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hey so i wanted to ask if i swap my i3 2120 for an i7 3770 will my windows deactivate beacuse of a new cpu and is there a chance of losing my data because of the new cpu

Hey, so I'm in a bit of a predicament... A while ago, I formatted a HDD on my Aspire One to install Linux on it. It had come with Winows 7 Starter which I then later replaced with Windows 8 Professional because it was on sale for some absurdly low price. Fast forward a couple months, I realized that I forgot to deactivate the product key. Is there any way that I can get it back now? Maybe call Microsoft or somehow remotely deactivate it.... Anyway, thanks if you can help! Edit: I am reffering to the Windows 8 key. I don't care about 7 starter

So I have my Windows 8 Pro copy that I bought a while back. I purchased the upgrade pack and did a clean install and, for some reason, did not have any problems. Now I'm about to do another clean install so I was wondering how to go about the activation process. Do I have to deactivate or just format the drive? How can I let Microsoft know it is actually a clean install of the same copy and not an install in another machine? Thanks!

Retrieving your key In a lot of cases, people want to do a clean install of windows on their machine for whatever reason, and don't have the OEM key. While in most cases the sticker on the bottom will telly you what you need to know, but if you lack the sticker or are otherwise unable to find your key, I will show you how to retrieve the key from any properly activated copy of windows, OEM or not. While there are a lot of programs out there to retrieve keys, the one I will be demonstrating is called Belarc Advisor. I picked this program for a few reasons. First, it's free. A lot of programs charge for retrieving windows keys, and that's really counter-intuitive. Second, it's a security program that I happen to really trust. Also, it doesn't feel like bloatware, run when windows starts, or install any shit like Bing toolbars or anything unwanted at all. It's a company that is really geared towards professionals, and I used their software back in my IT days. While Belarc Advisor isn't for commercial use, they do offer other programs for that. The last reason is that it's the most detailed, and I have consistently gotten the best results from it. Not only does it show your keys for windows, but other software as well, like Adobe products, and even a lot of games. So here we go, it's pretty simple. First, download and install Belarc Advisor. http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html When you install it, you may skip looking for security updates and scanning the local network since we are just using it for keys. Once it's done loading, an IE window should pop up. (Yes, IE. Regardless of default browser) Scroll down to "Software Licenses" You'll likely see almost everything you've entered a key for in here. (Sorry about the big black boxes. I was gonna blur, but Photoshop keeps crashing after I updated to windows 8.1 from 7, and I don't feel like messing with it at the moment.) Once you find your windows version, the key will be be listed right next to it. That's it! Just write it down or email it to yourself for later. I keep this program on a USB drive. It's a good tool to allow you to fix other's machines without needing them to buy windows again, regardless of the state of the sticker. Deactivating Windows Sometimes you'll want to transfer your license from one machine to another. Maybe you got an upgrade, or a new system. It's important to note that an OEM license may or may not transfer to a different PC. Keep in mind that this may not be necessary, as despite only being allowed on one machine at a time, the non-OEM keys allow for as many differnt installs as you like. As it turns out, in a lot of cases it may allow you to run multiple machines at once, maybe two or three, all activated. This seems to be especially true with msdn keys. Keep in mind that you are only allowed to have one machine activated at a time with most key types. And that's what this deactivation guide is for. It is your responsibility to know what is and is not technically allowed with you key, and act on that with your discretion. Here's a good place to start. http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/Pages/licensing_faq.aspx#fbid=fe0Yk5SF4Ax Also, I would like to mention that I'm not responsible if for some reason you deactivate windows and are not able to reactivate it, or you don't have your key or something. That's you own fault. This is pretty simple. First, make sure you are connected to the internet. Next, open command prompt as an administrator. Enter this: slmgr.vbs -upk[i know this works in vista and up, but I'm not sure about windows xp, and I don't have anything running it right now to try it.]If successful, you should get no feedback or message in the command prompt window. Instead this should pop up To check to see if your computer is deactivated, go to Control Panel > System. Activated Not activated I have done this quite a few times now, and thus far i have not had a problem. But you may. So what if this didn't deactivate, or your were not able to activate on the new machine using the key you just removed from the old machine? Try again. If you are still unable to, the last resort is calling the hotline, and explaining your situation to a representative. Here is a tutorial for phone activation. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950929 When you call, you'll need to talk to a person. This can be an issue as it's is all voice prompts and totally automated. However, according to gethuman.com, you can get to a person by staying silent. I called to verify this. The voice asked me about activating Windows XP quite a few times. I never new a computer could sound so impatient. Finally, it asked about talking to an agent, but encouraged me not to. I was able at this point to say "Transfer Me Anyway", and it connected me to an agent. You'll need to have the activate by phone screen up on the new computer, with your machine code on screen. They can assist you with this if you can't find it/or it wont take you key at all. There is no guarantee they'll be able to help you with this, but in cases where you are allowed to transfer to a different PC, (look at the MS article about licenses I listed above), namely non-OEM keys, they should be able to/are supposed to. Some of them simply will not know what you are talking about. Be patient and polite. Maybe try again to get a different agent. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Well that's it! This is my first tutorial on Linus Tech Tips, and I appreciate any Feedback/Suggestions/Likes/Pancakes. This most certainly won't be my last tutorial, and I would be willing to do about anything that's in demand. I recently had a poll here for a few tutorial options http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/178495-what-do-you-want-first/#entry2396748 This was in first, the next most popular was- I will be doing that next. Stay tuned!

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