transfer windows 10/11 pro license to new laptop

Anonymous
2025-02-18T22:37:58+00:00

Hi,

I recently bought a new laptop and want to use the windows 10/11 pro license that I bought from microsoft website.

Currently the license is activate on my other laptop, and I tried to check if I could transfer the license to the new laptop, but did not find an option in the windows settings app.

I do not have the product key, because I bought it from microsoft website, which is a digital license.

Could someone please give me some instructions on how to transfer the license over to the new laptop?

Thank you all for the help!!!!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Licensing and activation

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EmilyS_726 34,010 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2025-02-18T23:57:19+00:00

Hello,

It sounds like you have the Pro upgrade license, not the full Pro license. (If it is full Pro license, it is named either Windows 10 Pro, or Windows 11 Pro, not Windows 10/11 Pro).

Because it is upgrade license, you won't have the key. It is digital only.

To use it on your new laptop, you need to make sure home edition is already installed and activated first.

Then do the following:

You can go to Settings > System > Activation > Change product key

Disconnect internet, and disable any third party antivirus, key in the generic key instead: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

That should get you to Pro. Once restarted, you can connect back to the internet, sign into your Microsoft account. Continue with the following:

go to Settings > System > Activation, run the troubleshooter, choose the hardware change option. When it asks you where it is installed on right now, you should choose the old device name. Then click on Activate button. And on the next screen when it asks you where to transfer it to, choose your new device name. See if that does the trick.

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  1. EmilyS_726 34,010 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-02-19T03:31:27+00:00

    Glad you managed to transfer the license.

    The old laptop's Pro edition would be eventually deactivated and you would get watermark on desktop indicating that it is not activated.

    But the old device should still have onboard OEM home license I assume. You would have to do a clean install in order to use that onboard home license to install Home and activate Home edition.

    Make sure you backup your personal files first.

    To perform a clean installation of Windows 10 using the Windows Media Creation Tool.

    The following steps should be done on a working Windows computer: Download the Windows Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's official website. https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10 Run the tool and select "Create installation media for another PC." Choose your language, edition, and architecture (32 or 64-bit) and select "Next." Choose "USB flash drive" as the media to use for the installation and select "Next." Connect a USB flash drive with at least 8 GB of free space to your computer. Select the USB flash drive you want to use, and then select "Next." The tool will then download the required files and create the installation media.

    =====================================================

    Now these steps will  be done on your problematic computer: Go to the computer's BIOS boot menu to have it boot from the USB drive. Follow the on-screen instructions to install Windows 10, making sure to choose "Custom install" and select the option to delete all existing partitions. Once the installation is complete, you'll have a clean installation of Windows 10 on your computer.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-02-19T02:31:14+00:00

    What would happend to my old laptop? In terms of the license change?

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-02-19T02:21:31+00:00

    I think I solved the issue, by re-opening the troubleshooter tool a few times.

    Thank you so much for your help!!!!

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-02-19T02:15:27+00:00

    it says the edition does not match.

    do i need to update the old laptop to windows 11 editions?

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