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Sorry, I meant the brackets in the OP code. It isn't a simple OR list that can be handled with a "contains".

I did a major hardware upgrade yesterday (motherboard, cpu , ram, gpu ... )

I tried re-activating but alas, it does not work (or I would not be asking).

On my device page it shows 2 devices, my old one and my current one (by motherboard model); I tought I could find the info on the old device and deactivate it (delete device) and apply it on the new device

Is there a way to get back my activation code/key from there ? I can't seem to find it.

I remember that I upgraded from Windows 8-ish when it was a free update; maybe I should hunt down my old CD/DVD of windows 8 ? Is that the way to go ?

Thanks

I'd rather be phishing!

When my son and I built his new PC last month we bought an upgrade license -- the old system was running Win 10 Home, we installed Win 10 Pro.
We replaced nearly everything -- kept only the CPU and an HDD -- and the install didn't want to accept the licence, so I eventually had to talk with a real live person at Microsoft who was able to do something with the kid's Microsoft account then zing bang it be worked.

So, I say, "try calling Microsoft".

If all else fails, perhaps buy a new (OEM) key as described here? I'm looking to go this route when I eventually upgrade my personal dev box from Win7.

Windows 10 for $20? - YouTube[^]

/ravi

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I do computer service. I avoid hardware swaps with win 10 for this reason but had to do it for myself I forget if I actually called ms or whether it was over chat but the ran belarc advisor which served up some windows 10 data left for a bit then came back and plugged something else in and it was activated again.

Piebald is right - contact MS. Have electronic receipts handy and let them dive in and take over if necessary.

I had to do that when I changed MB, and it worked really well - the only complication was that his control software could only see my centre screen (of three) and the taskbar, start menu, etc. was on the left hand one - and wouldn't move because windows wasn't activated ... so he had to ask for an app, I open it and drag it onto the centre screen, etc. Took him a load longer than he expected, I think ... Laugh | :laugh:

"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

I saw a post the other day that the free upgrade to W10 is still available. There's a powershell script to do it. Google Wink | ;)

This might interest you - it's a VBScript file he left on my computer which fetches the Win 10 key:

Option Explicit  

 

Dim objshell,path,DigitalID, Result  

Set objshell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") 

'Set registry key path 

Path = "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\" 

'Registry key value 

DigitalID = objshell.RegRead(Path & "DigitalProductId") 

Dim ProductName,ProductID,ProductKey,ProductData 

'Get ProductName, ProductID, ProductKey 

ProductName = "Product Name: " & objshell.RegRead(Path & "ProductName") 

ProductID = "Product ID: " & objshell.RegRead(Path & "ProductID") 

ProductKey = "Installed Key: " & ConvertToKey(DigitalID)  

ProductData = ProductName  & vbNewLine & ProductID  & vbNewLine & ProductKey 

'Show messbox and save to a file  

If vbYes = MsgBox(ProductData  & vblf & vblf, vbOK + vbInformation, "BackUp Windows Key Information") then 

   Save ProductData  

Else

Save ProductData

End If 

 

 'Convert binary to chars 

Function ConvertToKey(Key) 

    Const KeyOffset = 52 

    Dim isWin8, Maps, i, j, Current, KeyOutput, Last, keypart1, insert 

    'Check if OS is Windows 8 

    isWin8 = (Key(66) \ 6) And 1 

    Key(66) = (Key(66) And &HF7) Or ((isWin8 And 2) * 4) 

    i = 24 

    Maps = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789" 

    Do 

           Current= 0 

        j = 14 

        Do 

           Current = Current* 256 

           Current = Key(j + KeyOffset) + Current 

           Key(j + KeyOffset) = (Current \ 24) 

           Current=Current Mod 24 

            j = j -1 

        Loop While j >= 0 

        i = i -1 

        KeyOutput = Mid(Maps,Current+ 1, 1) & KeyOutput 

        Last = Current 

    Loop While i >= 0  

     

