activation errors

Question

Good day all

I am trying to activate windows 11 on my new machine

Some background

Windows Version : Windows 10 Pro

I got a new motherboard capable of windows 11, my old machine does not support windows 11.

I then backed up all data

build up new machine and transferred Old HDD to new Machine.

i could not boot as drive was MBR new Machine required GPT

Placed Hard drive back into previous machine, to run the conversion from MBR to GPT. it failed.

downloaded Windows Creation Tool for 1indows 10. created boot disc

on boot in new machine installed fresh OS with creation tool.

on successful install all was running and windows 11 could now be upgraded,

here is possibly where I made first mistake. I did not activate windows 10 before upgrading to windows 11.

windows 11 installed and all is working, except windows won't activate.

I since rebuild my old machine and reinstalled windows and completed activation. and it worked.

image attached.

Transferred HDD to new machine boot up and windows will not activate again

used the trouble shooter

when selection " recently change hardware "

it shows my windows from old machine, but says it is unsupported . how do i resolve this.

Kind Regards

Answer 1

Sorry, I was not notified you had replied, this forum is a bit strange, please use the Comment section on my replies, so I get a notification.

Thank you for that information, if your Windows licence is based on a previous Windows 8 licence, that is causing the activation error, over a year ago Microsoft changed the licensing rules, after they made that change, it is not possible to activate Windows 10 or 11 on new hardware using a licence based on a previous free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8, the free upgrade dies with the previous motherboard.

Answer 2

windows license is from a purchased Windows 8, currently a digital license.

Answer 3

Where did you get your Windows Pro licence was that pre-installed on the old PC or did you purchase a full retail Windows licence from Microsoft or from a 3rd party retailer, and if so, do you have the product key?

Or is your Windows licence based on a previous Windows 7 or 8 licence?