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I have an original Windows 7 Ultimate Retail licence which was legitimately upgraded through Microsoft's free upgrade offer to Windows 10 Pro, and later Windows 11 Pro. This installation was previously activated, and Microsoft Support has previously helped me reactivate it after a motherboard change. I still have the original Retail product key and historical ShowKeyPlus evidence showing Windows 10 Pro and the original Windows 7 Ultimate Retail key. After a later hardware change, the digital-licence troubleshooter no longer finds an eligible licence, the original key is rejected, and automated activation fails. I need help recovering the existing Pro digital licence after the hardware change.
If your Windows licence is based on a previous Windows 7 licence that is causing the activation errors.
A while ago Microsoft changed the licensing rules, after they made that change it is no longer possible to activate Windows 10 or 11 using a licence based on a free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8, they indicate the free upgrade licence dies with the original motherboard.
