Reactivate Windows 10 After Hardware Change

[Swordbreaker925]

I recently changed my PSU, motherboard, RAM and CPU, and ever since have been receiving a message in the lower right corner of my screen that tells me to activate windows. The troubleshooter will not fix the issue, and the error code i'm getting is 0xC004F211. Supposedly you can re-activate after a hardware change by signing into your Windows account, but this has not fixed the issue. It still asks my to go buy a product key ($200. Not gonna happen. I just spent over $1,000 on upgrades and have a valid license already).

I got Windows 10 for free back when it first lauched as a Microsoft promotion to upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 10 for free, so i do not have an original product key i can enter either.

Basically, is there any way to reactivate windows without paying the absurd price? Cuz i'd rather deal with the message in the lower right than pay that exorbitant amount.

[Tamesh16]

honestly, the message wont do you much. really cant say how you can get a code at this point

[Ominous]

Windows is usually locked to your motherboard.  I'm fairly certain that you were able to link your Windows 10 license with your account but now that you've changed everything you're probably going to have to get another one.  There are places on the internet that will sell cheap keys for you, such as https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap.

[-CLASSIFIED-]

just phone the support and explain what happened. did that and they reactivated my windows for me no problem

[BleachedFur]

I just had to do this. I swapped out my 1070 SC Black with the full fat GTX 1070 SC non-Black and windows was like "oh-no-you-didn't"

[Swordbreaker925]

22 minutes ago, Tamesh16 said:

honestly, the message wont do you much. really cant say how you can get a code at this point

Yeah, worst case scenario, i barely even notice it anyway. Even while gaming. The only times i notice it is if i happen to look at part of the UI that's down in that corner, but even then i dont always notice it cuz it's minimal enough

[Swordbreaker925]

23 minutes ago, Alexsolo said:

Did you reinstall windows while changing your motherboard and other parts?

I did not. My boot SSD drive and storage HDD were not changed in the process

[LogicalDrm]

If you had your key connected to your MS account, then login to MS account will activate it. If not, but you have Win8 key somewhere written, you can use that again. And if these two fail, or rather login to MS account fails, contact their support.

[Alan G]

If your Win8 was OEM the Win10 update will be considered OEM from MSFT's point of view and a MoBo change requires a new license.  You can try calling them and explain things and see if they will update the product key for you.

[C2dan88]

18 hours ago, Swordbreaker925 said:

I got Windows 10 for free back when it first lauched as a Microsoft promotion to upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 10 for free, so i do not have an original product key i can enter either.

The free upgrade is not transferable. The free upgrade was for the lifetime of the original hardware config you activated the upgrade on.

 

There are alternatives for getting Widows license for cheap.

[DeaconFrost]

As others have said, the free upgrade was tied to your previous computer, which, for all intents and purposes, is the motherboard.  New computer, no more valid license.

 

However, the free upgrade still works.  Many/most people have unused licenses sitting around that can be used to activate your current Windows 10.  If not, most computer forums (likely even this one) have members selling legitimate keys for $10 or so.

[LogicalDrm]

18 hours ago, C2dan88 said:

The free upgrade is not transferable. The free upgrade was for the lifetime of the original hardware config you activated the upgrade on.

 

There are alternatives for getting Widows license for cheap.

There have been situations where OEM license tied to MS account has worked in new build too.