Forum Discussion
Windows 10 activation lost after hardware change – Troubleshooter didn’t detect my linked device
Hello,
I am having an issue with Windows 10 activation after replacing hardware in my PC.
Before the hardware change, my Windows 10 installation was properly activated, and Windows showed that the digital license was linked to my Microsoft account. The PC was signed in with that Microsoft account, and the device was also visible on my Microsoft account page.
After the hardware replacement, Windows automatically deactivated because it detected a hardware change.
I tried the Activation Troubleshooter and selected the option “I changed hardware on this device recently”, but the original device was not offered in the list, even though it had been linked to my Microsoft account before the change.
I also tried entering my original Windows 7 product key (the one on the sticker attached to the PC), which was used to activate Windows 7 before I upgraded to Windows 10 for free. However, Windows rejected the key with error code 0x803FA067.
This is not an OEM license, so as far as I understand it should be transferable after a hardware change.
Has anyone experienced this before?
What should I do next to restore activation? Is there a way to manually re-link the digital license to this hardware?
Thank you.
4 Replies
I already tried that, but when I click "See other devices linked to your Microsoft account" (translated from the Czech Windows UI; the wording may differ slightly in the English version), the only message I get is:
"We can't reactivate Windows on any of your devices." (again, translated from Czech, so the exact English wording may be different).
There is no list of devices, no option to select my previous PC, and no recovery wizard.
Unfortunately, I've already exhausted all the available options. The Activation Troubleshooter couldn't help, the phone support has been discontinued, and Microsoft chat support told me they can't handle activation issues like this and referred me to this forum.
As far as I can tell, I followed all the required steps correctly. My digital license was linked to my Microsoft account before the hardware change, yet there seems to be no way to reactivate Windows.
I'm now stuck in a catch-22: I can't upgrade to Windows 11 because my old hardware isn't supported, but I also can't replace the hardware because Windows activation no longer works. Is there any other way to resolve this?
Hi - I have the same issue. i purchased a digital license in 2019. I've swapped my motherboard and CPU but cannot activate Windows and have no evidence online that it was linked to my MS account.
I already checked that, but the problem is that the list is completely empty and there is no option to select my previous device or recover the license manually. What should I do in this case?
If your device does not appear in the list, click My device isn’t listed and follow the prompts to manually select your device or attempt to recover the license.
