Activating windows 10 on a new computer

[AcceptedID]

I built a new computer and put my old SSD with Windows 10 in it and it says I have to activate windows, I've tried troubleshooting, choosing I changed hardware on this device recently and then choosing my computer, but it just says "Unable to activate Windows. We can't activate Windows on this device. Try again later"

 

[DSzymborski]

How did you originally obtain the Windows 10 on that old SSD?

Also, a full, fresh, install is recommended; even though Windows 10 is better at this than older versions, it's generally asking for trouble down the road. Best to just do the install, which is best practice.

 

[SkyNetRising]

1st - your windows license has to be linked to your microsoft account on old pc.
2nd - install clean windows 10 same version (Home or Pro) as on your old pc (skip entering license key). Install all the windows security and version updates.
3rd - log in with your microsoft account and use activation troubleshooter with option "Did a significant hardware change recently".
And it will activate.

Had to jump through same hoops, when upgraded from i5-3570 to i7-8700 some time ago. Managed to boot from old storage device, but it would not want to activate, no matter what. Installed clean windows on a different partition, then it would activate with activation troubleshooter. After that I could boot into previous windows installation and it activated also.

 

[AcceptedID]

How did you originally obtain the Windows 10 on that old SSD?

Also, a full, fresh, install is recommended; even though Windows 10 is better at this than older versions, it's generally asking for trouble down the road. Best to just do the install, which is best practice.

I bought Windows 7 then when the technical demos of Windows 10 started coming out a while ago I got it then.

 

[AcceptedID]

1st - your windows license has to be linked to your microsoft account on old pc.
2nd - install clean windows 10 same version (Home or Pro) as on your old pc (skip entering license key). Install all the windows security and version updates.
3rd - log in with your microsoft account and use activation troubleshooter with option "Did a significant hardware change recently".
And it will activate.

Had to jump through same hoops, when upgraded from i5-3570 to i7-8700 some time ago. Managed to boot from old storage device, but it would not want to activate, no matter what. Installed clean windows on a different partition, then it would activate with activation troubleshooter. After that I could boot into previous windows installation and it activated also.

But the problem is that I never linked Windows 10 to my account unless it happened automatically, because I can't even see my computer name on the list I can only see the old computer.

 

[SkyNetRising]

To link windows license with your microsoft account, you have to login into old computer with your microsoft account. And your MS account has to be configured as administrator.

Just put your SSD back into old computer and verify, you have linked license to your microsoft account.
You can verify it by going into Settings/Update&Security/Activation