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MontanaGrizzly's avatar
MontanaGrizzly
Iron Contributor
Oct 31, 2025

Win 10 to Win 11 with cpu/mb replacement

My desktop PC is a home built machine, a beast in its day but now about 6 years old, which is currently running Windows 10. I get the normal nags from Microsoft inviting me to upgrade to Windows 11 but the current system fails the “can your machine run Windows 11” test. I’m about to rebuild the PC by replacing the CPU, which means replacing the motherboard, but I’m retaining pretty much everything else. (Plan is to upgrade the GPU when prices calm down a bit.)

I guess this is going to qualify as a brand new PC as far as Microsoft is concerned, but just before I go out and buy a new Win 11 license I thought I’d ask just in case I have overlooked something that will allow me to retain my existing license and save a little money on the upgrade.

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