Is Dual Boot still allowed on a single PC with a digital license?

Question

I have a single PC that I dual boot into two Win10 installations: one for work, one for gaming. Both installations use the same retail digital license. I got hit by a Windows activation bug where a BIOS upgrade resulted in both installations losing activation because Windows thought I changed the hardware. I was able to recover activation for the work installation. But for the gaming installation, standard procedures don't work. All I get is:

... the digital license for this device has already been used to reactivate Windows.

So what's going on?

• First basic question: Is dual boot still allowed on one PC?
• Is this part of the "loophole" closing that was added at the end of 2023?
• The hardware IDs for both installations should be identical. Why does activation care?

I guess I could run the gaming installation unactivated. All the customizations that I want are already in place. But geez. Is there an activation solution to my setup?

Answer 1

Hello  CShack_，

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

Yes, dual booting is still allowed on a single PC with a digital license. The issue you are experiencing with activation may be due to the fact that the hardware IDs for both installations are not identical. Windows activation is tied to the hardware configuration of the device, and any changes to the hardware can trigger the need for reactivation.

In your case, the BIOS upgrade may have changed the hardware ID for the gaming installation, causing it to lose activation. You may need to contact Microsoft support to resolve the activation issue for the gaming installation. They can help you reactivate Windows using your digital license.

Volume Licensing Support Info. | Microsoft Learn

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any question or concern, please feel free to let us know.

Best Regards,

Haijian Shan

Answer 2

But how can the hardware IDs not be identical? Both installations are on the same PC. Unless... is the boot disk ID used in the hardware ID calculation? Each Windows installation is on a separate SSD. And I'm pretty sure the disk IDs are different. That is something I could experiment with.

Answer 3

Hello  CShack_，

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, the disk ID is used in the hardware ID calculation, so having separate SSDs for each Windows installation could be the reason why the hardware IDs are not identical. You could try experimenting with using the same SSD for both installations to see if that resolves the activation issue. However, please note that modifying hardware configurations can still trigger the need for reactivation, so it's important to keep that in mind.

Best Regards,

Haijian Shan