Changing 90% of my PC - can I deactivate/reactivate?

[raindog308]

I have Win 7 x64 Ultimate (retail). This week I'm changing the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and C: drive, and I'll be bringing the old drives in as spares. Not much of the old PC will be left...just the case, DVD-RW, and power supply

I'll be reinstalling Win 7 because I'm changing the C: drive to a new SSD.

What usually happens in these cases? I'll use the same license key but I'm guessing Win 7's activation will say "whoa, you're trying to cheat and reuse this key".

Is there a way I can "deactivate" on the old system before shutting down and then reactive on the new? I think the answer is no - you just activate on the new. And if it says no, is the process of calling Microsoft straightforward and obvious? And what do they ask?

I'm 100% legit here...just trying to work with the technology.

 

[derekimo]

Yeah, you can deactivate,

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/165472-product-key-number-uninstall-deactivate-windows.html

 

[NoelDP]

Microsoft recommend NOT 'deactivating' a machine - apparently it can lead to problems when re-activating.
Far better to simply change/re-enter the proper Product Key if required after the hardware change.

As far as activation itself is concerned it makes no difference at all, since uninstalling the Product Key (de-activating) does NOT communicate this to the MS Activation servers, so it will still the same activation procedure after the change as it otherwise would have done.

 

[raindog308]

As far as activation itself is concerned it makes no difference at all, since uninstalling the Product Key (de-activating) does NOT communicate this to the MS Activation servers, so it will still the same activation procedure after the change as it otherwise would have done.

Ah, good to know. Thanks much. This forum rocks as always.