W7 to W10 - Do you still have to "upgrade" first?

E

edgeh2o

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 8, 2007
Messages
138
Wanting to clean install Windows 10 on my mom's Windows 7 laptop tomorrow. I just used the media creation tool to create a W10 install image on my USB stick, so I'm pretty much ready.

When W10 first came out, users were forced to upgrade to W10 first before they could do a clean install. When the 1511 version came out, it allowed people to perform a clean install of W10 on W7 or W8 machines without having to "upgrade" first. Then Microsoft removed the 1511 version from the media creation tool because many users were having problems with it.

So what is the current state of doing a clean install today? Can you still do a clean install without having to upgrade first?

I googled, but many posts that said you no longer needed to "upgrade" first were posted before Microsoft removed the 1511 version of the media creation tool, so I'm just unsure of how it currently stands.
 
If you have the Threshold 2 release (1511) that came out in November you can do a clean installation of Windows 10 and just put in your Windows 7 key when asked. If you have the original distribution of Windows 10 you can do the upgrade over Windows 7 and then after that you can do a clean install with no Product Key required.

Or you could just avoid Windows 10 and save yourself trouble in the long run. ;)
 
Tiberian said:
If you have the Threshold 2 release (1511) that came out in November you can do a clean installation of Windows 10 and just put in your Windows 7 key when asked. If you have the original distribution of Windows 10 you can do the upgrade over Windows 7 and then after that you can do a clean install with no Product Key required.

Or you could just avoid Windows 10 and save yourself trouble in the long run. ;)
Click to expand...

Good to know, TH2 is what the Media Creation Tool downloads now, no? In any case, for a backup plan "browse" the ISO using 7-Zip or WinRAR and extract sources\gatherosstate.exe to the existing 7 install. When you run it, you will not get any kind of output nor error but wherever the EXE file is, a file named genuineticket.xml will be generated. Copy this XML to a flash drive and proceed with the 10 clean install and keep the machine offline so that it doesn't try to louse up the activation. When you get to the desktop, copy that XML to C:\programdata\microsoft\windows\clipsvc\genuineticket\ and reboot for good measure then connect to the internet and activate. This clean install method worked on my Windows 7 Pro desktop at work last Friday.
 
Not sure what all that last part is about: the process to upgrade is simple, just install Windows 10 on top of Windows 7 and you're done (with the original Windows 10 release build 10240). After that if and when you want to do a clean install on a machine that was actually upgraded to Windows 10 there will be no need to enter a Product Key of any kind ever again. The activation hash generated during the 7 to 10 upgrade is stored on Microsoft's servers so when you clean install Windows 10 on that same machine it will contact Microsoft after installation and when it's first online and voila, activated once more without issues and without needing to put in a key.

If you're planning to do a straight pure clean install wiping out Windows 7 in the process, start the Windows 10 install off the media, delete and recreate or just format all the partitions related to 7 (just two, basically), and then put in the Windows 7 Product Key when the Windows 10 installer (Threshold 2 release 1511) asks for it.

I've done this like 700+ times so far, never had to copy/paste/edit/move any XML files of any kind and I've yet to enter a Product Key either. ;)
 
Tiberian said:
Not sure what all that last part is about: the process to upgrade is simple, just install Windows 10 on top of Windows 7 and you're done (with the original Windows 10 release build 10240). After that if and when you want to do a clean install on a machine that was actually upgraded to Windows 10 there will be no need to enter a Product Key of any kind ever again. The activation hash generated during the 7 to 10 upgrade is stored on Microsoft's servers so when you clean install Windows 10 on that same machine it will contact Microsoft after installation and when it's first online and voila, activated once more without issues and without needing to put in a key.

If you're planning to do a straight pure clean install wiping out Windows 7 in the process, start the Windows 10 install off the media, delete and recreate or just format all the partitions related to 7 (just two, basically), and then put in the Windows 7 Product Key when the Windows 10 installer (Threshold 2 release 1511) asks for it.

I've done this like 700+ times so far, never had to copy/paste/edit/move any XML files of any kind and I've yet to enter a Product Key either. ;)
Click to expand...

This genuineticket method bypasses the upgrading to 10 step. No worrying about GWX visibility, hung downloads, etc.. Just a small ticket to plant, no keys to deal with, quick activation on a formatted hard drive. It's easier than it sounds and saves time.
 
If you say so. I've never done the inline upgrade meaning using whatever shitty tool Microsoft forced down people's throats - for the clients I've worked with I used the ISO contents on a USB stick, never had any of the problems that get mentioned entirely too frequently from those that use that "live" method.
 
just install Windows 10 on top of Windows 7 and you're done
Click to expand...
This is the step that the genuineticket method avoids. Booting, formatting, installing, and activating is prefereable and is the subject matter of the OP. Perhaps you wish to look at it again.
 
Here's my follow up.

At <https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10> it says "If you haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 yet and perform a clean installation, you’ll need to enter a qualifying product key for Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 or buy a license in order to activate Windows 10."

So I did just that. Took out my mom's old HDD, put in a new Samsung 850 EVO, inserted my USB stick with W10 and installed it. Got to the "enter product key" part, entered the Windows 7 Home Premium key that my mom was previously using (from that Magic Jellybean program or whatever it's called), and it told me my product key wasn't valid. Installed W10, tried again once everything was installed and updated, still told me my product key was invalid. Great.

Swapped my mom's old HDD back in, executed gatherosstate.exe, copied genuineticket.xml to my USB stick, swapped the new SSD back in, copied genuineticket.xml to the folder per PliotronX's instructions, rebooted, and bam, Windows 10 was activated.

So even though Microsoft says that you can just input a "qualifying" Windows 7 key during a clean install of Windows 10, it apparently doesn't always work. Oh well, thanks PliotronX. :)
 
I can say that if you have an OEM machine since it uses an OEM key to actrivate, HP, Dell whatever and have upgraded OS from previous through the MS upgrade anytime thing then 10586 WILL NOT ACTIVATE. I even tried the Pro OEM key
gatherstate fixed that problem.
 
edgeh2o said:
So I did just that. Took out my mom's old HDD, put in a new Samsung 850 EVO, inserted my USB stick with W10 and installed it. Got to the "enter product key" part, entered the Windows 7 Home Premium key that my mom was previously using (from that Magic Jellybean program or whatever it's called), and it told me my product key wasn't valid. Installed W10, tried again once everything was installed and updated, still told me my product key was invalid. Great.
Click to expand...
Did you install 7 from Retail or did it ship from a manufacturer? If it's a factory s hipped computer MJB key finder is just going to pull generic OEM keys which is not going to work because they are not unique. Entering a key only works with Retail type keys. It might work with "OEM System Builders" keys but I haven't tried it yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top