New build reinstall Windows 10 from my old USB then upgrade to 11?

[wbino]

Or buy new Windows 11 and install it in my new machine?

[_I_]

use your win 10 key to activate 11

[wbino]

Originally posted by _I_:

use your win 10 key to activate 11

Do I need to deactivate (Windows 10) it from my old machine before the switch?

[_I_]

key cant be deactivated

if its an oem or builder key its tied to the mobo
retail keys can be used on several builds

[Quint]

Download the Win11 ISO from Microsoft's website and install it. Then, use your Win10 key. Or don't. Microsoft allows you to use Windows without activating it.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

You can alos make a micro account on 10 then log in with that account on 11 i think and it should auto activate

Also you can call ms and tell them you changed motherboards

[Viking2121]

Originally posted by HypersleepyNaputunia:

You can alos make a micro account on 10 then log in with that account on 11 i think and it should auto activate

Also you can call ms and tell them you changed motherboards

No it don't really work like that, at least not the auto activate part. If you change motherboards and windows does not activate on thew new board, you can then use the activation troubleshooting as long as you have logged into the account that the old OS was attached to, and deactivate the old machine or another machine you don't have and move the activation to the new board. Thats only if, and only if, the key is not an OEM key, OEM keys are not transferable regardless of what hardware you've changed and MS will not make an acceptation to that.


OP: you can install windows 10 and upgrade to windows 11, or you can download the windows 11 iso from MS and use a free program like Balena Etcher to mount it to a flash drive and you can boot from it and use your windows 10 key, or skip that step and do it later. If the activation don't work, you can use windows without activating, but won't allow you to change personalization settings things like background, or colors, and will end up getting a watermark at some point.