The best part about Windows 10 is that you can transfer the license key to another computer in case you are upgrading your machine or moving to a new computer. It saves you from spending big dollars and that is really great on Microsoft’s part. So, in this article, we are going to show you how to transfer a Windows 10 license to a new computer. We have shared two simple methods so you can move to a new PC without much friction. In addition, we have also explained some specific details which will help you find whether your license key is transferrable or not. Now having said that, let’s start the article without further delay.

You can only transfer a Windows 10 license if you have a Retail key– either purchased from a store or online portal (a digital copy). You can check the type of product key by following these steps. Press Windows and R keys at once and type “cmd”. Here, type slmgr -dli and hit enter. A dialog box will appear with the description of the product key. If it shows retail then you are good to go. However, if it shows OEM then sadly, you can’t transfer the license to another computer.

So those are some key points to keep in mind before transferring a Windows 10 license. If you fulfill these criteria, you can go ahead and move to a new PC with your license intact.

  1. First and foremost, open the start menu and search for “cmd”. Now, click on “Run as administrator” in the sub-section.

  2. Now, execute another command to remove the product key from Windows Registry.

Re-activate Windows 10 License on New Machine

  1. You have successfully removed the Windows 10 license from your old computer. Now, move to your new computer and open Command Prompt in a similar fashion as described in the above section.

  2. Alternatively, you can follow this path to activate the new computer: Start Menu -> Settings -> Update & security -> Activation -> Change the product key. Here, enter the license key and you are done.

2. Transfer a Windows 10 License with Microsoft Account

If you hold a retail-digital license of Windows 10 then moving to a new system is even easier. Follow these steps below to seamlessly activate your new computer.

  1. Now, move back to your new computer and sign in with the same Microsoft account. After that, open Settings -> Update & security -> Activation and you will find your new system is activated.