Retail Windows 11 Home deactived itself on my new CPU/motherboard.

Dave3000 · May 2, 2025

I recently purchased a new motherboard and CPU for a secondary PC to replace my old pre-built secondary PC (I dislike most things about that system) and used a spare unused retail copy of Windows 10 Home I had laying around and installed Windows 11 Home on my new secondary PC. On the 2nd day I used my new system, Windows 11 Home deactivated itself and when I enter they key in the troubleshooting section it says that it cannot be activated because this key is being used by another device. About 5 days ago I returned a defective motherboard to the store for a refund and that motherboard was used with my retail copy key of Windows 10 Home. I re-entered the same key during the installation on my new motherboard and CPU but the activation didn't last for more than 2 days, then I get a pop-up saying that Windows 11 is not activated. This is not the first time this has happened either. This happened before with my main system that had my retail copy of Windows 10 Pro key (installed as Windows 11 Pro) and reinstalling Windows 11 Pro and re-entering my Windows 10 Pro activation key solved that issue on that system, but on this system I did enter the Windows 10 Home activation key when Windows 11 setup prompted for my activation key. Is this because the motherboard I returned to the store possibly was actually put back on the shelf and someone bought it, noticed it was open-boxed, got a good deal on it, and tested to see if a Windows 11 Home (from my Windows 10 Home key) was tied to the motherboard, and now there is a conflict with my new motherboard and that motherboard I returned, resulting in the deactivation of retail Windows 11 Home (from my retail Windows 10 Home key) on my new motherboard? Was it because I was using a Windows 10 Home key to activate Windows 11 Home, and maybe Microsoft took away capability of Windows 10 keys to activate Windows 11 (They did this with Windows 7 to 8.1 keys to activate Windows 10 last year from what I understand). Now, those Windows 11 Pro OEM keys that are less than $30 that I find digital stores selling online, If I purchase one, after I enter the activation key during the setup of the operating system, would it be tied to the motherboard for good and would never have an issue with the operating system deactivating itself and it would never prompt me again for an activation key if I ever decided to reinstall that copy of Windows 11 Pro OEM that I activated the first time I installed the operating system? This is how it is on a pre-built system I have that came with Windows 11 Pro (OEM license), it does not ask for an activation key when I perform a clean reinstall of the operating system on that specific system, and activates no problem, and I'm just wondering if those cheap OEM keys work the same way?

JackMDS · May 2, 2025

Activation of Win 11 is actualy done on Microsoft special site. the information of the activation is actualy taken form recording info from the Motherboard of the computer.

Once you change Motherboard there is No more Activation of the computer.

If you put new motherboard you two options.

1. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...e-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665

2. If this does not work and you bought new Lic on line and it does not work it is because many of these Lic. are fake.

WilliamM2 · Saturday at 12:12 AM

A it's really a retail version should re-activate with a completely new computer. Do they still de telephone activations?

mikeymikec · Saturday at 2:57 AM

WilliamM2 said:
A it's really a retail version should re-activate with a completely new computer. Do they still de telephone activations?

AFAIK there's no facility in Win10/11 to handle a telephone activation. XP/Vista/7 at least used to have an option for a telephone activation along with ~9 boxes to type the numbers in.

---

MS is still offering Win10 to Win11 activations, I know this as a customer with a "supported" PC held off on the upgrade until I did it on their computer the other day.

I'm having difficulty reading the OP's wall of text at this time of morning, but just because a Windows install deactivates, I would expect re-entering the retail (as long as it truly is a retail key) key should reactivate it.

WilliamM2 · Saturday at 9:25 AM

My employer had a Microsoft action Pack account, until they folded in '23.
They would give 10 windows10/11 Retail keys w/subscription. When 11 came out, the keys were the same keys they gave us for Win 10. So I'm sure a win 10 key will work, without even installing 10 first.

JackMDS · Saturday at 12:35 PM

I

WilliamM2 said:
My employer had a Microsoft action Pack account, until they folded in '23.
They would give 10 windows10/11 Retail keys w/subscription. When 11 came out, the keys were the same keys they gave us for Win 10. So I'm sure a win 10 key will work, without even installing 10 first.

