Activate Windows watermark

[86TMH]

Upgraded my motherboard and CPU a few weeks back on a desktop that was store bought with windows 8 built in. Upgraded to 10. So after the upgrade i technically don't have windows anymore or a key for it.

Can i continue using this version forever with the ''Activate Windows'' watermark or will it eventually stop me?

[Air]

Sure, you can keep using Windows 10 without activation, but personalization options(wallpaper, window border color) will be unavailable to you.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

If you upgrade to the free Win10 on the old board, then u can't activate it on the new board.

[Wampum Biskit]

86themadhatter の投稿を引用：

Upgraded my motherboard and CPU a few weeks back on a desktop that was store bought with windows 8 built in. Upgraded to 10. So after the upgrade i technically don't have windows anymore or a key for it.

Can i continue using this version forever with the ''Activate Windows'' watermark or will it eventually stop me?

why don't you have the key for win8 ? , you don't have a sticker on the case with the key ?

and actually you can , if it's still the same as with previous windows , you just have to use the phone activation option for it... if it asks you if your installing the OS on more then 1 unit just answer no... it's a little lenghty to go thru the phone system but it does work , i have done it plenty of times wbefore with previous windows versions.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

SyPTo の投稿を引用：

86themadhatter の投稿を引用：

Upgraded my motherboard and CPU a few weeks back on a desktop that was store bought with windows 8 built in. Upgraded to 10. So after the upgrade i technically don't have windows anymore or a key for it.

Can i continue using this version forever with the ''Activate Windows'' watermark or will it eventually stop me?

why don't you have the key for win8 ? , you don't have a sticker on the case with the key ?

OEM Pre-Installs (like Dell, HP, Lenovo) = you don't have a Key, it's embedded in the OEM motherboard. Even if he goes back to the OEM board, or when it worked got the Win8 key from it (like Speccy can reveal it for you) you can't reuse that anyways.

[Wampum Biskit]

Bad-Motha の投稿を引用：

SyPTo の投稿を引用：

why don't you have the key for win8 ? , you don't have a sticker on the case with the key ?

OEM Pre-Installs (like Dell, HP, Lenovo) = you don't have a Key, it's embedded in the OEM motherboard. Even if he goes back to the OEM board, or when it worked got the Win8 key from it (like Speccy can reveal it for you) you can't reuse that anyways.

i don't often dissagree with you , but in this case i do because the phone activation option is the way around that problem most of the times (it's just that noone uses the phone activation) IF you have the original key and download a OEM copy of the OS from torrent or usenet.

the reason it gets rejected with the activation is because as you said "different" MB , so when you try to activate that win10 copy it gets rejected because it sees it as "another" activation on another machine , since you can only have 1 key on 1 machine , you have to use the phone option to in essence "reset" the number of activations.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

There is no phone activation options for "free Win10" and for that 8, if was pre-installed OEM, that also is not an option. That all goes away when you change Motherboard. It was OK with Win7 and previous because even OEM stuff had a COA Sticker; for example say a persons Dell Motherboard dies, the system is out of warranty, we could change that motherboard to one of similar chipset and then phone activate the OS to get it working again with that OEM OS/COA. Now if your OEM system has this for 8/8.1, OK then, but otherwise no.

[Wampum Biskit]

Bad-Motha の投稿を引用：

There is no phone activation options for "free Win10" and for that 8, if was pre-installed OEM, that also is not an option. It was with Win7 and previous because even OEM stuff had a COA Sticker. Now if your OEM system has this for 8/8.1, OK then, but otherwise no.

it will pop up after you try it about 5 times... try it one time.... how else can someone without internet activate a windows copy ?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

It is an option in the OS, yes of course. But given the situation the OP is surrounded with, his re-activation on a new motherboard would most likely be denied... no harm in trying this method though, sure go ahead. If success, great.

[Wampum Biskit]

Bad-Motha の投稿を引用：

It is an option in the OS, yes of course. But given the situation the OP is surrounded with, his re-activation on a new motherboard would most likely be denied... no harm in trying this method though, sure go ahead. If success, great.

thats why he needs to keep trying with internet unplugged or wifi turned off till he get's the phone option to activate , as far as i know it's the only way to "reset" the activation counter on teh server that keeps track of what MB goes with what key.

other then calling MS support and then most likely they will have to reset it for you or they will just outright deny it...

however you still won't be able to activate it on 2 machines unless one machine NEVER goes online , because once you reset the counter all previous MB-KEY combinations will be reset and in essence make that combination invalid and de-activated.

takes about 20-30 min thru the phone though , it's a TON of numbers...lmao