Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change

Activation helps verify that your copy of Windows is genuine and hasn’t been used on more devices than the Microsoft Software License Terms allow.

When installing Windows 10, the digital license associates itself with your device’s hardware. If you make significant hardware changes on your device, such as replacing your motherboard, Windows will no longer find a license that matches your device, and you’ll need to reactivate Windows to get it up and running.

To activate Windows, you’ll need either a digital license or a product key. To find out which you need, see «What activation method do I use, product key or digital license?» in Activate Windows 10. Then, use the following info to help you successfully prepare for a hardware change and reactivate Windows 10.

Prepare your Windows 10 device for a hardware change

First, follow these steps to find out if Windows 10 is already activated.

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Activation .

If you’re not activated, complete the activation process with the steps you see on the Activation page. If you experience an error while activating, see Get help with Windows activation errors.

Once you’ve confirmed that Windows 10 is activated, follow these steps:

In Windows 10 (version 1607 or later), it is essential that you link your Microsoft account with the Windows 10 digital license on your device. Linking your Microsoft account with your digital license allows you to reactivate Windows using the Activation troubleshooter whenever you make a significant hardware change.

First, you’ll need to find out if your Microsoft account (What is a Microsoft account?) is linked to your Windows 10 digital license. To find out, select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security and then select Activation . The activation status message will tell you if your account is linked.

Windows is activated with a digital license

This means that your Microsoft account is not linked to your digital license.

Follow instructions for Add an account.

Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account

This means that your Microsoft account is already linked to your digital license.

No further action is required. You are ready to use the activation troubleshooter.

If your Microsoft account is not linked to your digital license, follow these steps to Add an account:

Sign in as an administrator to add your Microsoft account. To confirm that you’re using an administrator account, select the Start button, then select Settings > Accounts > Your info . Under your name, you’ll see Administrator. If you’re not an administrator, see Create a local user or administrator account.
Go to Your info in Settings

Confirm that the administrator account is also your Microsoft account by checking to see if an email address is displayed above Administrator. If an email address is displayed, this is a Microsoft account. If not, you’re logged in using a local account. If you don’t yet have a Microsoft account, see How to create a new Microsoft account.

Once you confirm that you’re an administrator and using your Microsoft account, go back to the Activation page, select Add an account, enter your Microsoft account and password, then select Sign in.

After your Microsoft account has been added, the message on the Activation page will change to: Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account.

Make sure that the edition, Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro, is the same before and after your hardware change. Your digital license and product key will reactivate only if the edition remains the same.

You can see your edition on the same Activation page where you checked your activation status. To see which edition you have, select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Activation .

If you used a product key to get to Windows 10, then you’ll need that key again after the hardware change. To find out how to locate your key, see Find your Windows product key.

For more info about product keys and digital licenses, see Activate Windows 10.

Reactivate Windows 10 after a hardware change

When you’re ready to reactivate, make sure that your device is connected to the internet and then follow the steps for either a digital license or product key.

You’ll need to first add your Microsoft account and link your account to the digital license on your device. After linking your Microsoft account, run the Activation troubleshooter to reactivate Windows 10.

This troubleshooter will only be available if your copy of Windows 10 (version 1607 or later) isn’t activated.

To use the Activation troubleshooter:

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Activation > Troubleshoot . The troubleshooter will show Windows can’t be activated on your device.

Select I changed hardware on this device recently, then select Next.

Enter your connected Microsoft account and password, then select Sign in. The troubleshooter will only work with the connected Microsoft account.

From the list of devices that are linked to your Microsoft account, select the check box next to This is the device I’m using right now.

If you don’t see the device you’re using in the list of results, make sure that you signed in using the same Microsoft account you associated with the Windows 10 digital license on your device.

If you continue to experience errors while activating, see Get help with Windows activation errors and locate the error you’re getting.

If you didn’t link your Microsoft account to the digital license before the hardware change AND you used a product key to upgrade to Windows 10, then continue to next section.

If Windows 10 wasn’t pre-installed on your device when purchased and you used a product key to upgrade to Windows 10, then you’ll need that same product key after the hardware change.

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Activation > Change Product Key, then enter the product key.

If you installed a retail copy of Windows 10 on your device using a Windows 10 product key and then made hardware changes, follow this same process using your Windows 10 product key.

If you continue to experience errors while activating, see Get help with Windows activation errors and locate the error you’re getting.

If you don’t have a digital license or product key

If you don’t have a product key or digital license, you can purchase a Windows 10 digital license after installation finishes. Follow these steps to make a purchase:

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Activation . Then select Go to Store to go to the Microsoft Store app where you can purchase a Windows 10 digital license.

Need more help?

If you need additional help reactivating Windows on your device, contact customer support.

How to run old hardware on windows 10

I have some old hardware that i need to use it runs on windows vista or windows 7 but my laptop runs on windows 10. How can i rectify this please?

