Windows 7 -> Windows 10 Key to Use Later

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Sovereign

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I know that currently, Windows 10 can be installed with a Windows 7 key. However, that promotion will end on July 29th.

I have a possible system build I will be completing after that date. I also have a swarm of Windows 7 keys. Can I "convert" them to Windows 10 somehow?

Would "Install on VM, then extract" work as a method to obtain a "10" key from a 7 key?
 
No, because the key gets tied to the hardware.
Well, you might be able to persuade Microsoft to reset the activation, but that (might?) be against the EULA if they are OEM keys.

Are your existing Win7 keys OEM or Retail?
 
You should be able to get away with it, then. I think.
Would need to see if the EULA to the free Win10 upgrades allows for transfer to a new machine. If not, it might be difficult to get MS to fix the activation.
 
This is confusing.

WinSuperSite said:
Q. Can I transfer my Windows 10 installation to another computer after getting the free upgrade?

A. NO

...

Q. If I purchased my copy of Windows 7 or 8/8.1 as a retail license from either a brick-and-mortar store or an online store, then I upgrade to Windows 10, can I transfer that upgrade to a new computer under the retail licensing?

A. YES
Click to expand...

Which one is it?

It looks like transfer rights are preserved in this article.

Hopefully it doesn't care that I'm going from VM to bare metal.

The next question is how I would re-install: use Windows 7 -> 10 on VM, then do the same (with the matching W7 key) on bare metal? Or is there some detail I can extract from 10 on the VM to give to an MS rep later?
 
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Sovereign said:
This is confusing.
Click to expand...

Nothing new here :p
MS licensing is always confusing.

I did happen to find this on the Microsoft Answers forums.

When I upgrade a preinstalled (OEM) or retail version of Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 license to Windows 10, does that license remain OEM or become a retail license?

If you upgrade from a OEM or retail version of Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 to the free Windows 10 upgrade this summer, the license is consumed into it. Because the free upgrade is derived from the base qualifying license, Windows 10 will carry that licensing too.

If you upgrade from a retail version, it carries the rights of a retail version.

If you upgrade from a OEM version, it carries the rights of a OEM version.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately they didn't provide a link to the MS article with the info; but according to this the Win10 license is the same level as the Win7/8/8.1 license.
Can I transfer the Windows 10 upgrade
 
It sounds like this should work, but then the question becomes "What steps do I take on the bare metal?"

Install 7, having installed 7 on a VM which was upgraded to 10 before, then talk to MS?

Extract something (don't know if this exists) from the 10 VM that I can use on the bare metal 10 (like a key)?
 
I have thought about this. I have almost a dozen copies of windows 10 to my name, but other than the one on my laptop and desktop they are just licenses being supported for family members. I was debating on picking up 5 or 6 cheap w7 keys and upgraded them on vm's to save for later. I know this works at the moment with the ever questionable microsoft licensing.
 
Sovereign said:
It sounds like this should work, but then the question becomes "What steps do I take on the bare metal?"

Install 7, having installed 7 on a VM which was upgraded to 10 before, then talk to MS?

Extract something (don't know if this exists) from the 10 VM that I can use on the bare metal 10 (like a key)?
Click to expand...

Just install Win10 on the physical device when the time comes, and enter your Win7 key.
If activation fails, then it should just be a call to MS.
 
Great. Now I need a bunch of VMs if I want all those 7 licenses converted to 10. </firstworldproblems>
 
Another question. Do you have to keep creating new VMs (probably the safest move) or can you keep changing the license on the same VM to get all your 7/8 keys converted? Is there anything that can be changed in the VM to make sure Win10 thinks it is a completely different system? I'm specifically talking about on VMWare.
 
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Build the VM, but don't enter the key.
Take a snapshot.
Activate with key then get free upgrade.
Restore snapshot.
Repeat.

Maybe.

The (upgrade) digital entitlement is tied to a hardware hash, so this may not work.

