Extracting your Windows 10 Product Key After Updating

[Deleted member 245375]

The problem I ran into is that we activated Pro but when you do a clean install without using the Pro key (most instructions state to skip the key and if that's what you did then you might be experiencing the same issue as I did) it will default to a Home install. We don't have a Home license on record so it won't activate.

Seriously? Even Microsoft tells you that it's not necessary to input the Product Key - which I'll say again for the umpteenth time is not required to clean install Windows 10 as long as you did a proper upgrade installation in the first place - and you're saying that because you didn't input a Product Key it suddenly and for some unknown magical reason decided to install Home instead of Pro? Even though you were using the Pro ISO or whatever to do the installation? You do realize you can't install Home using the Pro ISO and you can't install Pro using the Home ISO, right?

Right?

The first step, assuming you activated a Pro installation from your earlier upgrade, is to get your current version over to Pro.

See, the whole concept there of "get your current version over to Pro" is again where you're having trouble for whatever reason. If you upgrade to Windows 10 Home from Windows 7/8/8.1 Home, a Pro activation has nothing to do with this and if you upgrade to Windows 10 Pro from Windows 7/8/8.1 Pro obviously a Home activation has nothing to do with it.

Personally I think you just can't seem to describe your situation adequately but that's just me.

The problem being that when you try to change it to a Pro key you'll get a non-core edition error because you'll be trying to use a Pro license on a Home install.

HURRAY you finally said something accurate, awesome.

You want to try and get this key VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T to take.

No, actually you don't because that key which is the Windows 10 Pro generic one that every Windows 10 Pro upgrade will show for everyone cannot be used to activate Windows 10 Pro - activations for that key stopped with the Insider preview builds including 10240 which was released as an Insider preview build when it went RTM - Insiders got it first. It will NOT activate any more and hasn't for weeks now. The concept of you getting the key to "take" activation is where your problems lie.

Bottom line: the VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T Windows 10 Pro Product Key is a placeholder, nothing more, and not valid for activation, period.

As for the whole Home vs Pro thing, unless your system was seriously borked prior to you beginning all this, you're the first person I've ever encountered that went to install one edition of Windows (any version) and suddenly discovered they had something completely different. I see you just added a second post with this:

If you follow the instructions to do a clean install, but don't use a Pro license (since they all say it's not necessary and to just press "Skip") it clean installs a Home version for some reason (that's what happened to me anyway and, based on the key he just posted, for him too).

You're the first person I've ever encountered with any edition of Windows that said they went to install one edition and ended up getting something else. The Media Creation Tool from Microsoft - if that's what you used to acquire the ISO (and it downloads ESD files which are converted to ISOs after the download, mind you) - only allows you to download Home or Pro (different versions of each as noted) so realistically, unless the entire universe flipped upside down in your case and your case only, you can't install the Home edition using the Pro ISO and you can't install the Pro edition using the Home ISO as an upgrade OR for a later clean install, it just doesn't work that way.

Either you made a mistake when it came to choosing the ISO to begin with - whether or not you used the Media Creation Tool or you found some other direct ISO link to download or whatever, I really don't know at this point because your particular installation outline is so damned all over the place - or something else magically went wrong.

Bottom line: you ended up calling Microsoft to get it resolved so that's that.

The whole thing with you focusing so much on "getting the key to take" is probably where everything went wrong: that 3V66T key cannot be used to clean install or activate Windows 10, end of story. The second paragraph of that post is explicitly clear regarding the upgrade aspect only for Windows 10 build 10240 aka RTM.

Edit: You can't use the Home key which is TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99 for activation either, I should have included that above but missed it before making the post.

 

[mope54]

Seriously? Even Microsoft tells you that it's not necessary to input the Product Key - which I'll say again for the umpteenth time is not required to clean install Windows 10 as long as you did a proper upgrade installation in the first place - and you're saying that because you didn't input a Product Key it suddenly and for some unknown magical reason decided to install Home instead of Pro? Even though you were using the Pro ISO or whatever to do the installation? You do realize you can't install Home using the Pro ISO and you can't install Pro using the Home ISO, right?

Right?



See, the whole concept there of "get your current version over to Pro" is again where you're having trouble for whatever reason. If you upgrade to Windows 10 Home from Windows 7/8/8.1 Home, a Pro activation has nothing to do with this and if you upgrade to Windows 10 Pro from Windows 7/8/8.1 Pro obviously a Home activation has nothing to do with it.

