Microsoft has historically been kind about such situations, however you can usually call to reactivate the license after replacing a fried mobo. If you build a system but roll a new one four years later, you can’t transfer the license to the new machine.Īlso, if the hardware used to identify your system fails-namely, the motherboard-Microsoft’s registration servers won’t recognize your license as valid after you replace the dead part. In exchange for a lower price, you get to use the license key on only one PC, period.

The process for activating a Windows 10 OEM license is the same as for a retail license.