Thinking about upgrading mobo/cpu/ram -- concerned about my legit license for Win

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collegeboy69us

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So I'm tempted to upgrade, it's been forever, still running a nice solid 2500K chip.

I have a legit Win 8 professional Key - and that's been on my desktop for a while, did the free upgrade to Windows 10 with no issue.

My question -- when I get a new motherboard and cpu, I generally like to fresh install a copy of Windows, how would I go about this the legit way. I haven't been keeping up with anything MS has been doing on how they license these days.

The quick googling i've done generally tells me "I'm screwed" and that I will have to go buy a legit version of Win10 if I want to run it. (or revert back to my Win8.1 license key)

I know another option would be to use the system backup/restore in Acronis that's able to save your OS/data/etc and restore it around a new system build (so drivers and other things don't get all borked) Seems like a hassle and not as "clean" IMO.

Any ideas on how to best approach this? I ask now because if I really have to go out and buy another key, or go back to Win8, I'll just forgo the upgrade for now and use what i have.

Edit - seems the "get win10 for free" goes till the middle of this year for Win8 licenses... I'm wondering if I can install my Win8.1 on the new hardware, activate, and then upgrade to 10 from there without issue.
 
The easiest way is to just upgrade to Win 10 from 8.1

Make sure W10 is activated after the upgrade. Then do a fresh install of W10. As long as it was activated after the initial upgrade, you will not need a key when doing a fresh install. Easy peasy.
 
What if in a few years you build a new PC again, is Win10 still going to activate on the new hardware or must one buy a new license. Microsoft still has not clarified that scenario, which will happen to most of us at some point.
 
I thought they did, at least on paper. New computer = new license

The current 'Free' Win10 is for existing legit licenses.
 
Wouldn't it depend on the version, like OEM or Full? I mean, all my previous versions of Windows were Full and I could easily transfer them to new systems without issue. So when I upgraded to 10, it is a full version, so I should be able to move it right, like when I get a new motherboard and CPU in a few months?
 
Will find out here this weekend, just ordered a 6600k and MSI M5 board.

Will have something fun to do this weekend :)

Since I don't have a "Win 10" key, my only option seems to be install my legit 8.1 key off their official ISO, and upgrade from there. If it gives me any shit, I'll just do the acronis system mover over to my new hardware and go from there.

If they really did pull that boner card of tying a windows license to a set of hardware forever... that's shitty as hell IMO.
 
OEM license is an OEM license there is nothing new about it, enforcement and online keys are the new part.
 
If you are doing it this weekend, why not download the Windows 10 image to a USB drive and try to install that first? Just log in with your credentials or whatever and see what happens. I will be doing that in a few months, so hopefully it works fine.
 
ob1 said:
If you are doing it this weekend, why not download the Windows 10 image to a USB drive and try to install that first? Just log in with your credentials or whatever and see what happens. I will be doing that in a few months, so hopefully it works fine.
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Already have all the Windows 10 ISO's on my backup/iso drive... since I'm waiting on the hardware, I already know it will work flawlessly with my *current* hardware (no key, it will self activate based on my established and unchanged hardware profile)


My issue is when I put my new motherboard and CPU in, seeing if the activation will still hold.

From what I've heard is that the "free win10" is a license to the machine, and not the person. So the most rigid interpretation is that you can't transfer it. Retail copies, or copies with "keys" can be moved from machine to machine.

The grey area that would piss off a lot of people is, say your motherboard takes a dump one day because of a power spike, or gnomes, or whatever... through the strict method... does this mean your copy of Windows 10 went up in smoke alongside your motherboard? If so, that's pretty damn evil of MS.

In another situation - say I sell my fully working motherboard, since the license is tied to the hardware, does that mean a random person gets a free copy of Windows 10 now?
 
Well, it has been said that if you upgraded from a retail license of Win7/8 then Win10 retains retail license rights, but that is what I need/want to know for sure instead of just hearsay so make sure tell us what happens when you try to activate it on new hardware.
 
rezerekted said:
Well, it has been said that if you upgraded from a retail license of Win7/8 then Win10 retains retail license rights, but that is what I need/want to know for sure instead of just hearsay so make sure tell us what happens when you try to activate it on new hardware.
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Will do - I'm excited for Friday to get here -- I'm off that day, got a box full of goodies coming from Newegg (MSI M5, and a 6600k) :)

My 2500k has been a workhorse and a hoss, after skipping 3 generations though, I think it's about time. This incoming 6600k has some big shoes to fill, wonder if it will wind up lasting me 5 years like SandyBridge did.
 
collegeboy69us said:
Will do - I'm excited for Friday to get here -- I'm off that day, got a box full of goodies coming from Newegg (MSI M5, and a 6600k) :)

My 2500k has been a workhorse and a hoss, after skipping 3 generations though, I think it's about time. This incoming 6600k has some big shoes to fill, wonder if it will wind up lasting me 5 years like SandyBridge did.
Click to expand...

I'm on IvyBridge now and have decided not to buy any new games so I have no reason to upgrade, that way I will never need Win10. I recon I will be dead before 1/10/2023 anyway. :cool:
 
happy to report that everything went smooth as butter, didn't need to contact MS support or anything. Even after changing the motherboard/cpu/ram and doing a fresh install, my key (Win 8) was accepted directly into the Win10 installer I downloaded from MS.

Activated automatically and everything is good to go. There are a few things I hate about Win10, but overall I'm actually a bit impressed with how smooth this transition went.
 
collegeboy69us said:
happy to report that everything went smooth as butter, didn't need to contact MS support or anything. Even after changing the motherboard/cpu/ram and doing a fresh install, my key (Win 8) was accepted directly into the Win10 installer I downloaded from MS.

Activated automatically and everything is good to go. There are a few things I hate about Win10, but overall I'm actually a bit impressed with how smooth this transition went.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity you went straight to a fresh install as soon as you put your new hardware in, right? You didn't launch the system to see if it had deactivated Windows?
 
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