old computer windows 10/new build windows 11

[markspizman]

Sorry, if this is the wrong forum. I am building a new computer myself. My old computer has windows 10. Can I update the old to windows 11 and then transfer that to my new computer? I don't have the old product key unless it's listed somewhere in settings.

[ImWilly]

1 hour ago, markspizman said:

Can I update the old to windows 11

Yes, you can

 

1 hour ago, markspizman said:

then transfer that to my new computer?

If your Windows key is retail instead of OEM, it should be able to work

To know which kind of key your windows use, you could open CMD and type these code "slmgr /dli" (without the apostrophe) and pop up will show what type of key is used on your old rig

You could just "simply" move your old OS drive to the new rig, but assuming that your new rig is totally different compared to your old rig (worst case scenario, such as from Intel to AMD, from Radeon to NVIDIA, different Mobo brand, etc) it would be best to do fresh installation (unless you want to manually clean the driver software)

P.S. If you already have the new storage drive for OS on the new rig, that's fine as well. You can still download and install fresh new Windows OS and do the activation later

1 hour ago, markspizman said:

I don't have the old product key unless it's listed somewhere in settings.

If you don't have the old product key, it's fine

You could use "Activation Troubleshooter" on Microsoft account to transfer the license from your old to new rig that you have just done fresh installation, assuming that you already have microsoft account and have tied the product key to your microsoft account (not the local account)