Changed hardware, now shows as two PCs show in My Devices, can't activate Windows on device

Question

Changed hardware, now shows as two PCs show in My Devices, can't activate Windows on device

Martin Bell 0

Activated Windows on new PC, had issues with motherboard and CPU so got them replaced and put in replacements. Now PC isn't activated, and My Devices is showing two of the same PC. Troubleshooter returns an error "Windows reported that the hardware of your device has changed. Error code: 0xC004F211"

ron mavin 0 Reputation points

2026-08-11T22:19:30.3+00:00

the product key is not for prebuilt system.. motherboard failed and now it upgraded to windows 11 but will not activate. because of the hardware change.. my accout shows the old pc and the new build. cant use the key on two machines. what do i do to correct this
Neil D 34,350 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-12T14:44:32.1133333+00:00

What happens when you run the activation troubleshooter and select I changed hardware does it show another device installation to transfer the licence from?

If not and you have the purchase showing in purchase history of the account you are using to sign-in to windows then you will need to contact Microsoft support directly.

Use the Get Help app in windows and search the phrase billing then select Contact Support at the bottom of the window. There will be a couple more filters to select then you should see chat with an agent in your browser.

2 answers

Your answer

ron mavin 0 Reputation points

2026-08-11T22:19:30.3+00:00

the product key is not for prebuilt system.. motherboard failed and now it upgraded to windows 11 but will not activate. because of the hardware change.. my accout shows the old pc and the new build. cant use the key on two machines. what do i do to correct this
Neil D 34,350 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-12T14:44:32.1133333+00:00

What happens when you run the activation troubleshooter and select I changed hardware does it show another device installation to transfer the licence from?

If not and you have the purchase showing in purchase history of the account you are using to sign-in to windows then you will need to contact Microsoft support directly.

Use the Get Help app in windows and search the phrase billing then select Contact Support at the bottom of the window. There will be a couple more filters to select then you should see chat with an agent in your browser.

Answer 1

Igor Leyko 112.4K Independent Advisor

Please re-enter your product key.

0 comments

Answer 2

Igor Leyko 112.4K Independent Advisor

How did you obtain Windows license and what is its exact name? Whas it preinstalled by hardware manufacturer? Preinstalled system cannot be transferred to another hardware.

See https://support.microsoft.com/ru-ru/windows/activation/get-help-with-windows-activation-errors for details.

Martin Bell 0 Reputation points

2026-07-22T22:30:44.2933333+00:00

It was not preinstalled, we built the pc and purchased a copy from microsoft's website, put it on a thumb drive and installed to the new pc to which it activated. after changing the motherboard and cpu it no longer was an active copy
Martin Bell 0 Reputation points

2026-07-22T22:31:47.18+00:00

It was not preinstalled, we built the pc and purchased a copy from microsoft's website, put it on a thumb drive and installed to the new pc to which it activated. after changing the motherboard and cpu it no longer was an active copy