Most professional software — DAWs, video editors, CAD systems — binds the license to a combination of SMBIOS UUID, motherboard serial, and the system disk's volume ID. Replacing even one of these resets activation.
The catch is that many vendors only grant 1–2 reactivations per year. If you upgrade often, or run a test bench, the limit runs out in a month.
The fix: snapshot your HWID profile before the upgrade, swap the hardware, then restore the identifiers on the new machine. The license sees "the same hardware" and keeps working — no support ticket required.
This matters most for software that pins itself to the motherboard: Avid Pro Tools, Autodesk, JetBrains' All Products Pack. Even a BIOS firmware update can trigger reactivation there.
Always create a backup in HWIDChanger before any operation — it's your insurance if something goes sideways. Restore takes 30 seconds.