Will this plan work to "reserve" my free upgrade permanently?

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  1. Posts : 343
    Windows 10
       #11

    CountMike said:
    Sounds like a plan. Just remember if any of W7 are OEM, install W7 and activate first before upgrading. If retail just install W10 using W7 keys.
    You can activate Windows 10 using Keys of the activated Win 7 or Win 8.1 OEM or Retail.
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  2. Posts : 343
    Windows 10
       #12

    alphanumeric said:
    One thing to keep in mind regarding OEM keys. As far as I know, you can't clean install and activate with OEM-SLP keys. OEM-SLP keys are the keys Windows 7 OEM installs activate with from the factory. You can upgrade from those installed versions, you just can't clean install with those keys. If you pulled one of those keys with a key finding utility it's useless for Windows 10 activation on a clean install. The key you need to use is the OEM-COA key on the COA sticker. The OEM-SLP and OEM-COA are two different keys. Even then, you may have to install with a skip key, then do a change key to activate. Once your activated that device should have a digital entitlement, and from then on you don't need any product key to reinstall Windows 10 on that hardware. If they are OEM system builder installs, the key in use will be the same as the key on the COA sticker and should be good for doing a clean install.
    Yes but those Keys are issued by Microsoft and those keys are in sequence and MS can identify the OEM by the key. Eventhough the OS is installed by the OEM Windows is ONLY activated by Microsoft. Many people can install Windows ver X but only MS can activate it. The thing is with OEM windows the OEM activates it before the purchase in the factory.
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  3. Posts : 15,025
    Windows 10 IoT
       #13

    orlbuckeye said:
    Yes but those Keys are issued by Microsoft and those keys are in sequence and MS can identify the OEM by the key. Eventhough the OS is installed by the OEM Windows is ONLY activated by Microsoft. Many people can install Windows ver X but only MS can activate it. The thing is with OEM windows the OEM activates it before the purchase in the factory.
    There is only 1 OEM-SLP key issued to an OEM, per each version of Windows 7. As an example, every Dell running Windows 7 Home Premium installed at the factory, gets the exact same Dell OEM-SLP key. And those factory installs don't activate online. They activate against the BIOS SLIC table. Those OEM-SLP keys are all blocked from online activation by design. They are also listed all over the Internet. Try and use one of those keys on a clean install of Windows 10 and it will be rejected, they are black listed. The OEM-COA keys on the COA sticker, are likely in sequence and Microsoft keeps records of who was issued those keys. Even so, any time I have used one to reinstall Windows 7, I have had to do a phone activation. I think that's why some have had to install with the Windows 10 generic key, then do a change key to activate with them.
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  4. Posts : 3,502
    Win_8.1-Pro, Win_10.1607-Pro, Mint_17.3
       #14

    The111 said:
    I have 4 retail versions of Win7 running on various machines in my house. I do not really want to upgrade to Win10 yet, but I also don't want to miss out on 4 free upgrades, and the time counting down until 7/29 has been bothering me. ...
    For each of my machines, perform the following steps (each step is supposedly possible from my research, please correct me if I'm wrong at any of them):
    1) Take a spare formatted disk, put it in that machine, install Win10 using that machine's Win7 key.
    2) Harvest the key from the Win10 install using one of many tools. Now I have 1 new Win10 key.
    3) Remove the disk, format it, and let that machine continue using its previous Win7 install on its main disk.
    4) Repeat steps 1-3 with remaining machines.

    Now I have 4 new Win10 keys.
    ...
    There are keys for Win10 Retail and the rights are transferred when you upgrade (even though you're using a custom process).

    As long as the Win7 licenses are Retail, then I think that will work.
    See:
    Showkey - Windows 10 Forums
    Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums

    You won't need the key to reinstall Win10 on the same machine. You'll only need the key to use the rights of a Retail license to install on a new machine that replaces the old machine. By the EULA, you have to uninstall the OS on the old machine first.
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  5. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #15

    Since Windows 7 is already installed on all these computers there is a 100% certain way to activate new, clean installs of Windows 10 on them (before July 29th, of course):
    Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums

    It takes less than 1 minute to copy the genuineticket.xml file using gatherosstate.exe, so why not just do that and be sure?

    Put gatherosstate.exe on a thumb drive. Make folders describing the computers on the thumb drive. Run gatherosstate.exe to generate the genuineticket.xml file, move the file to the folder describing the computer.

    Clean install Windows 10 on a spare hard drive, pop it in the computer, copy the genuineticket.xml file to the proper folder, activate Windows 10. Move the hard drive to the next computer, copy the next genuineticket.xml file over the previous one, activate Windows 10. There isn't even any need to do 4 separate clean installs of Windows 10.
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  6. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #16

    What I would really do, though, is just make a Macrium Reflect backup image of the Windows 7, upgrade to Windows 10 and run with it. Likely you won't want to go back to Windows 7 anyway.
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  7. Posts : 3,502
    Win_8.1-Pro, Win_10.1607-Pro, Mint_17.3
       #17

    NavyLCDR said:
    Since Windows 7 is already installed on all these computers there is a 100% certain way to activate new, clean installs of Windows 10 on them (before July 29th, of course):
    Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums

    It takes less than 1 minute to copy the genuineticket.xml file using gatherosstate.exe, so why not just do that and be sure?

    Put gatherosstate.exe on a thumb drive. Make folders describing the computers on the thumb drive. Run gatherosstate.exe to generate the genuineticket.xml file, move the file to the folder describing the computer.

    Clean install Windows 10 on a spare hard drive, pop it in the computer, copy the genuineticket.xml file to the proper folder, activate Windows 10. Move the hard drive to the next computer, copy the next genuineticket.xml file over the previous one, activate Windows 10. There isn't even any need to do 4 separate clean installs of Windows 10.
    NavyLCDR said:
    What I would really do, though, is just make a Macrium Reflect backup image of the Windows 7, upgrade to Windows 10 and run with it. Likely you won't want to go back to Windows 7 anyway.
    Both are excellent suggestions.

    I think the idea is to retain the Retail rights of the existing Win7 licenses, so The111 would still need Showkey on the Win10 installs.

    Any thoughts?
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  8. Posts : 9,765
    Mac OS Catalina
       #18

    Alpha I have done Clean installs with machines that have the SLP keys. The thing is that you have to activate it as an upgrade the first time. Then turn around and do a Format then Clean Install.
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  9. Posts : 15,025
    Windows 10 IoT
       #19

    bro67 said:
    Alpha I have done Clean installs with machines that have the SLP keys. The thing is that you have to activate it as an upgrade the first time. Then turn around and do a Format then Clean Install.
    Well yes, you can clean install on any device that already has a digital entitlement. No key is needed for that. There will be no key to detect on a clean install on a Windows 7 PC anyway, OEM-SLP or not. There is no key in the BIOS to be detected. And I'm pretty sure Windows 10 only looks for a BIOS key on a clean install. It won't look for an OS stored key unless your doing an upgrade install.

    If that PC doesn't have a digital entitlement your OEM-SLP key is useless if entered manually. If it does have a digital entitlement you don't need to enter a key anyway.
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  10. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #20

    Slartybart said:
    Both are excellent suggestions.

    I think the idea is to retain the Retail rights of the existing Win7 licenses, so The111 would still need Showkey on the Win10 installs.

    Any thoughts?
    If the user wants to move the Windows 7 to other computers under the retail terms; then yes, the Windows 7 product keys will be required to do that.
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