this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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I've had the same Win8 Pro key that I purchased for $40 when it released 12 years ago. I've used it for Win10 and 11. Is this saying if I format my drive and reinstall Win11 that I won't be able to activate using this key anymore?
If I'm not mistaken your key is linked to your motherboard as well as your Microsoft account. So I think you should be fine. I just formatted my drive yesterday and it didn't even ask me to type it in, I skipped that step and it verified once I logged in.
OEM keys are linked to motherboards I believe. Mine is a retail key and I've used it across many different builds over the years.
Keys are usually stored in the TPM chip and/or tied to Microsoft accounts if you use one. If you don't have an account, there's actually a limit to how often a key can activate new hardware. If there's no TPM, there's simply a limit within a certain timeframe that it can be used to activate on the same hardware.
Right, I'm pretty sure this key is tied to my MS account.