Forum Discussion
Transfer Windows 10 Pro upgraded license
In the distant past I bought a laptop pre-installed with Windows 10 Home. In early January 2020 I upgraded the installation to Windows 10 Pro by purchasing the license through the MS Store on the machine.
I was hoping to upgrade the laptop to Windows 11 but it's not able to install that OS for a number of reasons, so I am looking to move the license to some hardware that will support Windows 11.
I followed steps for retrieving product keys, removing product keys from the old latptop and adding the key to the new hardware (which is freshly installed with Windows 10 Pro) but activation fails on the hardware.
The new hardware reports that it cannot activate as I have Pro installed but only a digital license for Home was found.
Despite having seemingly removed all traces of the old laptop from my microsoft account and having removed all installed product keys from the device, if I start the laptop up again it will eventually successfully activate with a Windows 10 Pro digital license attached to my account. So I am guessing somehow the laptop is still associated with the Pro license (serial number?).
Running "slmgr /dli" on the laptop shows the key as RETAIL (not OEM) so I am assuming what I am trying to do is valid?
Is there anything else I can try or is calling the activation line the only way forward?
7 Replies
Where did you buy or get the key?
The fact that your old laptop still activates with Pro is a clue. It suggests the license is still "attached" to that hardware in the activation server's records, or the computer has stored the key, so it automatically activates after a period of time.
Seems that way, appears to be no way to do anything about it now though.
Thanks for the reply. I did remove the old device from my account but it didn't help. Guess I will try the activation line!
Would be useful if you could manage digital licenses through the MS account.
Yes the activation line would be a good and quick option. I'm agree that managing digital licenses through the MS accounts would be very useful. Everything is moving fast so hopefully, maybe in the near future, we can see some progress on that matter.
Regards
For what it's worth I've still not managed to get the key moved - I've tried deleting the old device again but it stubbornly refuses to move. I also tried following the changed hardware route in the troubleshooter and that gave me a list of devices to choose from, but the laptop was shown as having a version of Windows 10 which doesn't support the feature...
I've tried to run slui 4 etc to get a support number to phone but that doesn't work either. When I was first playing with this I was also eventually given an option for a callback from MS support but that option seems to have vanished now so seems I am well and truly stuck!
All I want to do is raise a support ticket with MS and have someone look at this in due course - but seems there is no option.
I'll definitely be more cautious buying any copies of Windows in future!
Hello robwt191!
I understand your old laptop is still linked to the digital license, which is why the activation works there. Since your license is retail, you should be able to transfer it, but sometimes the system doesn't fully unlink the old device. You’ve already tried removing the key, but there might still be a tie to your Microsoft account or some leftover data.
One thing you can try is to go to your Microsoft account and remove the old device under "Devices" to make sure it's fully unlinked.
If that doesn't work, calling the activation line is a good option. They can help manually activate the license on the new hardware.
Hope it helps!
