Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, Flying Fox, Ryu Connor
DPete27 wrote:What's the right words?
"I had to replace the motherboard in my computer." (?)
southrncomfortjm wrote:At what point is it a new computer such that MS would be justified in saying I need to get a new license?
southrncomfortjm wrote:It's an interesting, if philosophical, point right? At what point is it a new computer such that MS would be justified in saying I need to get a new license?
southrncomfortjm wrote:It's an interesting, if philosophical, point right? At what point is it a new computer such that MS would be justified in saying I need to get a new license? If I replace the CPU/Mobo/RAM, the only thing left of the original computer that the original Windows 7 was installed on will be the OS SSD (a very old 256gb Samsung), CPU cooler, PSU, case, and optical drive. Still the same "computer" I use, but most of the guts are different.
deruberhanyok wrote:Seriously though, my understanding of it is that retail licenses can be transferred but OEM licenses cannot. Anything beyond that depends on whether or not Microsoft customer service is feeling nice when you call in.
Waco wrote:Microsoft doesn't care if it's OEM or retail if you're replacing components and continuing to use the "same system". If the old system is never going to run again, they don't care about transferring the license. I've been on the same OEM license on my desktop since it was a Core 2 Quad.
DPete27 wrote:southrncomfortjm wrote:At what point is it a new computer such that MS would be justified in saying I need to get a new license?
I seem to remember that there's actually a checklist of changes that MS uses to qualify a "new" computer. I'm sure someone can dig it up with some google-fu.
Something like; after 4 changes, it's "new". That could even mean 4 OS drive swaps though.
*maybe that was just a rumor and I'm totally off-base. I dunno.
TBH, first thing I'd do is just try entering your Win7 license when you install Win10 on the new machine. That's a pretty easy and harmless experiment.
Waco wrote:I've never had trouble reactivating after multiple changes as long as I had the original Win 7/8/8.1 key handy.