Personally I think you just can't seem to describe your situation adequately but that's just me.



HURRAY you finally said something accurate, awesome.



No, actually you don't because that key which is the Windows 10 Pro generic one that every Windows 10 Pro upgrade will show for everyone cannot be used to activate Windows 10 Pro - activations for that key stopped with the Insider preview builds including 10240 which was released as an Insider preview build when it went RTM - Insiders got it first. It will NOT activate any more and hasn't for weeks now. The concept of you getting the key to "take" activation is where your problems lie.

Bottom line: the VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T Windows 10 Pro Product Key is a placeholder, nothing more, and not valid for activation, period.

As for the whole Home vs Pro thing, unless your system was seriously borked prior to you beginning all this, you're the first person I've ever encountered that went to install one edition of Windows (any version) and suddenly discovered they had something completely different. I see you just added a second post with this:



You're the first person I've ever encountered with any edition of Windows that said they went to install one edition and ended up getting something else. The Media Creation Tool from Microsoft - if that's what you used to acquire the ISO (and it downloads ESD files which are converted to ISOs after the download, mind you) - only allows you to download Home or Pro (different versions of each as noted) so realistically, unless the entire universe flipped upside down in your case and your case only, you can't install the Home edition using the Pro ISO and you can't install the Pro edition using the Home ISO as an upgrade OR for a later clean install, it just doesn't work that way.

Either you made a mistake when it came to choosing the ISO to begin with - whether or not you used the Media Creation Tool or you found some other direct ISO link to download or whatever, I really don't know at this point because your particular installation outline is so damned all over the place - or something else magically went wrong.

Bottom line: you ended up calling Microsoft to get it resolved so that's that.

The whole thing with you focusing so much on "getting the key to take" is probably where everything went wrong: that 3V66T key cannot be used to clean install or activate Windows 10, end of story. The second paragraph of that post is explicitly clear regarding the upgrade aspect only for Windows 10 build 10240 aka RTM.

Pretty much everything in this post is wrong.

I downloaded Windows 10 ISO from this site:
"Select edition
Windows 10 editions below are valid for both Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro."

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

There is no option to select Home or Pro and the instructions state that the ISO is valid for both.

The person posted his issue clearly stated that he ended up with a Home key after doing a fresh install.

Here's my experience with fresh install so far:
Upgraded from Win7x64 HP to 10x64 using the iso (as nothing else worked, and even the iso took forever). Due to problems (booting windows 10 takes 15 minutes most of the time) I put in another hdd in the system and did a fresh install with w10x86 (time needed was as expected). I can't activate the fresh install - error "the activation server determined that the specified product key has been blocked". Key shown ends in 8HVX7.

Given that the instructions say to skip the key during a fresh install, he probably did what I did and skipped inputting the key.

I never said the key has anything to do with activation. You are, again, putting words in my mouth because you have already determined that everything I write is wrong and so you will twist what I write and have done to fit your perception rather than simply admitting that you are dispensing incorrect information when you copy/paste MS FAQ.

Given that you were a support tech for 20 some odd years it's probably drilled in your head to follow MS instructions sentence by sentence even when they are wrong so this is unsurprising.

In any case, calling MS did not resolve my problem. As I wrote earlier, I had to resort to manually editing the key from Home to Pro, forcing an in-place upgrade to Pro, and then it activated. That was the solution like it or not. The key had nothing to do with it activating, but the key was necessary to force it to upgrade to Pro because 8.1 Pro was my previous license and I don't have a Home activation.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

If you used that link you just shared (which redirects to this page), and you were on Windows when you visited it using any browser that runs on Windows, what you downloaded was the Media Creation Tool, not an ISO. I'm sorry that you appear to misunderstand what that tool does - it CREATES the ISO(s) as required after it downloads the ESD (Encrypted Software Distribution) containers for the given editions and versions (Home or Pro, 32-bit or 64-bit).

If you visit that link running Linux or OSX, apparently it WILL offer the option to download an ISO file directly but that's not what happens when you visit the link running Windows.

When you get the Media Creation Tool downloaded and you run it, you get this screen (note as soon as you run it it will default to selecting "Upgrade this PC now" so I've changed it to the other option for instruction):

and when you click Next you get this (I've already dropped the menu for the edition selection so you can see the choices):

after which you can select 32-bit, 64-bit, or even an option that puts both the 32-bit and 64-bit installation files on a single ISO that is created when the tool is done with its purpose.

