Windows 10: Denial to re-activate retail widows 10 pro on pc rebuild

Need some clarification on this issue, please.I have a PC that was running Windows 10 Pro for years, I wanted to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro before October 14, so I bought a new Motherboard, CPU and Memory to prepare for the upgrade. I installed my SSD with Windows 10 Pro on it and PC booted up with no problem with window 10 pro as it should have. Then the problem started. I couldn't reactivate Windows 10 Pro even though I still had the original Windows 10 pro flash drive, the original product activation key and the original box it came in when I purchased it years ago. I called support and g

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How to activate Win 10 Home retail that was upgraded to Win 10/11 Pro on new PC

I built a new PC and would like to transfer my retail licensing from my old PC to my new one.

Timeline:

• Old Custom PC was built.
  
• Windows 10 Home edition was purchased from Microsoft Store 10/2020 for $139.00. I was provided a product key.
  
• Windows 10 Home edition installed to Old PC.
  
• Upgrade to Windows 10/11 Pro was purchased 08/2023.
  
• Old PC was upgraded to Windows 10 pro. Activation status shows as linked to my Microsoft account. Using CMD to produce product key does not work. Using slmgr /dlv command produces information stating I have retail licensing.
  
• New PC is built. Windows 11 Pro clean install and no previous information restored to this PC. Sign into Microsoft account during Windows setup.
  
• Reset old PC and wipe storage the secure and slow way in preparation to sell to a friend.
  
• New PC check activation status - NOT ACTIVE
  
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Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

• Troubleshoot button
  
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• I changed hardware on this device recently:
  
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  • Old PC was removed from my account, but at one point showed up here prior to removal and when attempting to use it it also failed.
    
  • The other linked devices are old PC's or my other handheld PC.
    
• Change product key > Entered my original Windows 10 Home product key from 10/2020 purchase and it does not work.
  

Next Steps?

• At this point I am trying to determine if my original license key was upgrade to be a 10/11 pro key or if it retains its Win 10 Home status and is only valid for a Win 10 Home installation. If this is the case and I were to install windows 10 home I do not see how I would be able to update to Windows 11 Pro again.
  
• I contact support.... Multiple times to no avail.
  
  • First call - confirmed all the same basic steps as above then transferred me to installation support. Installation support answered then hung up the phone at the end of my explanation.
    
    • I gave up for the night as this was ~11:30 PM
      
  • Today I have gone through all the same steps again with another agent before being transferred to technical support. Tech support remotes into my device and goes the the slmgr array of commands in attempt to resolve and when I get a "core error" tells my my installation of Windows 11 Pro is corrupt and provides an email with a set of instructions for a "custom installation". Steps are followed to go through the normal procedure of doing essentially a Windows 11 clean install via downloading the Windows 11 Pro ISO and navigating to setup. I opted to reinstall Windows 11 Pro and keep no files.
    
    • Clean install I opted to not restore any previous backups and setup as a new PC. After logging into my Microsoft account during setup I again navigate to Activation to arrive at the same result. Not Active.
      
    • Basic troubleshooting steps again leaves me in the same boat.
      
    • Support hung up as soon as I got past the initial robo voice questions.
      
    • Support will no longer even give me a callback when going through the "Get Help" options where I provide my phone number.
      
  • For context... at no point was I even slightly rude or impatient and opted to record every call.
    

Apologies for the novel, but would rather provide all the information up front. At this point I do not know where I am at in the support process and feel after spending nearly $250, after tax, on retail licensing I am being pressured with lack of support difficulties to spend another $200 on new licensing as I am many hours deep into this now with 0 resolution.

 

Free upgrade from Windows 11 Home to 11 Pro using 10 Pro retail license

My current computer has an activated Windows 10 Pro retail license. I'm planning to replace my current computer by buying a new computer that comes preinstalled with Windows 11 Home, and then I understand I can use my 10 Pro license to upgrade to 11 Pro for free.

What's the most straightforward way of accomplishing this? The obvious approach that comes to mind involves two steps:

1. Reinstall Windows 10 Pro on new computer and activate with my existing retail license.
   
2. Upgrade new computer to 11 Pro for free through the settings.
   

Is there a simpler way of doing this without having to reinstall Windows 10? For example, would it be possible to somehow "trade in" my Windows 10 Pro license for 11 Pro? I'm fairly new to Windows licensing and am just trying to understand what is possible/best practice, with minimal effort.

 

Upgrading a PC and Retail Keys

My current desktop PC started life with a Windows 8 Pro retail key and now has the latest version of Windows 10 activated by a digital key linked to my MS account.

I want to change the motherboard, CPU, memory & system drive with a clean install so I guess Windows 10 will not automatically activate. What are the essential steps to deactivate the key currently in use and ensure it activates using the new hardware?