Forum Discussion
Windows 11 Pro not activated after a hardware change
Hello there! Hello, I am an Insider since 2015 and I have digital license for Windows linked to my account. Recently my hard drive died and I had to replace it with a new one. I preformed a fresh in...
As you've retail license, you may have the product key with you. Can you try manually inserting product key and see if it activates the OS.
- I do not have product key because my license is linked to my Microsoft account. I got this license joining Windows Insider program (before the official release of Windows 10) with generic key. Until now it was working great on Windows 11 and now after changing the SSD all of a sudden it stopped working.
- Firmware-embedded activation key
To determine if the computer has a firmware-embedded activation key, enter the following command at an elevated Windows PowerShell prompt:
PowerShell:
(Get-CimInstance -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey
If the device has a firmware-embedded activation key, it will be displayed in the output. If the output is blank, the device doesn't have a firmware embedded activation key.I used this PC for 2 years without any problem and the license should be linked to my account, not to my device. I have no idea if there were any changes from Microsoft's side regarding that.
