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  "path": "/threads/a-hardware-upgrade-for-an-oem-win-10-updated-to-win-11-pro.2634926/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-17T03:18:49.000Z",
  "site": "https://forums.anandtech.com",
  "tags": [
    "Windows",
    "Read more"
  ],
  "textContent": "Nobody answered my question about software installed on a retail-box Win 11 system when swapping CPU/motherboard with transfer of the boot disk.\n\nI'll find out about the software on my own, I suppose.\n\nBut what I thought was a \"retail\" Windows 11 installation on the old hardware was in fact an OEM Win 10 OS updated to Win 11 Pro -- which means the OEM digital license is bound to the old hardware.\n\nI'm getting ready to \"SYSPREP\" this old system and swap in a new motherboard and processor. I assume that the OS will exhibit an \"activation\" problem once I boot up with the new hardware.\n\nI HAVE a new retail Windows 11 Pro in the shrink-wrap box under its own as yet unapplied license/product-key.\n\nWould I just use Settings ->System->Activation->Change_Product_Key to use the new product key from this new Retail box? Or would I run into some sort of trouble, and need to use the new USB flash drive included in the new retail box to do an in-place-repair-upgrade of the entire boot disk and...\n\nRead more",
  "title": "A Hardware upgrade for an OEM Win 10 updated to Win 11 Pro"
}