So no, that link doesn't provide you with an option to get one of the multi-edition ISOs - the Media Creation Tool is designed to specify before you download anything which one you want and create only that edition for you to use.

As for the 8HVX7 key, that's another one from the Insider preview builds and it too cannot be used to activate Windows 10.

This really isn't that tough to understand, honestly. There are a lot of people that are or were running Insider preview builds only thinking they'd be able to upgrade to the full 10240 RTM build after it was released and in pretty much every instance of such things it's getting borked and causing them problems (which is why we keep seeing people posting the Insider preview Product Keys from various builds over and over again and them not being able to activate them) - Microsoft stated rather emphatically that you wouldn't get a free upgrade to Windows 10 just because you were part of the Insider program which is entirely true. To get Windows 10 free you have to upgrade a qualifying product that being a legit activated installation of Windows 7, 8, or 8.1.

 

[mope54]

If you used that link you just shared (which redirects to this page), and you were on Windows when you visited it using any browser that runs on Windows, what you downloaded was the Media Creation Tool, not an ISO. I'm sorry that you appear to misunderstand what that tool does - it CREATES the ISO(s) as required after it downloads the ESD (Encrypted Software Distribution) containers for the given editions and versions (Home or Pro, 32-bit or 64-bit).

If you visit that link running Linux or OSX, apparently it WILL offer the option to download an ISO file directly but that's not what happens when you visit the link running Windows.

No, you are the one with the misunderstandings.

Your statement, however, is indicative of what I wrote earlier that you simply cannot accept that anyone other than your copy/paste of MS FAQ could have accurate information.

I did use Safari on OS X and I *do* have a single ISO so your assumptions and following points are wrong.

I don't know what zorobabel describing his issue did or did not do other than what he wrote and I do not make any assumptions (in stark contrast to how you carry on your conversations in this and other threads).

However he ended up there, he ended up with a Home installation with a Home key. He also upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 and then tried to do a clean install.
Try reading what people write instead of what you think they mean or what you think they did.

No one thinks that the license activates Windows Pro or Home...get that into your stubborn mind. The only person making these threads "tough" is you.

If you use a single ISO like I did, and didn't use the media creation tool, then the license key dictates which version is installed...or maybe it doesn't; maybe it only installs a Home version.

The bottom line is the person asking for help has a Home install, likely upgraded from Pro (he hasn't confirmed that so I don't know for certain), and can't activate his version because his upgrade Win 10 activated a Pro license.

I've been quite clear about the problems I encountered and equally clear on the steps I took to resolve them. Your "contributions" so far have amounted to copy/pasting incorrect MS FAQ and basically shitting all over my posts for no apparent reason.

If you don't have any help to offer here then kindly step aside and STFU while some of us who are experiencing issues and have resolved them share the steps we went through.

You're making these threads long, confusing, and giving bad information out to people and now we are seeing more and more people having issues based on the instructions you are copy/pasting from MS.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

First: the multi-edition Windows 10 ISO (which can install Home or Pro) will not ask you which version to install on an upgrade - it checks the qualifying legit activated OS that it's being run from to verify it and will only upgrade appropriately, Home to Home and Pro to Pro - it's simply not possible to do it wrong at this point. The only way it can get screwed up is either someone forcefully inputting a Product Key (which isn't required and creates a problem which is tough to recover from as you've experienced yourself) or the installation you're upgrading isn't legit and activated properly in the first place.

Second: the multi-edition Windows 10 ISO when used for a clean installation asks you which edition you want to install aka Home or Pro and it does so before it ever prompts for a Product Key. so the Product Key - once again - is irrelevant in all of this and has zero bearing on the edition being installed. The only actual Product Keys for Windows 10 right now are for Retail purchases of the full version (box, DVD, USB stick, etc) or Enterprise/MSDN installs.

The upgrade version of Windows 10 - which is what 90+ million people and counting are using - doesn't have a Product Key you can actually use for a clean install for Home OR Pro.

So there.

As for "instructions from Microsoft being wrong" well, you've got bigger problems than me, I'm sure. They're how so many people are doing the upgrade which is how this whole "free upgrade to Windows 10" program works and they're not having problems like you are. It's an upgrade, simple, after which you can clean install.

As noted previously, this really isn't that tough to grasp.

 

[mope54]

So there.

