If you’ve recently buy a new Windows 10 device and you want to transfer your older device license to this newer one, this article is for you. We all know that Windows license is expensive and we’re allowed to use genuine license only. Hence the process of transferring the license becomes crucial, if you don’t want to buy new license just for another device.
See, transferring license involves deactivation of license from older device and then activation of license on newer device. First, you need to determine if you can transfer your Windows 10 license or not:
1. If you’ve bought the original license from Microsoft Store, yes you can transfer it multiple times, without any restriction.
2. If you performed free upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1/8/7, then you must have digital license and it is transferable. Note that retail license users who upgraded from Windows 8.1/8/7 to Windows 10, have only one time transfer ability for their Windows license.
3. If the license on older Windows 10 device follows KMS setup, this license is not transferable. In such a case, you need to buy new license for new device.
4. If your Windows 10 license came pre-installed on older device from the OEM, you can’t transfer it because that license will only work on that older device only. Hence, new device, new license you need.
Read: How to check type of Windows 10 license installed on your system.
Now let us see how you to transfer your Windows 10 license.
How To Transfer Windows 10 License To Another Computer
1. First of all make sure you’ve your license product key with you, in case you got the license from Microsoft Store. Refer this article to learn how to find your product key. For digital license users, make sure you’ve linked it to your Microsoft account.
2. On the older device, open administrative Command Prompt. Type slmgr -rearm and press Enter key. Close Command Prompt and reboot the machine. This should deactivate the license on older machine.
3. Now start newer machine, open administrative Command Prompt and type slmgr.vbs /ipk <25-character product key> and press Enter key. Replace the <25-character product key> with your genuine product key which is in XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX format.
4. Then run slui.exe 4 command in the same Command Prompt window. Then in the next screen, select your country and click Next. Now you’ll see screen resembling below shown image. You need to call on the telephone number displayed there and provide the installation ID on call.
5. Once your installation ID is verified you’ll get confirmation on activation. You can also use Microsoft chat support and provide the installation ID there.
In this way, you’ve transferred your Windows 10 license from older device to newer device.
That’s it!
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21 Comments
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read this post but I have a digital license for Win 10 Pro on my old PC and it’s linked to my MS account. So no ?
In other words on my new machine typing slmgr.vbs /ipk
Is not an option? Am I missing something? Can I obtain a product key from my old PC?
NOTE I have a digital OEM license for Win 10 Home on my new PC also linked to my MS account which I’m trying to up grade to Pro.
^^ First check, if license on old PC is Retail. If it is Retail, then only it can be transferred. In case if older license is not Retail, OEM license on new PC can be upgraded to Pro using Store: https://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-buy-windows-10-pro-upgrade-via-microsoft-store.
IF I HAVE A RETAI LICENSE HOW DO I TRANSFER IT TO A NEW PC, JUST CLEAN INSTALL WINDOWS ON NEW COMPUTER AND ENTER THE PRODUCT KEY?
^^ Yup!
I have a OEM:NONSLP license, can i re use this one on a new pc with new hardware?
^^ Unfortunately, OEM license doesn’t have transfer rights.
Hi Mr.Kapil, I have an OLD PC with windows 10 Pro Retail digital license linked to my Microsoft account (upgraded from windows 7 to Windows 10 Pro during free upgrade period).
I have now a new dell Laptop with Windows 10 Home OEM.
I want to transfer my old PC windows 10 pro to my New Dell Laptop. Possible?
If so, can I do the transfer process without loosing already installed apps in my new Dell Laptop.
Appreciate your expert advise and thanks in advance for your kind help.
Tomy
^^ As you’ve retail license, transfer is possible. First, use generic product key to upgrade to Pro edition: https://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-upgrade-windows-10-home-to-pro. Then use retail product key to activate Windows 10 Pro,
Dear Mr.Kapil.. that was so nice of you. Thanks a million. Tomy
^^ Glad to help Tomy 😊
Hello, Your information is very helpful. My problem is that I can not turn on my old Lenovo laptop because I dropped it and it broke off at the corner where the power cord attaches while the power cord was plugged in. We tried to get it turn on and were able to back up to the cloud. Once the charge on that battery cycle was done, it was dead.