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What hardware are you trying install? Make and Model.

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I see «Software requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 to be installed prior to software installation.»

I do not see support for W10. That don’t mean it will not run, but you will have to support it yourself, maybe contact them they mite know how to get it running.

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Windows 10 updates on older hardware

Here, is a very old cpuid of my sons system.
now onboard video is disabled since MS has messed up that driver. now there’s a MSI ATI Radeon HD6450
now it’s running Windows 10.
https://valid.x86.fr/show_oc.php?id=2759480

Is MS trying forcing new hardware altogether! this system has been running perfectly! it runs Build 16299.15 PERFECTLY! except for the nurfed HD3200 driver. until it tries to install an update that it been trying to install since Dec.

Every time it gets to one of the newest updates the computer sits on the blue windows logo forever. the automatic repair can’t fix it, safe mode will not load (first time in the history of windows safe mode will not work. )

I have updates deferred for whatever it is 30 days. this needs to be permanent so people can lock their system into a last working update system. it would be nice if windows was able to go by cpu, chipset, something, and tell the update service NO MORE UPDATES. something that says no future update will be compatible with an Athlon 64 X2, or HD3200 is no longer supported.

If you want windows to be a service, if you want to FORCE updates! you need to make it more intuitive, a bit smarter!

Sorry, frustration aside, other than «you need a new system for an 8 year old» what doesn’t the newest updates have an issue with on this hardware? thanks! I’m tired of waking up to a kid with ADHD and a locked up computer, who has nothing to do!

Right now it’s at windows 10, ver. 1709, OS Build 16299.15

Something between build 16299.15 and 16299.192 is messing up that system.

My main computer is at windows 10, ver. 1709, OS Build 16299.192

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As you may already know, in Windows 10, your device is always kept up-to-date to have the latest features and fixes. In rare cases, a specific driver might temporarily cause issues that affect your device. In this situation, you can prevent the problematic driver from reinstalling automatically the next time Windows Updates are installed. You may also defer upgrades to prevent you from getting the latest Windows features as soon as they’re available.

Here are two articles that will give you information on how to temporarily prevent a driver from reinstalling and to defer upgrades in Windows 10:

Let us know if you need further help.

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Yes, I already know all that. I’ve applied both suggestions. got tired of reverting the drivers, turned off onboard video, upgraded the video, problem solved.
This is the 2nd time I’ve reverted back to a working install.

this does NOTHING to prevent Windows 10 from installing the update again in a month! Insanity, doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. is MS going to magically make the updates work for this system in the next month?

you did catch that I suggested making it so we can LOCK our system into a last working install? you know stopping updates that WILL NOT work on an aging system, but work perfectly at this point!

I understand you have to cut and paste from a list of spiels they want. so I’m sure you can comprehend what I was saying, but forced to paste a generic spiel, so I do understand! I’ve tried to get a job in the tech support industry, but I didn’t know you had to play like you had never seen a computer while trying out, so you don’t go off script. so I understand.

Here’s the thing, there 9 options for safe mode, I’ve tried them all, even logging in with all drivers disabled, same thing! IT’S WINDOWS, not a driver! now that I think about it, I disabled onboard audio, freaked out the computer turning SATA off lol, disabled everything except USB support!

basically, I have to install windows 7 on that computer. or upgrade the hardware. gone are the days of installing an os and just using it until the hardware dies.

I’d hate to own a windows phone! my Android updates all the time with the » latest features and fixes» but at some point they got smart enough to say sorry, your hardware can’t support this update, you’re stuck which what you have!

that is all I want with the kids old computer! I’m just going to have to go back to windows 7, and hope it
doesn’t still complain about upgrading to windows 10. I don’t think I can explain anymore. and I highly doubt you can offer applicable suggestions, so we can call this closed!

Can your old PC run Windows 10? The answer will surprise you

Here’s how Windows 10 feels on very old hardware.

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For a modern operating system with an vast range of capabilities, Windows 10 is an incredibly lean and mean operating system.

To find out just how lean though, I decided to install Windows 10 on a few ancient PCs to see how well it runs. The actual experience might surprise you.

The “Vista Capable” machine

Can you run and install Windows 10 on a 9-year-old PC? Yes you can! (And no, you don’t want to!)

My first testbed would be a Dell Dimension E510. Carbon-dating of the chassis tells me it’s from the year 2006 A.D. The machine had been moldering away in a pile of old rigs at PCWorld and obviously wasn’t in its original state. Inside it has perhaps one of Intel’s worst-respected CPUs, a 3.2GHz Pentium D, as well as 2GB of DDR2 RAM and a dead video card.

I removed the machine’s fax modem. I dropped in a Radeon HD 6570 and a 320GB, 7,200rpm hard drive. I installed the only version of Windows 10 I had in ISO form at the time: Build 10162. It’s a few weeks old and the last technical preview ISO released by Microsoft before pausing the entire program. Note: The final build is supposed to offer some performance enhancements, but I honestly don’t expect a fundamental shift from a two-week-old build of the OS.

