Will I have to buy Windows 10?

[Mr Chiefy]

So I'm getting mixed answers about this one. I ordered a new CPU and Mobo, and I'll have to transfer my Windows to the new hardware.

I'm wondering if since I got the free upgrade from 7 to 10, will I have to purchase Windows 10 if it's new hardware?

I know that I could transfer 7 over, but I'm getting mixed answers on whether I'll have to buy 10 since I got the free version, and it might not transfer over. Has anyone had experience with this?

[zombie cat]

if you get a new motherboard, then yeah you'll have to rebuy windows 10.

[MancSoulja]

Just ring us MS, tell they you've bought a new PC and you're trying to use your Win 10 key on it. They activate it from their end, at least they did for me.

[banzaigtv]

Last I heard, with build 1607, your Windows 10 key is tied to your Microsoft account rather than the hardware. You could try activating Windows 10 after signing in to your Microsoft account, but with the upgrade key, I'm not really sure how that works, but it's worth a shot.

[Hare+Guu!]

I replaced my motherboard just fine without doing anything. Didn't even have to uninstall drivers. Went from a h61 board to a z75 board. I checked my license right away to see if it got invalidated, it didn't. It's been 2 months now.

It might be a problem if you go amd to intel or vice verse, but you could probably just call up ms then.

[rotNdude]

Everybody got a free upgrade offer from Win7 to Win10. Are you running an OEM computer?

[joetheplumber68]

Depends on how you originally aquired your OS. If you purchased Windows 7 and upgraded to 10 you will be fine. If you bought a big box store pre-built PC with a System Builder OEM version of Windows 7 you are out of luck. I built my own PC with Windows 8.1 then later upgraded to 10. Changed my Mobo from AMD to Intel LGA 1151 with no problems using same SSD and HDD. It accepted my Win 8.1 key for Win10. Again, if you have a pre-built machine you will need to purchase Win 10. Good luck!

[Mr Chiefy]

Początkowo opublikowane przez joetheplumber68:

Depends on how you originally aquired your OS. If you purchased Windows 7 and upgraded to 10 you will be fine. If you bought a big box store pre-built PC with a System Builder OEM version of Windows 7 you are out of luck. I built my own PC with Windows 8.1 then later upgraded to 10. Changed my Mobo from AMD to Intel LGA 1151 with no problems using same SSD and HDD. It accepted my Win 8.1 key for Win10. Again, if you have a pre-built machine you will need to purchase Win 10. Good luck!

I build my own PC but it's Windows 7 Premium - OEM System Builder Pack. I upgraded to 10 in April or May. Am I out of luck?

Also, when I upgraded to Windows 10 I made a new Microsoft account for it. Would the key be tied to my account?

[[☥] - CJ -]

You can use the program SPECCY to snag your Windows Key
Then you can use it when Windows asks you to enter a key.

You'll know if you're good or not if
1: it accepts the key
or
2: you enter the OS and it shows a not registered tag, or it shows as registered.

Either way, you should just be able to contact microsoft and they can transfer it over, they usually do as long as you give the reason for the issue you're having.

And as said, you can try using your Win7 key.

Either way, chances are you'll have to format the hard drive anyway so you'll find out one way or another.

[joetheplumber68]

Contact Microsoft by phone and tell them you had a hardware failure on your pc and you are simply swapping out mobo and cpu. They will then instruct you to download the Microsoft "Media Creation Tool". It will download a clean new version of Win 10 to a USB. They will then release your product key code as Windows 10 version associated with your Microsoft account. I have done this before. Microsoft will usually comply. They did for me. If you want to use your existing version of Win 10 upgrade which you already have on HDD/SSD ask them to release the product key code for your hardware swap.