I have about 20 keys that never used and they eo not work any more.

In the last year since 24H2 came in, MS de-functioned huge amount of previous keys that do not work any more even keys of previous full retail.

So, it all kind of an up-hazard and if it does not work after all the experiments that OP already tried, the only solution is buy a real new key.

Dave3000 · Saturday at 1:20 PM

JackMDS said:
I

I have about 20 keys that never used and they eo not work any more.

In the last year since 24H2 came in, MS de-functioned huge amount of previous keys that do not work any more even keys of previous full retail.

So, it all kind of an up-hazard and if it does not work after all the experiments that OP already tried, the only solution is buy a real new key.

I never had this issue with Windows 10, even when I went back to Windows 10 after my Windows 11 installation deactivated itself. So I wonder if it's safer if I want to actually use Windows 11, to activate it with an actual new Windows 11 key and not a new Windows 10 key and activate Windows 11 with it.

WilliamM2 · Saturday at 2:02 PM

JackMDS said:
I

I have about 20 keys that never used and they eo not work any more.

In the last year since 24H2 came in, MS de-functioned huge amount of previous keys that do not work any more even keys of previous full retail.

So, it all kind of an up-hazard and if it does not work after all the experiments that OP already tried, the only solution is buy a real new key.

Odd. My Windows 10 keys still work. Windows 7 and 8 no longer work.
And upgrading to 11 is still free, so...not sure what's going on with your unused keys. Are they direct from MS?

bba-tcg · Saturday at 4:10 PM

mikeymikec said:
AFAIK there's no facility in Win10/11 to handle a telephone activation. XP/Vista/7 at least used to have an option for a telephone activation along with ~9 boxes to type the numbers in.

---

MS is still offering Win10 to Win11 activations, I know this as a customer with a "supported" PC held off on the upgrade until I did it on their computer the other day.

I'm having difficulty reading the OP's wall of text at this time of morning, but just because a Windows install deactivates, I would expect re-entering the retail (as long as it truly is a retail key) key should reactivate it.

There is phone activation - I've used it multiple times. When you have an unactivated copy of 10/11, it's one of the options under troubleshooting activation problems. A long code is generated for you to read to AI. I have the US phone number in my call logs somewhere. As soon as I get to the point that I can get it to text me the activation info, I hang up

mikeymikec · Saturday at 4:42 PM

bba-tcg said:
There is phone activation - I've used it multiple times. When you have an unactivated copy of 10/11, it's one of the options under troubleshooting activation problems. A long code is generated for you to read to AI. I have the US phone number in my call logs somewhere. As soon as I get to the point that I can get it to text me the activation info, I hang up

I stand corrected, I've barely looked at those troubleshooters after a few experiences that suggested they were utterly useless

bba-tcg · Saturday at 5:22 PM

mikeymikec said:
I stand corrected, I've barely looked at those troubleshooters after a few experiences that suggested they were utterly useless

It's one of the few troubleshooters that I've had work for me. It's located on the activation page and is useful even when changing a motherboard with the activation tied to an MS account.

When a motherboard change is made that isn't the result of motherboard failure, I always make sure that the activation page shows that the copy of Windows has a digital license tied to a MS account. After changing the board, I can tell the troubleshooter that I've changed the hardware and it'll usually let me log in the MS account and pick the device I've changed and reactivate it. This works even with OEM keys.

Dave3000 · Saturday at 10:12 PM

Does this work only with an online account or can this be done through a local account?

bba-tcg · Saturday at 11:06 PM

Dave3000 said:
Does this work only with an online account or can this be done through a local account?

It has to be linked to an online MS account. I only do this, personally, when I'm going to change a motherboard. Afterwards, I log out of that account and it reverts to just having a digital license.

A lot of my customers already have theirs linked to their online account and if they do, and I have to make a major change to their hardware, it'll usually activate and still be linked when I'm done.

