Will Free Windows 10 "Upgrade" work with Clean Install (CMPXCHG16b)?

Trev0r09 said:

My question is: With this free Microsoft Windows 10 "upgrade" policy, can I still take advantage of it, but using a clean install, instead of the (impossible) in-place Upgrade, using my valid Windows 7 Home Premium x64 retail Product Key?

No, you probably won't be able to do that.
The process will be an in place upgrade and I assume it's going to be quite the process!

Three things I'm not sure of:
- whether your current key will serve as the new Product Key or you'll be issued a new one,
- whether you need to run the Windows 7 Upgrade Preparation Tool,
- whether at time of upgrade it will run the 'Upgrade Assistant'
(The Upgrade Assistant or the upgrade process itself may address the issues unique to your machine)

...but if it does and your machine is good to go, the upgrade process will start.
Sometime during the process you should be given the opportunity to save the iso file. Then your machine plus the iso will be encoded with a 'Unique Identifier' and a timestamp of some sort.

(Then you may be able to perform a clean install with that iso on that machine only for the supported lifetime of the device. (I will admit, this was kind of a grey area)

This is the process I was lead to believe was going to be implemented.

Trev0r09 said:

A clean, full-wipe install of Windows 10 64-bit does *NOT* require this instruction, and does not look for it. I have successfully done this installation on my PC using this exact same processor, and it installed Windows 10 x64 and runs fine, without a hitch.

You're confusing the fact that the setup program does not scan for the instruction with "not requiring it". You may simply not have triggered something that uses the instruction yet. I doubt you've used every piece of the OS.

More importantly, Microsoft says it's required. You can certainly play Russian roulette, but when you system starts crashing for strange reasons you should know what the problem is.

Trev0r09 said:

(And no, saying "buy a new PC" or "it's time for new hardware" do not count as answers.)

I didn't suggest buying a new PC. I suggested updating your CPU. I'm sure you can find an AMD CPU that will fit your motherboard for $20 or less that has the instruction.

EDIT: On further research, it appears there are no Socket 939 processors that support CMPXCHG16b, you need at least an F2 stepping which means AM2 or better. Oh well.

Take a look at this (Win8 and Win10 are close enough in regards to reqs).
Upgrade to Windows 8.1 from Windows 7 - Windows Help

Run the Win8.1 upgrade assistant on your machine.
Upgrade Assistant: FAQ - Windows Help

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Your question is interesting, but I don't think anyone but Microsoft can answer it.

There's a rumor that goes: Win10 TP will be allowed to upgrade to Win10 RTM.
I don't see how MS will authenticate licensed machines - so my take is that it is only a rumor.

The FREE offer is an upgrade to licensed and authenticated Win7 SP1 or Win8.1 installs. They're still working out the details, so who knows - you might be able to phone authenticate your Win7 license, but where would you get the ISO? Maybe MS will provide an ISO download page that requires a key (that they provided in the phone call), as they did for Win8. I still think that would NOT be the offer they made - which is an upgrade, not a full install package.

The acid test would be to install Win10TP on a separate partions as a dual boot to Win7. On one client's machine, the DVD wouldn't even boot - so that machine definitely could not run Win10 (the DVD has been used on other machines that meet the system reqs). You might get farther and the install might finish, Win10 might even run.

If Win10TP does install and run, you have a legitimate complaint about the upgrade failure, if it doesn't install or it doesn't run - you'll have to upgrade your hardware.

Best I could do as some kind of answer.

MS is the only one who can provide more detail - but perhaps not until they figure out how things will work at RTM.

Slartybart said:

Take a look at this (Win8 and Win10 are close enough in regards to reqs).
Upgrade to Windows 8.1 from Windows 7 - Windows Help

Run the Win8.1 upgrade assistant on your machine.
Upgrade Assistant: FAQ - Windows Help

---

Your question is interesting, but I don't think anyone but Microsoft can answer it.

There's a rumor that goes: Win10 TP will be allowed to upgrade to Win10 RTM.
I don't see how MS will authenticate licensed machines - so my take is that it is only a rumor.

The FREE offer is an upgrade to licensed and authenticated Win7 SP1 or Win8.1 installs. They're still working out the details, so who knows - you might be able to phone authenticate your Win7 license, but where would you get the ISO? Maybe MS will provide an ISO download page that requires a key (that they provided in the phone call), as they did for Win8. I still think that would NOT be the offer they made - which is an upgrade, not a full install package.

The acid test would be to install Win10TP on a separate partions as a dual boot to Win7. On one client's machine, the DVD wouldn't even boot - so that machine definitely could not run Win10 (the DVD has been used on other machines that meet the system reqs). You might get farther and the install might finish, Win10 might even run.

If Win10TP does install and run, you have a legitimate complaint about the upgrade failure, if it doesn't install or it doesn't run - you'll have to upgrade your hardware.

Best I could do as some kind of answer.

MS is the only one who can provide more detail - but perhaps not until they figure out how things will work at RTM.

Thanks for the feedback, Slartybart -

Dude said:

Keep us posted on how it works out for you Trev. I wish you the best luck

Thanks, Dude. Will do -

By the way, here's how my Socket 939 X2 4400+ -based PC scores in GeekBench 2.0:

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/2530399


...still runs like a scalded weasel.