Windows Windows 10 licence

Evening everyone,

I've just bought everything for a major upgrade cpu, mobo, ram and m.2 for OS, so will be having a fresh install of windows 10. On my previous system I did the windows 7 upgrade.

Do I now need to purchase a new copy or can I still use my w7 key?

I have tried googling it but can only find conflicting answers.

Thanks in advance.

 

Yep you'll need a new licence. The upgrade is tied into the mobo. It maybe a case that you can ring microsoft and quote your original code and get it reactivated, but I'm taking a guess at that one.

 

Ok cheers I'll give it a go, it's got to be worth a try.

 

I had a similar problem, so I had to ring Microsoft. They couldn't get my original product keys to validate (it had been upgraded from Vista to 7 to 8 then to 10), but I did get a discount so it was only £40 for a new license.

 

I recently replaced motherboard, CPU and RAM, following a motherboard failure. I used the online chat facility and, after much faffing and requesting proof of purchase for the motherboard, they eventually supplied me with a new licence at no cost. Always worth a try.

 

Changed my lads, mobo, cpu and ram a few days ago, windows failed to activate, 10 mins of faff free online chatting and was told to use his old win 7 key and activated straight away.

 

Nice one, thanks everyone. Hopefully I will stand a chance of it working then. I'll download w10 to a usb and go from there.

 

So I've started the rebuild, in a new case ive put in mobo, cpu, ram and m.2. Fired it up, installed windows and reused my w7 key. Activated straight away so that's a happy result!

 

I'm assuming your Windows 7 key was a retail key ? If so thats why it activated on the new build without any hassle at all.

With that said I've put various different OEM keys on different hardware configurations and they have always activated fine even when used on a different motherboard.

 

Yes it was, I'm getting my money's worth from that. Got it when w7 came out 8 odd years ago!

 

You still can upgrade windows 10 from 7 fro free. I just read this:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/windows-10-free-download-upgrade

You could give it a go. Least then you wont have to pay for it

 

Easier to clean install 10 and input the Windows 7 key.

 

Just to add to this, you can now tie your Windows license to a Microsoft account. So, in the event that you're going to reformat your PC, you can just readily have it activated using the medium.