Activation after hardware change

O

Orkhis

Well-known member
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Jan 12, 2020
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I had a Windows 7 with genuine OEM key. That was like 10 years ago, so I no longer have the key. When MS offered a free upgrade to Win10 I did that and migrated to "digital license". Recently I've upgraded my PC and replaced MB and CPU.

The problem is that I cannot reactivate it again following "Hardware was changed" steps on MS website. Activation Wizard is giving me an error code 0xC004F211. I've even tried calling MS phone activation line, but that was an exercise in frustration, as the guy barely spoke English, and my German is bad. He insisted that I have do find my old Win 7 product key and use it for activation. That sounds like complete bonkers, I'm 99% sure it's not going to work even if I still had it. Do I have any other options to activate other than buying a new key ?
 
From my understanding, if you didn't tie the digital entitlement to a Microsoft account, you won't be able to transfer the entitlement to another system i.e. motherboard. This is because when you accept the free upgrade, you no longer have a product key as you did with Windows 7, you're given a generic Windows 10 product key which is then used to form a unique licence key which is specific to that motherboard. The changes to activation were made with Windows 8 from my what I remember; I believe the digital key is written into the SLIC table of the UEFI firmware.

Unfortunately, your best option is to contact the Microsoft activation team again and explain the situation as best you can. I would call a support number which is based in a English-speaking country like the US or the UK.
 
Orkhis said:
He insisted that I have do find my old Win 7 product key and use it for activation. That sounds like complete bonkers
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It may sound bonkers to you but it actually makes sense. Without that original key, they have no way of verifying you are who you say you are, or that you have a legitimate license. Microsoft is in the business of selling software and services and to them, you are just another someone sticking your hand out trying to get freebies.

OEM keys are tied to the "O"riginal "E"quipment. For licensing purposes, a new motherboard constitutes a new computer and therefore, "legally" requires a new license. This means you can legally change out the RAM, CPU, graphics card, drives, even the case and still use the same license. But when you change out the motherboard, that requires a new license.

It does not matter that you upgraded from W7 to W10.

If you have a full "Retail" (not OEM) license, you can legally transfer that license over and over again to new computers - AS LONG AS you remove all previous installations.

The one exception for OEM licenses is if you have to replace the old motherboard with an "identical" motherboard (or one suggested by the maker if original board no longer available) as part of a repair action.

Note I keep saying "legally". This is because it is often possible to circumvent the authentication process and get an old OEM license to work with a new motherboard. But just because something is possible does not make it legal. I note when we, as users, first start using the OEM licenses, we agree to the terms of the EULA (end-user license agreement). And it is that agreement that sets the legal terms. It is a contractual agreement we agreed to abide by.

Will Microsoft come after us if we violate those terms? No. They are not going to waste their time or money, or risk receiving bad publicity by going after individuals. But they can invalidate the license and render it unusable, and unable to be updated. You don't want that.

It is worth a try to call Microsoft. Be nice and polite and they may give you a new code. But don't get your hopes too high. Be ready to buy a new license and then be totally legal.
 
That's not entirely correct. I don't know if definition of "OEM" license has changed in the past 10 years, but in my case it wasn't tied to MB at all. I've replaced MB once already while on Win 7. It wasn't "volume key" tied to SLIC in BIOS. The only difference from full retail license was that I wasn't eligible for MS support if something was wrong with Windows, I had to contact the original seller of this PC. And I had that new "digital license" tied to my MS account. If I'm not mistaken, that became a hard requirement sometime after version 1607.
 
Orkhis said:
That's not entirely correct. I don't know if definition of "OEM" license has changed in the past 10 years, but in my case it wasn't tied to MB at all.
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It is correct. As for yours being tied to a motherboard or not, if it came preinstalled on a factory made computer, or if you installed it on a computer you assembled, then it was indeed inextricably tied to that first motherboard.

Orkhis said:
The only difference from full retail license was that I wasn't eligible for MS support if something was wrong with Windows
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Not true. It is true you were not eligible for MS support. But that is not the "only" difference.

Note that OEM licenses are also called System Builder/OEM licenses. That system builder could be a big factory like Dell or HP. Or it could be a local shop who built it for you. Or it could be you, as a self builder.

But those are all different from the "end user" who has a different set of agreements they agreed to abide by. If you recall, the very first time you booted your computer after installing Windows, you had to agree on a set of terms. It does not matter if you read them or not - who does? The point is, if you clicked to continue using the computer, that was your agreement to abide by those terms. At that point, the OEM license became "tied" (linked, associated with - whatever term you prefer) to that specific motherboard.

Again, just because you were able to upgrade the motherboard before, that does not mean it was perfectly legal (or legitimate, if you prefer) to do so.

Digital mean nothing. That is just the media for which it was delivered to you - as opposed to a piece of paper, DVD, flash drive, etc.

Please note I had my own shop building custom computers for years. I have been round and round with this exact same conversation 100s of times. OEM licenses are tied to the "O"riginal "E"quipment. And for a computer, that means the motherboard.

Remember, we don't own the software. We own the license.
 

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