New ssd, keep win 10 licensed?

upgraded from win 7 to win 10 a few months ago. Just bought a new ssd. How do I maintain my license for windows 10? Install normally and use the serial number I currently have?

Solution 1:

New ssd, keep win 10 licensed?

Just bought a new ssd. How do I maintain my license for windows 10?

How the Free Windows 10 License Works

The free Windows 10 license Microsoft is providing to upgraders works differently. Microsoft won’t issue you a Windows 10 product key. Instead, when you perform an upgrade from within Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows 8.1, the upgrade process registers a unique ID associated with your PC’s hardware on Microsoft’s Windows activation servers.

In the future, whenever you install Windows 10 on that same PC, it will automatically report to Microsoft’s activation servers. Microsoft will confirm that the PC with that specific hardware configuration is allowed to use Windows 10, and it’ll automatically be activated.

This isn’t actually made clear in the installation process itself. To clean-install Windows 10 on a machine activated in this way, you have to continually skip all the product key prompts while installing it.

This automatic process only works if your PC has the same hardware it had when you upgraded to Windows 10.

I'm not certain if an SDD would count as the hardware change that'd affect the free hardware-tied Windows 10 activation, but if so. . .

What if You Change Your PC’s Hardware?

Microsoft has never actually wanted to explain exactly how the hardware-based Windows activation process works. Just replacing your hard drive or upgrading your graphics card shouldn’t cause a problem. If you’ve just changed a few peripherals, Windows 10 may just automatically activate itself after you clean-install it.

However, replacing your computer’s motherboard or CPU will likely be so big a change that it prevents the PC from automatically activating. Windows 10 will see it as a different hardware configuration, one which isn’t allowed to have the free upgrade.

If you run into this problem, you should just be able to clean-install Windows 10 normally. Skip both prompts when you’re asked to enter a product key. After it installs, it will attempt to activate itself with Microsoft and won’t automatically activate. It will be considered non-genuine until you activate it. The activation screen will prompt you to purchase a new license from the Windows Store.

According to Gabriel Aul, Vice President of Engineering for the Windows & Devices group at Microsoft, you can then contact support from within Windows 10, explain the situation, and they’ll activate Windows 10 for you:

To do this, you should be able to open the Start menu, select All Apps, and launch the Contact Support app included with Windows 10. Navigate to the Services & apps > Windows > Setting up category, which includes activation issues. You can text-chat with a Microsoft support representative here or have a Microsoft representative call you on the phone.

The free Windows 10 license isn’t tied to a Microsoft account at all — it’s just tied to the PC’s hardware configuration. However, we assume that it might help if you sign into the PC with the same Microsoft account you signed in with on your old PC. That would give Microsoft Support some way to confirm you previously had a free Windows 10 license on that PC. That’s just a guess, of course — Microsoft isn’t saying exactly what is required here.