearing from you thanks.

 

[AlienMenace]

Hi all;
My 2 cents.
Windows activation before Windows 10 used to be. If you bought the builders version of Windows, it was tied to the motherboard. And Retail version, you can reinstall on the new motherboard, as long as you took it off the original machine you bought the software for. I like the idea now that if you have a MS account that the license is tied to that. I wished they did that years ago.

Darren: Oh to be so young... lol. Had my first computer when I was 35. 1989 was when I got into personal computers. Had a IBM clone 8088 and worked myself up the ladder. Started with DOS 3.0 and up the ladder there to. Yea, I'm old. (63) now.

 

[Darren]

nice, I have been intrested in computer since 2nd grade when we had windows 95 there was an issue with our classroom computer which i was able to fix. fast-forward to now ive taken classes at college of dupage, and i have been looking for a job, and i have found one though this service i'm using its a small computer repair shop so that will be cool, when you install windows for work how do you activate it like do you have a endless supply of keys, and from an technician standpoint are you worried about hackers, and what antivirus software do you use on your personal system and what software do you give to customers when doing a reformat or a swap? I look forward to hearing from you thanks.

You need to use the original product key with the computer, nearly every computer I work on is an OEM like Dell or HP so they have product keys on them for Windows 7 machines. Windows 8 and higher have the activation built right into the motherboard. This however doesn't seem to be an issue as I've swapped motherboards on 8 and higher machines and they maintain activation. You can also use Windows 7 keys to activate 10 still so that makes things easier.

Personally I use Windows Defender and Malwarebytes. An adblocker is just as effective as an antivirus anymore. Defender has caught a few things and Malwarebytes takes care of the rest. I sell Avast at work, although I usually don't suggest it unless people ask or have constant virus issues. If the machine is in for virus removal service we run several different scanners/software to clean everything.

Hi all;
My 2 cents.
Windows activation before Windows 10 used to be. If you bought the builders version of Windows, it was tied to the motherboard. And Retail version, you can reinstall on the new motherboard, as long as you took it off the original machine you bought the software for. I like the idea now that if you have a MS account that the license is tied to that. I wished they did that years ago.

Darren: Oh to be so young... lol. Had my first computer when I was 35. 1989 was when I got into personal computers. Had a IBM clone 8088 and worked myself up the ladder. Started with DOS 3.0 and up the ladder there to. Yea, I'm old. (63) now.

Yup I'm a baby

My first machine was a Compaq Presario of some kind running Windows 95 when I was about 4 years old in 1999. I had various hand me down work machines from my dad's office before finally building my own.

 

[beers]

I think if you swap the board -and- fresh format it will give you some activation shenanigans. If your key is associated with a ms account you can just run the troubleshooter and pick which previous PC was activated. It will then just associate the key to your new board, I did this yesterday changing parts on my eracing computer.

Using the existing install I believe it automatically updates for you once on the new board.

 

[Gabe_Gerzevske23]

thanks for all your help guys.

 

[silv55]

So you guy say;if my PC with Win10 that i had updated from win7 if the mother board goes bad i still can use my win account to activate it?

 

[Cromewell]

So you guy say;if my PC with Win10 that i had updated from win7 if the mother board goes bad i still can use my win account to activate it?

Yes, I used the same Win7 key from completely different hardware to activate. I just had to make sure the key was registered with my MS account, then on activation it asked if I wanted to switch the activation to the hardware I was currently on. (aka basically what beers wrote )

 

[Darren]

I feel like Windows is just going to be "free" eventually as lenient as Microsoft is with activation lately. Seems I pretty much have a permanent 10 license tied to my MS account despite numerous reinstalls and system upgrades/rebuilds.

 

[johnb35]

I have a feeling that I'll be upgrading in the next couple weeks and I'll test this out using my microsoft account. My system is just freezing up out of nowhere, all I can do is restart it. I ran a memtest and it passed. Still not sure if I want Ryzen 1800x or I7 8700K

 

[OmniDyne]

I feel like Windows is just going to be "free" eventually as lenient as Microsoft is with activation lately. Seems I pretty much have a permanent 10 license tied to my MS account despite numerous reinstalls and system upgrades/rebuilds.

I upgraded to Windows 10 in September of last year via USB through Microsoft's website. You can still download 10 for free. I hit 'activate later' when it asked for the product key during install, and it hasn't asked me for the key once since. It even states Windows is activated, so I guess Microsoft stopped caring ha.

 

[Darren]

I have a feeling that I'll be upgrading in the next couple weeks and I'll test this out using my microsoft account. My system is just freezing up out of nowhere, all I can do is restart it. I ran a memtest and it passed. Still not sure if I want Ryzen 1800x or I7 8700K

1800X is pointless. 1700 or bust.

 

[beers]

1800X is pointless. 1700 or bust.

The refresh should be out by then