You should be able to activate by phone going by the information provided in the first post of this thread. The AI will ask how many machines this copy of Windows is installed on and the correct answer, of course, is one.

Dave3000 · Saturday at 11:50 PM

bba-tcg said:
It has to be linked to an online MS account. I only do this, personally, when I'm going to change a motherboard. Afterwards, I log out of that account and it reverts to just having a digital license.

A lot of my customers already have theirs linked to their online account and if they do, and I have to make a major change to their hardware, it'll usually activate and still be linked when I'm done.

You should be able to activate by phone going by the information provided in the first post of this thread. The AI will ask how many machines this copy of Windows is installed on and the correct answer, of course, is one.

I just done activating Windows 11 over the phone but it was a pain in the butt. Hopefully, Windows 11 doesn't decided to deactivate on me again out of the blue for this current installation.

mikeymikec · Sunday at 2:14 AM

I've never linked any licences I've bought to an MS account and they activate automatically after the first activation. @bba-tcg are you suggesting that the troubleshooter process has to be linked to an MS account or are you just saying how you're used to doing things?

bba-tcg · Sunday at 10:07 AM

mikeymikec said:
I've never linked any licences I've bought to an MS account and they activate automatically after the first activation. @bba-tcg are you suggesting that the troubleshooter process has to be linked to an MS account or are you just saying how you're used to doing things?

You don't have to have an MS account in order to activate Windows on a PC. If you re-install the same edition of Windows on the same PC, it will reactivate without issue (normally) and automatically, and you still don't need an MS account. By edition, I mean Home or Pro.

There's been a thread recently in one of these forums about selling motherboards and Windows being able to be activated without a key by the purchaser.

What I said was, if you change the motherboard (thereby making it a de facto new PC) and have previously linked the PC to an MS account, you can reactivate the same license on the new motherboard without having to provide a new key. This is where the troubleshooter comes into play. By experience, I've found that you don't want to do this again for a few days (in case you decide you're not satisfied with the new board and want to change boards again) because there is a limit to MS' leniency.

Edit: Please note that troubleshooter is also useful for other activation issues as well. But, one of the options presented is "I've recently changed the hardware". If you have linked the PC to your account and click this link, it will normally take you to a login for your account, and once logged in, let you pick the PC that you changed the motherboard on.

Dave3000 · Tuesday at 1:51 PM

Would an OEM copy of Windows 11 Pro only need to be activated once on the system it's going to be used on and then never again prompt me for an activation key if I ever reinstall Windows 11 Pro on that same system? This is the way it worked on my PowerSpec PC. Can an installed legal OEM Windows 11 Pro deactivate itself at some random time even if the motherboard in the system has not been changed? I'm not talking prebuilts that come with Windows, I'm talking about building a PC and buying a separate OEM copy of Windows where a store has a deal that if you buy a motherboard from them you can also buy an OEM copy of Windows from them for a little cheaper than a retail copy of Windows.

GodisanAtheist · Tuesday at 1:57 PM

Something something Github MS Windows Activation Something Something

bba-tcg · Tuesday at 3:05 PM

Dave3000 said:
Would an OEM copy of Windows 11 Pro only need to be activated once on the system it's going to be used on and then never again prompt me for an activation key if I ever reinstall Windows 11 Pro on that same system? This is the way it worked on my PowerSpec PC. Can an installed legal OEM Windows 11 Pro deactivate itself at some random time even if the motherboard in the system has not been changed? I'm not talking prebuilts that come with Windows, I'm talking about building a PC and buying a separate OEM copy of Windows where a store has a deal that if you buy a motherboard from them you can also buy an OEM copy of Windows from them for a little cheaper than a retail copy of Windows.

Yes, it should just need the key entered the first time you activate and then it should do it automatically going forward. No, it should not deactivate under the circumstances you describe.

The scenario I described will even let you reactivate an OEM version after a motherboard change. Usually. Just don't do it too many times in quick succession.

Retail Windows 11 Home deactived itself on my new CPU/motherboard.

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