Guess you told me

Just like you wrote that there wasn't a multi-edition ISO (and then realized there was) and just like you wrote that you can call MS support for help with activation issues due to hardware changes (and then were told by your buddy that they are instructed to tell customers to reinstall Windows 7 or 8.1) and just like you wrote in every single thread I post in that you have X amount of decades of experience and this is the way it's always been (and then were told by MS support that it's "changed a bit")...

...so you know what bud? Your responses are lacking.

Of course I have more problems than you and so do the other people posting in these threads experiencing more problems than you, so kindly butt out if your response is "well I don't have any problems and you shouldn't either, and neither do X amount of other people" because that's not relevant. We are having problems and trying to help one another and don't need you sitting here telling us that we shouldn't be having them as your "solution."

I'm going to go with what I see on the screen when I put my ISO in and not what you think I should be seeing. So there you got me and you can sit back pleased as punch that you got me while I continue trying to help fellow forum members

 

[evilsofa]

I don't know what zorobabel describing his issue did or did not do other than what he wrote and I do not make any assumptions (in stark contrast to how you carry on your conversations in this and other threads).

However he ended up there, he ended up with a Home installation with a Home key. He also upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 and then tried to do a clean install.
Try reading what people write instead of what you think they mean or what you think they did.

No one thinks that the license activates Windows Pro or Home...get that into your stubborn mind. The only person making these threads "tough" is you.

If you use a single ISO like I did, and didn't use the media creation tool, then the license key dictates which version is installed...or maybe it doesn't; maybe it only installs a Home version.

The bottom line is the person asking for help has a Home install, likely upgraded from Pro (he hasn't confirmed that so I don't know for certain), and can't activate his version because his upgrade Win 10 activated a Pro license.

zorobabel began his post with: "Upgraded from Win7x64 HP". HP is Home Premium, which upgrades to Win 10 Home. No matter how it works, all this stuff about how they should be trying to register a Pro key is wrong.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

I never said there wasn't a multi-edition ISO but you just love taking stuff out of context - I said the link you provided won't give access to it when you visit the link using a browser running on Windows - then I went so far as to clarify that by saying if you visited that link using Linux or OSX that you would get a direct ISO download instead of the Media Creation Tool which creates - but does not download - ISOs and that tool is not capable of creating a multi-edition ISO: it can only create a Home or a Pro ISO of 32-bit or 64-bit or both architectures.

And yep, I did.

 

[mope54]

zorobabel began his post with: "Upgraded from Win7x64 HP". HP is Home Premium, which upgrades to Win 10 Home. No matter how it works, all this stuff about how they should be trying to register a Pro key is wrong.

Yeah I misread that as he did it on his HP laptop. I asked him

Your activated version was Pro previously, correct?.

and didn't wait until he responded before outlining what worked for me because it's frustrating to ask for help and sit around waiting for answers. I qualified all my responses to him that these instructions only apply if he did in fact have a Pro license (even the portion you quoted is qualified that I don't know for certain whether this is his problem).

I posted those instructions anyway because other people might run into the same problem as I did and will need them anyway even if it doesn't apply to him.

 

[zorobabel]

P.S. Also, I noticed that your key is for Home. That was the problem with mine after a clean install. I had to go through a bunch of CLI steps to wipe that key and change the version to Pro before I could activate.
You might be able to resolve your issue by changing it to Pro since you don't actually have a Home license on record with MS (Your activated version was Pro previously, correct?).

Thanks for the reply, mope54.
Sorry for not making this more clear. The W7 key is for home premium not pro. W10 home is the intended install.

@Tiberian
Forgot to mention this, but W10 upgrade was activated.
The only other thing I can think of is that during the clean install the computer wasn't connected to the network.

edit: I never input a key during the installation, just skipped it twice. I never had w10 tech preview on this (my wife's) computer.

 

[x509]

If you can get it resolved with a call to MS please update the thread. If you can't, it might be worth a try what I suggested in the post right before yours: installing Win 8.1 to a partition on the same hard drive you just used and updating that to 10. That should, in theory, generate an activated hash for your new hardware configuration.

PITA for sure, but much better than wiping your current install and starting from scratch :\

OK, so let's say that mope54 is right here. Now what happens six months from now when you need additional space for your Windows partition. So you use some partition editor tool. Does that change invalidate your install?

