If I bought a windows 11/10 key use it on a pc then go to a different pc and use it on that would it work?
Posted by usernameandpassport@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 8 comments
Yeah
Justsomedudeonthenet@reddit
It might work. But legally it would be no different than pirating it on the second PC, since you don't have valid licensing for two computers. And a lot of the places you'll find really cheap windows keys are stolen or from volume licenses and essentially piracy to begin with.
Paying for pirated software is the worst of both worlds, so I don't understand why anyone would do that.
Elitefuture@reddit
Contact MS support and they enable it for you.
Sometimes they even link a github repo of how to activate windows if it isn't working properly... MS doesn't care about us normal consumers. They want the money from big companies that have to buy a ton of these licenses. They also want us on their platform to maintain their market lead.
mildlyfrostbitten@reddit
this is just ms shill bs.
psimwork@reddit
Assuming it's a legit license, the answer is either "probably" or "yes."
Legit license means that you're paying $90+. An OEM copy, despite appearing that it won't, CAN migrate from one machine to another, with a limited amount of re-activations.
A retail license can migrate machines without limit.
HOWEVER, whichever variant you go with, you can only have one activated machine per license. With a retail license, for example, you can't activate like 10 machines with it (or maybe you CAN, but eventually windows will dial home and de-activate 9 of them).
Bubbly-Currency5064@reddit
Regarding OEM licenses from prebuilt machines - I recently was able to migrate the license from an old Dell laptop to my son's new gaming PC he built from scratch. I just made sure the laptop appeared in my list of activated devices under my windows account, and then when I logged on to his PC I was able to tell the PC to use that license.
This is the MS support article I used - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reactivating-windows-after-a-hardware-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665
PewterButters@reddit
If it doesn't work and says it's already used, you can usually call Microsoft and give them the key and they'll reset it so you can use on the new PC. I've done this in the past when I wanted to reuse an older key I had.
Myzhi1@reddit
OEM or Retail key?
With OEM, can reuse key with usually with different.
Retail, you can deactivate key on old PC and reuse on new.
Specialist_Angle_548@reddit
Key is tied to your motherboard that’s why