Extract your key from Microsoft Windows or Office That said, major upgrades like swapping out your motherboard are almost certainly guaranteed to require a call to Microsoft for activation. Otherwise, you might be putting in a call to Microsoft’s robo-activation line.

It would be better, for example, to do the HDD to SSD swap first, reinstall Windows 10, and once it’s activated take care of the other component upgrades. This is a rare issue, but it’s something to keep in mind if you are planning on swapping out your hard drive or SSD and hope to do some other upgrades at the same time. If you change too many components at once and then try to reinstall Windows 10 you may run into problems. The one thing to keep in mind is that your digital entitlement is based around your system configuration. Instead, after the reinstall Windows will activate seamlessly in the background within a few hours (or at worst a few days). If you ever need to do a fresh install from a USB drive, for example, you will not have to activate your PC. The good thing about this system is there’s no product key to lose. If your PC has a digital entitlement, Microsoft keeps a record of your right to run Windows 10 on its servers.

If, however, you obtained Windows 10 by buying a new PC, buying a Windows 10 installation DVD, or buying a digital copy of Windows 10 from a retailer that’s not the Windows Store then you have a traditional product key, not a digital entitlement.

Windows 10 pro product key finder