 

[Deleted member 245375]

Why would it? Changing the partition layout isn't getting rid of the installation on the drive so no, I can't imagine in a bazillion years that would trigger a need to re-activate, nope. The activated Windows install is still there - you didn't do a hardware change of any kind unless you're meaning you're transferring that entire installation to a much larger storage device in which case even that won't (at least it SHOULDN'T) trigger a need to re-activate either.

The biggest problem here is that Microsoft has never revealed what method they use to create the hardware hash and installation ID for a given computer once it's properly activated. If they'd reveal the components that make up the formula to create the hash/installation ID then people would have better ground to stand on.

Since this whole activation started, it's a toss-up as to what will and what won't trigger the re-activation request. The one component we're all 100% certain will do it is a motherboard swap itself, even for the same model/product number.

 

[mope54]

Thanks for the reply, mope54.
Sorry for not making this more clear. The W7 key is for home premium not pro. W10 home is the intended install.

@Tiberian
Forgot to mention this, but W10 upgrade was activated.
The only other thing I can think of is that during the clean install the computer wasn't connected to the network.

That was my fault. You wrote HP I just misread it.

Would it activate without being connected to the internet?

If no, then even a minor hardware change like a hard drive is enough to trigger a deactivation.

@x509
I don't think changes to the partition table should trigger a deactivation.

In my case, I had two different activation failures.

1. My desktop failed to activate after adding my second 970 in SLI. That's the scenario that resulted in me contacting customer support and spending all day trying to work through the problem with them before being instructed that I had to start from 8.1 again (and after being on the phone and RDP with various techs all afternoon I was relatively exhausted and upset and was pretty clear about that, so the last T3 tech I was talking to certainly didn't seem able to escalate it any further up the chain since she seemed perfectly willing to do everything she could otherwise. That's why I believe her when she said it simply wasn't possible anymore for them to do a manual activation and the stuff Tiburian is posting that they'll do so if you complain enough isn't particularly convincing to me).

I haven't bothered to fix that activation issue because my motherboard needs to be replaced and I'm waiting until next week to do it and then I'll deal with activating this install. If I do it now, I'll have to go through the whole process again.

That suggestion about installing to a different partition is intended to be for people in my situation where we have a live system that is already updated and then we experience a hardware failure. I suspect it will work because of my second activation failure:

2. My Macbook was running OS X, Win 8.1 Pro in Bootcamp, and 10 in a VM.
I decided to start a fresh 8 Pro VM and update it all the way to 10 Pro. Before upgrading it to 10 I copied the VM in case it didn't activate after I did a clean install.

I upgraded to 10 Pro and then confirmed it was activated.
I then rebooted and tried to do a Refresh, which should result in a clean install.
Instead it completely borked the VM installation and rendered it unbootable and unrecoverable.
I completely wiped the VM drive and installed Windows 10 as if it was a brand new hard drive.
I skipped the license entry per the instructions and ended up with a Home installation (which was news to me. I didn't even realize the ISO I downloaded had both versions until Tiburian claimed there wasn't a way to install Home from a Pro ISO and vice versa. It wasn't until I went back to the link I used that I saw MS wrote that ISO would install either. I don't know how it works if it doesn't use the license key because it definitely doesn't work they way he said it does since my hard drive was completely blank and it installed Home when I didn't use a key).

I then went through all the information I provided in this thread to get it to do an in-place upgrade to Pro because I didn't want to go through the long process of updating my cloned VM all the way from 8 to 8.1 to 10 again.

So if the activation held through all that mucking about then I am fairly confident that it can survive a mere shift in partitions on the same disk.

So far, we have one confirmed case of a motherboard requiring reactivation, one addition of a GPU requiring a reactivation, and a possible case of a hard drive change requiring a reactivation.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

mope54:

I don't mean to sound like a dick here, honestly and truly I don't, but can I ask this one question (yes it's just one question even in spite of the length):

I can understand the issues with the SLI problem causing a re-activation request, that's far from the first time I've ever heard of such an occurrence but, all the other problems you've experienced so far not related to that SLI issue that you've been posting about with respect to Windows 10 in this thread and others all boils down to you installing Windows 10 in a virtual machine?

That's it, just a yes or no question and I'm done.

 

[zorobabel]

Just to add to my previous posts:
Did 2 fresh installs of w10x86 home on the drive that wasn't used in the upgrade, while having the network cable plugged in. Windows was not activated.

I cloned the drive used in the upgrade (w7x64 home premium to w10x64 home) to the drive above, and the activation status was preserved. After this, I did a fresh install of w10x86 deleting all partitions from within setup. Again windows is not activated.