My experience with this 9-year-old box shocked me: It ran super-smooth and was surprisingly responsive just navigating Windows 10’s menu system.

Reality hit me in the face, though, when I decided to actually do something—like task the Edge Browser with opening five media-heavy pages, including PCWorld.com. That’s when it all ground to a halt. Some of that comes from the albatross of the truly atrocious Pentium D CPU, and some of that comes from the mere 2GB of memory in the system.

A dual-core Pentium D works with Windows 10 but it’s just not pleasant.

In fact, just leaving the Edge browser open and letting it sit for a few minutes caused the Dell’s CPU to run at 100-percent load. Doing nothing.

Moving to Google’s Chrome, which has a reputation for being a memory hog, it was just as bad—I waited 10 seconds for the Start Menu to pop up.

My verdict: I’m amazed it works at all. Be prepared for constant thumb-twiddling, however, as the CPU ramps up to 100 percent for long periods of time and the hard drive gets thrashed. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to take this as a gentle nudge to upgrade your 2006-era or older machine.

The Netbook

My second experiment in underpowered hardware was a 2009-vintage Lenovo IdeaPad S12 netbook. My specimen had a Intel 1.6GHz Atom N270 in it, 2GB of DDR2, and a 5,400rpm, 160GB hard drive in it.

Netbooks barely had the power to run Windows XP. If there’s one CPU that disappointed people more than the Pentium 4, it was the early Atom CPUs, which were universally excoriated for their performance.

Windows 10, amazingly, installed just fine on the S12. Like the Pentium D box, however, the processor almost continually runs at full load doing the most basic tasks. Opening five-media heavy websites meant waiting an inexorablly long time for the computer to respond to other instructions.

Just running a single instance of Youtube on a Netbook will eat most of the CPU cycles. Windows 10 Edge though, will at least work in Youtube while Chrome chokes.

I’ll give the S12 and Windows 10 this, though: The new Edge browser was capable of playing Youtube videos with far fewer hitches than Chrome.The last Netbook I played with years ago would not play Youtube videos in the Chrome browser without major hitches. The S12 with the Chrome browser and Windows 10 was no different, as it would continually drop frames and pause playing a 720p movie trailer.

My Verdict: It works and installs just fine. It doesn’t make the Netbook experience any better. Let’s be frank, Netbooks were poor performers when they came out with Windows XP, so Windows 10 won’t magically make them better. If you’re running Windows XP and must have Windows 10, it’s a better choice because at least it’s a supported OS. If you’re on Windows 7 or Windows 8, the move isn’t a bad idea, either, as you get access to a more modern OS.

A “real” laptop

The last machine I tried was a 2008-vintage Lenovo X61 that originally came with Windows Vista. Equipped with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo T8200 and 3GB of DDR2 RAM, I literally rescued this laptop from an e-waste bin, where it may have been sent because of problems with its Wi-Fi card. All I know is the X61 worked fine except for the Wi-Fi, so my browsing was done over the LAN port.

Of the three here, it felt the fastest and snappiest. That’s no surprise: The dual-core T8200 is a good little CPU, and for general computing tasks is very usable. Drop an SSD in there and for most people, they’d never know the difference between this seven-year-old PC and a modern laptop.

It’s far from it, though. Opening the five media-heavy sites in the Edge browser put a hefty load on the CPU, while a 2015 laptop would almost idle.

My verdict: This is a very usable experience. If I ran on a tight budget, a Windows 10 upgrade over, say the original Vista, along with cheap SSD, would give me another couple of years’ service for general computing.

My recommendations

Windows 10 on an older PC is a compromise, at best. The 2006-era Pentium D is a borderline lost cause for all but the most basic computing tasks. Even there, it’s almost useless, as the CPU seems to be under heavy loads constantly. The same goes with 2009-era Netbook: Underpowered even when they first came out, you’d better take meditation lessons or you’ll find yourself smashing it into the ground in frustration. Windows 10 loads and runs, but it’s pretty painful once you start actually doing anything.

However, my perspective comes from someone who drives SSD-equipped, multi-core, tier-1 GPU-equipped computers all day. If it doesn’t snap to in a second, I’m upset. For someone who’s actually used to waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the machine to respond to a command on these two old dogs, a Windows 10 upgrade would feel the same—and also give you a new, more secure OS.

The 2008-era X61, though, is another story: It’s actually very usable. For someone on a budget, Windows 10 on this laptop would be tolerable.

This may be why analysts are predicting that Windows 10 won’t goose PC sales: You can get by with a seven-year-old laptop and the new OS if you really have to. You give up a lot, though, from battery life to performance and overall weight.

Would you run Windows 10 on your old beater PC? Let us know in the comments.

One of founding fathers of hardcore tech reporting, Gordon has been covering PCs and components since 1998.