May need to sysprep /oobe after restoring from snapshot. Though I'm not sure what that does, if anything, to the hardware hash.

Depending on virtualization software... spin up first VM without key. Convert to template.
Then create VM based on template, sysprep /oobe, then license and upgrade?
 
I don't know if this would have any effect but can't you change the MAC of the ethernet card in the VM? Are there other items you can change the MAC for?
 
Bird222 said:
I don't know if this would have any effect but can't you change the MAC of the ethernet card in the VM? Are there other items you can change the MAC for?
Click to expand...

You can manually change the MAC address, or even just remove and re-add the Network Adapter and it will generate a new MAC address.
So that might work.
 
I have been reading that changing the VM UUID (not the HD UUID) will cause Windows to reactivate. So that may be an option also.
 
I believe that If you already have the motherboard you intend to use, you just have to get that board working and booted with any parts you can find, activate Windows 10, and you should have a digital entitlement that will work on whatever system you eventually build with it.

I think the activation ties itself to the motherboard somehow, because otherwise you'd lose your activation when you swapped out parts, and the motherboard is the part of a computer that is least likely to change over the lifetime of the machine. I also suspect this because I sent a laptop in for repairs once, they replaced the motherboard, and it came back with a factory image and my Windows 7 Ultimate key not working. Luckily, Microsoft fixed it, but I had to explain to them that the OEM swapped my Motherboard out and they were really suspicious. They didn't change out any other parts, so that's why I believe the activation/digital entitlement ties itself to the motherboard.

It would be easy to do an experiment to find out for certain, though, if you have enough spare keys and money to risk losing a few. Try activating Windows on a specific motherboard, then swap out everything else in the computer but the motherboard with a different part, and put everything that was in there on a new motherboard. Then try doing a fresh installation on both, and see which one Windows recognizes as the machine with the digital entitlement.
 
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But what we are talking about is kinda the opposite of what you are saying. We want Win10 to think it's a different system so we can get all the free upgrades on their servers.
 
The only way would be to convince Microsoft to give you a one time activation code if you are transferring an upgraded Retail license. To me that would be such a hassle every time you reinstall. Personally I'd just pony up the $98 for a System Builders copy of 10 and have a genuine 10 key than to try to transfer a digital entitlement license (which requires calling Microsoft every time).
 
athenian200 said:
I believe that If you already have the motherboard you intend to use, you just have to get that board working and booted with any parts you can find, activate Windows 10, and you should have a digital entitlement that will work on whatever system you eventually build with it.

I think the activation ties itself to the motherboard somehow, because otherwise you'd lose your activation when you swapped out parts, and the motherboard is the part of a computer that is least likely to change over the lifetime of the machine. I also suspect this because I sent a laptop in for repairs once, they replaced the motherboard, and it came back with a factory image and my Windows 7 Ultimate key not working. Luckily, Microsoft fixed it, but I had to explain to them that the OEM swapped my Motherboard out and they were really suspicious. They didn't change out any other parts, so that's why I believe the activation/digital entitlement ties itself to the motherboard.

It would be easy to do an experiment to find out for certain, though, if you have enough spare keys and money to risk losing a few. Try activating Windows on a specific motherboard, then swap out everything else in the computer but the motherboard with a different part, and put everything that was in there on a new motherboard. Then try doing a fresh installation on both, and see which one Windows recognizes as the machine with the digital entitlement.
Click to expand...

No reason to test at all. MS has laid out many times over the last 15 years how they tie activation to the hardware. The reason changing out the motherboard triggers a reactivation is because modern motherboards contain the vast majority of the hardware components that Windows ties itself to.

Technical Details on Microsoft Product Activation for Windows XP
 
It better xfer I have a PC I tried to upgrade and it turned out the USB controller is never going to work in 10
 
If you do the upgrade and then go back to the previous OS version, can Windows 10 be used later once the free period has expired?
 