    If (isWin8 = 1) Then 

        keypart1 = Mid(KeyOutput, 2, Last) 

        insert = "N" 

        KeyOutput = Replace(KeyOutput, keypart1, keypart1 & insert, 2, 1, 0) 

        If Last = 0 Then KeyOutput = insert & KeyOutput 

    End If     

     

 

    ConvertToKey = Mid(KeyOutput, 1, 5) & "-" & Mid(KeyOutput, 6, 5) & "-" & Mid(KeyOutput, 11, 5) & "-" & Mid(KeyOutput, 16, 5) & "-" & Mid(KeyOutput, 21, 5) 

    

     

End Function 

'Save data to a file 

Function Save(Data) 

    Dim fso, fName, txt,objshell,UserName 

    Set objshell = CreateObject("wscript.shell") 

    'Get current user name  

    UserName = objshell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%UserName%")  

    'Create a text file on desktop  

    fName = "C:\Users\" & UserName & "\Desktop\WindowsKeyInfo.txt" 

    Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") 

    Set txt = fso.CreateTextFile(fName) 

    txt.Writeline Data 

    txt.Close 

 

End Function

If I recall correctly, he used this and entered it on the activation screen. I'd forgotten about that.

"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

I've been on a streak, both offline and on Codeproject - where I got MVA, 2nd best article for november, and may very well get best article for december.

My code has compiled and ran usually on the first try. My code has been clever. My code has worked better than I expected.

What more could I want? I am a happy lil monster.

hack everything.

I believe you are now ready for what has only been talked about in legends so far....
The Uuuuuuultimate Prrrrrise!

A new .NET Serializer
All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar
Taking over the world since 1371!

A one-way trip to Q&A? Confused | :confused:

Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
-
The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain

Johnny J. wrote:
A one-way trip to Q&A?

URGENT PLZ WRIT PARZER

That explains the quantity and frequency of some Lounge posts... Laugh | :laugh:

Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
-
The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain

Go to Disneyland. Like totally.

That is a hell of a run. Nothing makes me happier than writing a bunch of code that not only compiles without error, but works the first time out of the gate. Big Grin | :-D

INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." - Edsger Dijkstra
"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks. " - Daniel Boone

Gratifying innit?

The only exception is when i write something I expect to *not* work the first go-round and then it does.

Usually that means it's broken, but i haven't figured out how to break it yet. Big Grin | :-D

hack everything.

Yes!

For me; the surprise was not that it worked, but that is compiled with out syntax errors or warnings.

INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." - Edsger Dijkstra
"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks. " - Daniel Boone

John R. Shaw wrote:
but works the first time out of the gate

That would make me suspicious.

Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

Jörgen Andersson wrote:
That would make me suspicious.

Are you kidding me? "Suspicious" is putting it mildly. I'd be second-guessing everything if my code worked the first time I tried it.

I always second guess everything before I even compile the code. The surprise is not that it worked, but that there were no syntax errors.

INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." - Edsger Dijkstra
"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks. " - Daniel Boone

Well...editors themselves are already vocal enough about syntax errors; it's kinda hard nowadays to miss them.

Or are you coding in Notepad? Smile | :)

So, Newtonsoft is the premier library for JSON in C#. If you create a stringdictionary in C# and serialise it, the resultant JSON will not deserialise using the same library and same CLASS. I had to use Dictionary<string, string="">

I never used theirs. I just wrote my own.

And as far as JSON being better than XML, it all depends on what you need.

For example, parse trees cannot be accurately represented in JSON because JSON doesn't preserve field order of objects, while XML does preserve order of sub elements.

hack everything.

Yeah, the header is meant as a joke.

I'm paid to code, I don't waste time rewriting stuff that exists, is well tested and free

I do if the learning curve is bigger than me simply rolling my own. JSON is trivial to parse and emit

hack everything.

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