How to move licence from my old PC?

Алексей Ануфриев 0 Reputation points
2025-08-12T08:58:40.27+00:00

I have an old licence that was gradually upgraded from Windows 7 to 11 Pro. In devices list I can see that PC has this licence on my account, yet when I try to reactivate on new PC it is showing me some old weird licence suggestion that is not even linked to my account. I have only one MS account since like 2000. Support keeps ignoring me and auto resolves tickets for callback.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Licensing and activation
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  1. DaveM121 757.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-12T09:56:49.1266667+00:00

    Their support is very hard to contact, open the Get Help app in Windows and repeatedly ask the bot in that app to 'speak to an agent', you may eventually get a link to contact their support via live chat support.

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  1. DaveM121 757.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-12T09:32:58.98+00:00

    Over a year ago, Microsoft changed the Licensing rules, a Windows 10/11 licence based on a previous Windows 7 or 8 licence cannot be used to activate Windows 10 or 11 on new hardware and since that made that change, the previously upgraded licence dies with the previously activated motherboard, that change they made is causing the activation error you are seeing.


  2. Sftkey 0 Reputation points
    2025-08-12T10:49:19.0766667+00:00

    Microsoft stopped accepting Windows 7/8 keys for Windows 11 activation in September 2023. So if you upgraded to 11 before then, that license won’t work to activate Windows 11 on a different/new computer.

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