Upgrading your PC and Windows Activation: What you need to know.

Let’s get to the point: Microsoft indicates that any significant change to your hardware can render you OS key as ‘deactivated’. The word to note is significant, although Microsoft does not specify what significant means. I have learned though that changing the drive or memory, or reloading the OS is usually not a problem. However if you change the CPU or motherboard to an upgraded version, Windows could, and probably will, see your system as looking like a different machine altogether and render the key as deactivated. There are ways to minimize this problem, with the final solution as contacting Microsoft, and there are many articles online that help you prepare for this possibility. Good Luck!