I received a new HP laptop for Christmas that came with Win 396 installed and seemed to bring the files over from the cloud. I which I had read you article then. I worked from home some times and all was well. But something wasn’t looking right in my folders. My work files were getting mixed up with my personal files so I asked for a work laptop to use during the stay at home order. The strange part is that 396 is gone and so are most my files that were transfered from Win10 disappeared from my new HP laptop. I wanted to transfer them back to the new laptop but do not have access to the old laptop any more.
Any suggestions?
Thank you so much.
^^ What is Win 396? Can you provide details. As your old laptop is dead, you can try recovering your data from the HDD/SSD. If that doesn’t helps, you might need to deploy third-party data recovery services.
Can i clone license window from hdd to ssd without losing license
^^ Can you please elaborate in steps?
Hi.. Mr.Kapil.. Good Day… Just to make the steps clearer… I have an Old Desktop PC running Windows 10 Pro, Retail DIGITAL LICENSE LINKED TO MY MICROSOFT ACCOUNT. This PC is now dying. I would like to transfer windows 10 pro to my newly purchased Dell Laptop which has windows 10 Home (OEM also linked to my Microsoft account).
My issue is : I do not know the Product key of the Old PC windows 10 pro. I will follow the following steps
1.Rearm windows 10 pro license from Old PC (as mentioned in your article)
2.In my New Laptop, Run an upgrade process to upgrade from Windows 10 Home (OEM) to Windows 10 Pro.
3.Ready to transfer old pc windows 10 pro license to new laptop. Kindly note that I DO NOT KNOW THE PRODUCT KEY OF THE OLD PC WINDOWS 10 PRO (it was upgraded from Windows 7 pro To Windows 10 Pro during free upgrade and shows it is Retail)
4.How do I activate my New Laptop with Digital License from the old pc?. I am little confused with this step. And Telephone activation might not be possible.
Appreciate if you can help me. Thanking you in advance for your kind help.
Warm Regards, Tomy
^^ You can retrieve the Windows 7 key using this guide: https://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-find-product-key-for-windows-operating-system. If you can’t search web for tools to identify. As you’ve free upgrade on retail license, you’re eligible for only time transfer.
If I have a digital license tied to Microsoft account without a product key, what should I do? Do I just have to install the OS on the new computer, ignore the initial product key prompt, head to settings, activation, troubleshoot?
I have a retail licence on a laptop that i can no longer access however wanting to cancel it on the old laptop so i can install it on a new laptop. Is there any way of transferring this licence? Thanks,
^^ You may try activating it on a new laptop and it might be automatically removed on older laptop. Just try and see if it works.
Here’s my situation: The power supply on my old Windows PC failed. That PC (a Lenovo desktop) came with Windows 7 Home Premium preinstalled, but it was upgraded to Windows 10 Home Premium for free a few years back. My brother gave me his old Dell desktop PC, which is year newer than my Lenovo and has better hardware; the Dell came with Windows 7 Home Premium installed, but it has not been upgraded to Windows 10 Home. I have the Windows 7 product keys for both PCs. Since the Lenovo is dead, there is no way for me to make/copy a disk image of the system drive to a USB drive. Is there a way to move the Lenovo system drive over to the Dell PC to use as a system drive there without purchasing a new Windows license or paying for expensive proprietary software? I am willing to revert to using Windows 7 for now if necessary.
^^ Usually PCs comes with Windows preinstalled and activated have OEM license, which is tied to motherboard. In that case, if PC is dead, you can’t transfer license.
But if you’ve retail license, you can remove hard drive from Lenovo PC and add it in Dell PC, assuming the hard drive is not dead 😇