Nenu said:
If you do the upgrade and then go back to the previous OS version, can Windows 10 be used later once the free period has expired?
Click to expand...
I may be mistaken, but I think that the previous version will fail to activate once the upgrade has been used.
 
ryan_975 said:
I may be mistaken, but I think that the previous version will fail to activate once the upgrade has been used.
Click to expand...
Previous posters have said that restoring a backup of the old OS will allow you to continue where you left off should you not like Windows 10.
But I dont know if thats the full truth, nor if you can again move to Windows 10 later once the free period has expired.
 
Ok, this is what I did. This is using VMWare 12 with retail keys and Win 10 build 1511.

1. Create a Win10 VM (I recommend using 'Bridging' for the network card. The default of 'NAT' caused issues of not being able to connect to the activation servers.)
1a. DON'T activate this VM.
2. Uninstall the VMtools from the VM (if you don't, VMtools can put the original VM UUID back in place)
3. Uninstall 'Candy Crush' and 'Twitter' apps. They keep 'sysprep' from running.
4. Open a command prompt with admin privileges.
5. Change directory to the 'sysprep' directory (ie. C:\Windows\system32\sysprep)
6. Run this command 'sysprep /generalize /oobe' (This removes specific data from the install to be able to use in another computer. VM should shut down after this command.)
If you have trouble running 'sysprep', check the log it tells you to check for other app names and uninstall them.
7. After the VM has powered off, take a 'snapshot' of it.

After these steps you should have a clean 'image' to use over and over again. You may want to copy the whole VM directory to a safe place just in case you really screw up and you need to copy it back. Honestly don't know if that works because I didn't have to do it but seems like it should.

8. Power on the VM and go through the setup steps (I skipped entering the Product Key here).
9. Goto 'Settings\Update & Security\Activation' (You should see an error about not having digital entitlement or product key)
10. Click 'Change product key button' (accept the UAC for changing the product key)
11. Enter the product key for Windows 7 or 8 (again I had retail keys).
12. Activate the install.
13. Shutdown the VM.
14. In a text editor (Notepad works) change the hex bytes on the "uuid.bios" line in "Documents\Virtual Machines\Windows 10??\Windows 10??.vmx" file (the VM config file) to a unique value. It's a 16 byte hex value with a dash in the middle. I used this site "www.random.org/bytes" to generate 16 byte hex values. DON'T forget to replace the space between the 8th and 9th byte with a dash if you copy and paste the value from the site.
Changing the uuid.bios value will make Windows think this is a different computer which is what we want.
15. Save and close the config file.
16. Revert back to the snapshot you did in step 7. (This will get us back to a clean image)
17. Repeat steps 8-16 for each product key you want to activate.

Now the real proof that this worked will be in the future when I try to activate a real computer with one of these keys after the free upgrade period is over. If Microsoft lets me transfer my license then I guess it was a success.

Anybody else doing this I would be interested in your steps.
 
Bird222 said:
Ok, this is what I did. This is using VMWare 12 with retail keys and Win 10 build 1511.

<snip>
Click to expand...

So I did this trick with a few Win7 keys I've had laying around for the past couple of months. Out of curiosity, I reverted my Windows 10 VM again today (post-free upgrade period) and used one of the older Windows 7 keys I "pre-activated." Sure enough, I got my digital entitlement again once I went through the activation process.


Now to get my hands on some actual hardware that hasn't been touched by 10 to see if those entitlements carry over. I'm still skeptical if changing the VM's UUID for each key entry was sufficient for activating Windows 10 on "unique hardware."
 
Yesterday I installed Win10 to an old HDD then disconnected it after activation, I made the activation tied to my outlook account and it was a retail license key I used. Now I can put it on any PC because it is tied to the Microsoft account and not the hardware and is a retail license. Would probably have to phone them though if I installed to a new mb, or maybe not.
 
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