Lastly, I tried a fresh install of w10x64 - same result: not activated.
Just so we're clear: all fresh installs were on a hdd other than the one used in the upgrade.

 

[evilsofa]

Just to add to my previous posts:
Did 2 fresh installs of w10x86 home on the drive that wasn't used in the upgrade, while having the network cable plugged in. Windows was not activated.

I cloned the drive used in the upgrade (w7x64 home premium to w10x64 home) to the drive above, and the activation status was preserved. After this, I did a fresh install of w10x86 deleting all partitions from within setup. Again windows is not activated.

Lastly, I tried a fresh install of w10x64 - same result: not activated.
Just so we're clear: all fresh installs were on a hdd other than the one used in the upgrade.

Fresh install Win7x64 to the new drive, activate it, then upgrade it to Win10 and activate; you should then be able to fresh install Win10 to the new drive.

 

[mda]

Chatted Up Microsoft Today.

Kinda conflicting things I'm reading. =/

MS Chat: at 15:30:58
How may I assist you today?
You: at 15:31:36
Yup, I'd just like to ask a clarificatory question regarding the transferability of upgraded Windows 10 licenses.
MS Chat: at 15:31:46
To confirm, you want to know if Windows 10 free upgrade is transferrable, correct?
You: at 15:32:44
Yes, I'd like to ask if this is the case if the original license used (Windows 7/8/8.1) is a retail license.
You: at 15:33:26
If so, I would also like to ask how can I transfer the license in the future (let's say I move this to a different PC).
MS Chat: at 15:34:05
Thank you for the concern.
MS Chat: at 15:34:57
Once you have upgraded to Windows 10, even if the license is a retail one or FPP there is no transfer right since Windows 10 Free Upgrade will be an OEM License and is using the Product ID of your previous version.
You: at 15:37:09
Ahh I see. So in the event that computer is no longer useable and will be replaced, I can choose to reinstall the old version of Windows (since this carries the FPP license). Is this correct?
MS Chat: at 15:38:18
Since it is an FPP, yes you can.
MS Chat: at 15:38:41
And once you have transferred it to another computer, and if the free upgrade is still available, then you can still upgrade it to Windows 10 for free.\
You: at 15:40:02
Oh. But past the upgrade period, I'll no longer be able to do this. Correct?
MS Chat: at 15:40:29
Once you have transferred it and the free upgrade period had pass, you can't.

 

[Zepher]

I do know if you have Home and try to use a Pro DVD, it will start the upgrade then ask for a Product Key.
I made a 10 Pro x64 DVD and was upgrading my laptop, I forgot it was running Home Premium.
I had to go back to 7 after I upgraded with the right disc due to no video drivers being available.

 

[rezerekted]

According to that chat log everyone will lose their free Win10 in a year if they change the mb. Fuck it, I'm staying on Win8.1.

 

[mda]

According to that chat log everyone will lose their free Win10 in a year if they change the mb. Fuck it, I'm staying on Win8.1.

Yep, in this case, I'm probably keeping my Win7 installs where they are.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

A chat log is pretty irrelevant in the long run because as I've noted in several threads so far, Microsoft can't seem to get a consistent message across about Windows 10 because of so many sources of information - not even consistency with their own support staff it seems.

I think too many people are going fucking apeshit crazy over this situation and it's not nearly as bad or anywhere near what people are assuming. Not much has really changed to be honest: Retail licenses can be transferred to new hardware (upgrades, etc), OEM licenses (tied to specific hardware mainly the motherboards, cannot). The chat log above is pretty convoluted based on the questions as well as the pretty much guaranteed canned/scripted responses and I wouldn't put any faith in it at all.

But that's just me, I suppose.

 

[zorobabel]

Fresh install Win7x64 to the new drive, activate it, then upgrade it to Win10 and activate; you should then be able to fresh install Win10 to the new drive.

That will probably work. What are people going to do if their OS drive crashes after the 1 year free upgrade period passes?
Hopefully someone else can try the fresh install of w10 to a new drive, and post back here.

 

[x509]

That will probably work. What are people going to do if their OS drive crashes after the 1 year free upgrade period passes?
Hopefully someone else can try the fresh install of w10 to a new drive, and post back here.

Drives always crash, or they always fill up. So maybe that OEM license isn't good for the life of the device. It's really good for the life of the Windows drive in that device? Or am I also going apeshit crazy, as Tiberian says?

