Hardware upgrade, windows now illegitimate.

Kuromankuro

Commendable
Sep 28, 2016
2
0
1,510
My windows 10 (Originally 8.1 oem, upgraded to 10) PC died and I decided to make the jump to a whole new pc. New hardware all around except for my boot drive. I placed that in the new pc and it boots fine. Everything is working except now the system claims that my windows 10 is not legitimate. I've done the "Change key" method of keying in my product key on the sticker to no avail, tried to verify on windows store with no success, and am now considering downgrading back to 8.1 with hope that I'll be able to reupgrade to 10 without buying it. Is there something I can do to fix this without a reinstall? can the downgrade and upgrade work the way I think?
Thank you for your help.
 
Solution
The upgrade to Windows 10 used your Windows 8.1 license key. As a result, installing Windows 8.1 again isn't going to help.

If you buy Windows 10 again, buy a retail license. It's not much more expensive than an OEM license.

Cerberus_SV

Distinguished
Oct 1, 2006
46
0
18,530
Well i am sorry to be the bringer of bad news but there is no way fixing it and its not really a "problem" but just the way this license works. The license of windows 10 was "tied" to your old hardware and now that you have changed it, its gone. This is only the case for people who had an original copy of windows 7 or 8/8.1 and made the free Windows 10 update. If someone wants to have Windows 10 even after a change of hardware, he has to purchase a Windows 10 license. These are the rules i m afraid.
 

Kuromankuro

Commendable
Sep 28, 2016
2
0
1,510


If I was able to get the original hardware working, could I transfer it to the new one?
 

Cerberus_SV

Distinguished
Oct 1, 2006
46
0
18,530


I am sorry but this is not how this works my friend. You can not transfer it. Only a Windows 10 key is transferable to other hardware. In a few words, if you want a genuine Windows license, you must either roll back to your original Windows 8.1 or buy a Windows 10 license.