If you are going to change computers soon, it is very likely that you want to continue using the Windows 10 license that you purchased for your current computer. We have prepared this article, in which we explain step by step, the process you need to follow to use your Windows 10 license on another computer. Read on if you want to learn how you can switch PCs, without losing your Windows 10 key along the way.
1. Is your Windows 10 license retail or OEM?
The first thing you need to do before continuing with this guide is to know if your Windows 10 license is eetail or OEM .
Windows 10 retail licenses are those that we can acquire in most stores. These are licenses that are sold for a fairly high price, and may even exceed € 100 in some versions of the operating system.
The main characteristic of these licenses is how they are linked to your Microsoft account, so you can use them on different computers without any problems. That said, you should keep in mind that you can only use it on one computer at a time.
On the other hand, we have Windows 10 OEM licenses. These are the licenses that come in pre-assembled equipment, which we can find in stores such as MediaMarkt and El Corte Inglés, among others. Its main characteristic is that they are linked to the hardware of the equipment, so they cannot be used by different computers.
Windows 10 OEM licenses can also be found in some stores on the Internet as with a much lower price than retail licenses. Generally these licenses are priced from € 10 to € 15 and even lower
You can find out what type your Windows 10 license is, using the Windows 10 command window and the “ slmgr -dli ” command .
If your Windows 10 license is retail type, you can continue with this tutorial. On the other hand, if it is an OEM license, you will need to buy a new one for your new computer.
2. Deactivate your Windows 10 retail license from your current PC
The next step I need to take is to deactivate your Windows 10 retail license from your current PC . This is a step that you must carry out, since you cannot have the same license activated on two computers at the same time.
Before doing so, you must write down your Windows 10 license, you can help the ProductKey program to find out.
To deactivate Windows 10 from our current computer, we will again use the CMD command window. This time we will have to use the command " slmgr / upk ", which is responsible for deactivating the operating system license.
After entering the above command, a window should appear with the message "The product has been uninstalled successfully."
After that use the command " slmgr / cpky " to remove your license from the Registry, in this way you will avoid possible problems.
3. Activate Windows 10 on your new computer
If you have come this far, you will already have your Windows 10 license deactivated on the computer that you have been using until now. This means that your license is ready to be activated on the new computer without problems.
There are several ways to carry out this process, although the easiest is to use the Windows 10 configuration tool. You can access this tool using the gear-shaped icon, which you will find within the operating system's start menu.
Once you are inside the Windows 10 configuration tool, you must go to the " Update and Security " section, and enter " Activation ". There you will find the option to enter your license key.
It's that simple to deactivate Windows 10 from one computer to activate it on another, we hope it will be very useful for you.