 

[ashmelev75]

That will probably work. What are people going to do if their OS drive crashes after the 1 year free upgrade period passes?
Hopefully someone else can try the fresh install of w10 to a new drive, and post back here.

Your Win10 license is tied to the hardware hash stored on the activation server.
You don't need to format the hard drive to do a "clean install" doing Win7->Win10 upgrade.

 

[mope54]

Drives always crash, or they always fill up. So maybe that OEM license isn't good for the life of the device. It's really good for the life of the Windows drive in that device? Or am I also going apeshit crazy, as Tiberian says?

You're going apeshit crazy

After all, "No one will need more than 637KB of memory for a personal computer. 640KB ought to be enough for anybody," um, I mean, "a new hard drive or GPU"

Your Win10 license is tied to the hardware hash stored on the activation server.
You don't need to format the hard drive to do a "clean install" doing Win7->Win10 upgrade.

He wasn't talking about formatting a hard drive but replacing it to see if a new hard drive triggers reactivation.

 

[rezerekted]

A chat log is pretty irrelevant in the long run because as I've noted in several threads so far, Microsoft can't seem to get a consistent message across about Windows 10 because of so many sources of information - not even consistency with their own support staff it seems.

I think too many people are going fucking apeshit crazy over this situation and it's not nearly as bad or anywhere near what people are assuming. Not much has really changed to be honest: Retail licenses can be transferred to new hardware (upgrades, etc), OEM licenses (tied to specific hardware mainly the motherboards, cannot). The chat log above is pretty convoluted based on the questions as well as the pretty much guaranteed canned/scripted responses and I wouldn't put any faith in it at all.

But that's just me, I suppose.

The chat log is about the free upgrade version and not OEM or Retail that you buy in the store. As I see it I was right that you need to install twice (original OS and Win10 upgrade) every time you move it to a new mb and after one year you are fucked. YOU ARE WRONG.

This is a non issue for me anyway because Microsoft through their own draconian idiocy have made sure I won't be installing Win10 on my PC any time soon.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

The chat log is about the free upgrade version and not OEM or Retail that you buy in the store. As I see it I was right that you need to install twice every time you move it to a new mb and after one year you are fucked. YOU ARE WRONG.

You've been saying I'm wrong for a while now and so far I haven't been.

Come back next year and we'll revisit this situation.

 

[rezerekted]

In one year I will have to pay $200.00 for Win10 Pro so I need the answer before one year is up so it doesn't cost me $200.00.

The chat log and the guy who was forced to install 2x when moving to new hardware is saying you are wrong. Also, after 30 days your previous OS becomes defunct so you can't even use it to reinstall anyway.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

As has been noted many times over, the information is there on Microsoft's site for anyone to read. Of course it might change between now and July 28th 2016 but if it does they'll be sure to get it out to everyone and so will every tech-related website like this one multiple times over.

You could always wait till July 28th 2016 to install Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 and then do the upgrade too, "saving you $200 in the process" one could argue.

The 30 day thing is still based on the qualifying product license as well; Retail licenses are transferable, OEM is not. In that respect nothing has changed which is what I've been saying for days now.

 

[rezerekted]

Uh-oh....

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=401212&page=37

"Supposedly an Ms rep said that after july 2016, all free upgrades regardless of base license become an OeM copy tied to that machine..."

I saw someone on this forum say the same thing but others say it is not true.

There is one way you can prove you are right. Transfer Win10 upgrade to a new mb and tell us what process you had to go through to get it activated.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

"Some guy on some forum said something that is going to cause problems for someone else but it's true because that guy heard it from some nameless tech that works as a Microsoft subcontractor out of some country someplace on the planet..."

Seems like I've been accused of such things frequently of late but apparently it's ok for other people to do the same things, hrmmm, interesting.

Microsoft has spelled out the licensing terms, I understand them, a lot of people do, but some people just lack comprehension apparently. It's really not that difficult to understand these things. If Microsoft feels it necessary to change them or perhaps clarify them, they'll do so when needed but until that happens the current licensing terms are readily available and fairly simple to grasp.

 

[rezerekted]

I'll believe it when I see someone actually transfer to a new mb with no issues. So far we have one person that Microsoft could not do it for and he had to reinstall base OS and the Win10 upgrade so that it created a new hardware hash. That is all we have so far so it does not look good to me.