Windows License Deactivates after BIOS or Hardware Upgrade
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GlassGR
nice move 🙂
lets analyze the simple strategy behind this.
one have upgraded for free and for ever his windows 7 machine to windows 10 !
after all these years the damn machines still works !
lets roll out a new last windows version ,we will call it 11!!
by the way it wont be compatible with 2-3 years old cpus ! nice one !
computer owners don't seem to be upgrading to w11 ,lets inform them w10 reaches end of life very soon !
damn that didn't work either.
you know what lets deactivate their free license (the forever ones) and send them to their IT support .
your IT -> you have to buy a new computer with w11 preinstalled 🙂
anticupidon
Had this happened to me last week, restored a VM from a backup and had to cough up a new license.
moo100times
I always thought they were tied to motherboard for OEM/grey market license keys. Replacing 2600k motherboard gave same thing, but at the time upgrading a version of windows generated a new legit key for motherboard so circumvented it that way.
Seems they may have broadened the scope of the restrictions. Still, 15 USD vs couple of hundred still makes OEM key generally better value still.
Also I have upgraded bios without hardware upgrade and no issues, but still on win10
rl66
Another reason to go linux... 😛
More seriously it happen to me too, just contact them and it is solved in a minute or so.
Conan The Barbarian
Well damn that's kinda shady. Thankfully there's nothing left to do with my system until I upgrade to AM5.
mrrulez911
I've had something similar when I tried to reinstall one of my old systems. It's impossible to install it through my own created W11 22h2 stick but when I installed a old version and upgrade it through windows update, it worked. But the first option mentioned that the key wasn't correct for my installation. It was a w10 oem key. So, that it's now finally in the news I'm glad and hopefully it will be fixed some other way than buying a new (oem) license.
For my current system I'm waiting with updating the bios, cause I don't wanna buy another oem license for my 6 months old system.
SnakeHaveYou
That happened to me once, i had a Gigabyte LGA2011 MB, updated to a beta BIOS and my Windows 7 Pro x64 licence expired because of that, it was the 2nd MB with that same licence. I had to call Microsoft and they fixed it for me.
This is the third MB i have with that same licence, it's an ASUS LGA1200, now updated to Windows 11 Pro x64 23H2.
Netherwind
Hope they fix it soon, I'm planning to do a platform update in a month or so.
H83
A few months ago i`ve upgrade my system and i was able to use to my W7 key to activate Windows without any issue.
But i created a bootable pen with an W10 instalation, don`t know if that makes a difference in this case.
k3lt
I had legit license, updated BIOS and exactly this happened to me. My license got deactivated.
Used *cough* unofficial *cough method to reactivate it, cba dealing with their support over a phone. (no other contact method was available)
fantaskarsef
This chite needs to die.
Jujubee
I'm one of those users who upgraded to Windows 10 using Windows 7 license. The last bios update I performed was in late August this year. Windows still remains active.
I suspect the BIOS updates could be breaking MS Security protocols. Just a thought....
pimp_gimp
What I don't get is why they don't just do away with all this "activation" stuff. Back in the day it was introduced as a way to combat piracy. As we have learned over the years, that didn't do or solve anything. There are even keygens and other things that can circumvent or mimic MS's activation servers. Microsoft knows this and even their "free" upgrade path from previous Windows versions doesn't even care if you're pirated or not. Well, initially it didn't, and I'm not sure if that's the case anymore. There will always be ways around the activation process.
tsunami231
well i guess i wont be using one my win 7 keys to get win 11 on my new system i build,
i know my cousin system he bought pre built on multiple occasions, has been say it not active, and he had to go loops to get reactivate
Mufflore
Buying a new key puts us in a worse situation though.
If the wrong component in the system is upgraded yet another new key is required, ad nauseum.
The keys being deactivated from older full licences normally allow continual full system upgrades.
redrumy3
I had this happen to me when I just updated my bios on my Z790 Taichi, a few days after I had the watermark saying to activate windows. I just went and did support and they helped me fix it.
reslore
I've been using the same Windows 10 key for years now. Changed the motherboard, CPU, graphics card, storage drive, with no issues. Whenever I changed the MOBO and tried to activate it for the first time I had to click a couple buttons saying it was a hardware upgrade and that was it. Not saying it isn't an issue, but it just hasn't been one for me.
Passus
Happened to me yesterday
Mufflore
Its a Windows 11 problem as far as I can tell.
Undying
When did this start? I updated bios on my B650 board not long ago and windows 11 pro i actually got here at Guru3D as a gift is still activated.
