Windows 10: Transfer Windows license to another Microsoft account

Today, I bought a laptop as a birthday gift for my girlfriend, and to install a series of programs, I had to open the laptop and use it. Windows 11 S Mode was already installed on the laptop, and as soon as I turned it on, it asked me for a Microsoft account, and I entered my account. Now I want to give her the laptop as a gift, but my Microsoft account is active on that laptop. I want to delete my account and activate my girlfriend's account on it. I also want to make sure that the Windows license remains active for my girlfriend.In the Windows settings, I saw that the product is active w

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Multiple questions about installing - transfer accounts etc.

According to you, the accounts were Windows built-in admin, a local admin and standard user. None of them needs to be moved.

The built-in admin account, as the name says, will be there when you boot the laptop first time. It is disabled by default, you just need to enable it. For two other accounts, simply create same accounts on laptop.

Attach the HDD to laptop using an external USB enclosure, copy contents of data folders to respective folders on laptop.

You mentioned that the desktop accounts were / are local accounts, not Microsoft accounts. See the options to get Pro here:

• Upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro

If you can still access Windows on desktop, boot it up, make it a Microsoft account and link license to that MS account. Tutorials:

• Switch to Microsoft Account in Windows 10
• Link Microsoft Account to Windows 10 Digital License

When done, see this tutorial. It will show step by step what do on the laptop to transfer desktop license to it: Use Activation Troubleshooter in Windows 10

This article is the best I have seen about when a license transfer is possible, and when not:

• https://www.howtogeek.com/261053/whe...e-to-a-new-pc/

 

How to transfer Windows 10 license to different PC and MS account

Hi Everyone, I need to upgrade from Windows 7 to 10 and I think I may be able to do it via an unused Win 10 gaming PC that is around the house. It belonged to another member of the family. I have reset the unused PC and done little else with it. I have gathered the following details:

• Windows 10 Home product key
• MS account user-id and password
• confirmation that the license is a digital license
• It is: Installed from 'Full Packaged Product' media

Most of the advice I see in online searches is for people swapping their own Win 10 license to a different PC. I have seen some advice online that may be relevant e.g. my kind of transfer is not just a matter of installing and entering the Win 10 product key. Does anyone have advice or know of links to steps for this kind of a transfer? Thank you -------------------------- Windows 7 Professional Version 6.1 (Build 7601: Service Pack 1) Sorry but I did not get the Windows 10 Home version number.

 

How do I manage the link between a Windows 10 license and a Microsoft account?

This is an answer to your first question: See which Microsoft account the license is linked to.

There is no direct way to show to which account a digital license is bound to. The account device list of the Microsoft account cannot be trusted: If I add another (non admin) user with a Microsoft account to my machine, the name of the computer will be added in the device list of the new account, too. Certainly, the digital license of my computer is still bound to my (admin) account and not to the new user.

Therfore you have to check the list of digital licenses in every Microsoft account you own.

The only method I know to list digital licenses bound to a Microsoft account is to try to transfer them to a new, "unknown" hardware. "Unknown" means, that on this hardware Windows 10 has not been installed before. "Try" means just to begin the transfer process until the last step and not to finish the activation process.

This new, "unknown" hardware can be a real hardware (new mainboard) or a virtual hardware (e.g. VMware virtual machine). It's important to note that the fingerprint of this hardware shall not exist in the database of Micrsoft's activation servers. Otherwise the hardware will be activated automatically and you won't get a chance to transfer a different digital license to it because it already has a digital license. The transfer process won't get offered.

My method for Windows 10 b1607 is as follows:

• Create a new virtual machine (VM)
  
• Install Windows 10 without any product key (the edition does not matter, Home or Pro, x86 or x64)
  
• Try to activate the VM
  
• Enter the windows activation dialog where it is possible to transfer your digital licenses to this VM ("Troubleshoot", "I changed hardware on this device recently")
  
• Enter your Microsoft account credentials of the account which you want to check
  
• Now you get a list ("Reactivate Windows", "Select this device from below") of devices which are bound to your Microsoft account and which have a digital license and which are in the same "device class" as your current device (the VM). This device list is the first part of the whole list of digital licenses of the account. "Device classes" are e. g. laptops, standalone PCs or virtual machines. In my opinion virtual machines are separated in different device classes, too (VMware, Oracle, etc.)
  
• To see the second part of the list of your digital licenses you have to list all devices which do not match the current VM, i.e. which belong to a different device class. Click on the link at the bottom of this page: "See other devices linked to your Microsoft account". Now you get the second part of the list of your digital licenses which belong to devices that cannot be transferred ("Device type does not match", Edition does not match")
  

This whole process seems to be reliable in respect to list my own digital licenses which I bound to different Microsoft accounts. However, some devices of the second list ("We can't reactivate Windows from these devices" ) migrated after some days to the first list ("devices which can be activated"). But this does not matter as the device entries stay the same.

And of course there is no guarantee that devices which are shown in the first list can be reactivated with the device with which you are currently checking the license. E.g. when I check with my virtual machine I also get some digital licenses in the first list which belong to a different device class (e.g. standalone PC). I am sure that a transfer from a license like this to a VM would not work in reality.