Upgrade to Windows 10 using ISO

Hi, I don't have a lot of data at home so I downloaded the ISO at work. I tried a clean install but Windows won't accept my product key.

Is it possible to bypass the download in Windows 8 and upgrade using the ISO I downloaded?

Thank you.

Sure.

If you're upgrading an activate Windows 8 installation, just mount the .iso. (Double click it.) Start the upgrade from setup.exe, and run through the upgrade. Alternately, do the same thing from the device you prepared to do the clean install. (Launch it from within WIndows 8. Don't boot from the install medium.)

You shouldn't be asked for a key, and Win 10 should activate.

You do not receive a Win 10 license key with the free upgrade. The activation servers are supposed to recognize your hardware after the first upgrade install, permitting you to clean install on the same hardware in the future.

bobkn said:

Sure.

If you're upgrading an activate Windows 8 installation, just mount the .iso. (Double click it.) Start the upgrade from setup.exe, and run through the upgrade. Alternately, do the same thing from the device you prepared to do the clean install. (Launch it from within WIndows 8. Don't boot from the install medium.)

You shouldn't be asked for a key, and Win 10 should activate.

You do not receive a Win 10 license key with the free upgrade. The activation servers are supposed to recognize your hardware after the first upgrade install, permitting you to clean install on the same hardware in the future.

Thanks! Just a follow up question. Will this only work if you reserve the upgrade with the Windows icon in the tray?

The reason I'm asking is because I clean installed and to get that icon back I probably have to download all the updates or is there a specific update needed to get the upgrade icon?

petersteele said:

Thanks! Just a follow up question. Will this only work if you reserve the upgrade with the Windows icon in the tray?

The reason I'm asking is because I clean installed and to get that icon back I probably have to download all the updates or is there a specific update needed to get the upgrade icon?

You can run the upgrade from the .iso. Unfortunately, to be activated, you have to initially do the installation as an upgrade over an activated Windows 8. (Supposedly, subsequent clean installs will activate, if done on the same hardware.)

I doubt that you need to have all of the Win8 updates installed. Unfortunately, you may need Win 8.1 rather than 8.0. I hope that you can get there without needing to do a gigabyte or so of update downloads.

That's why I keep an image of my Win 8.1 drive on hand. I can restore it in about 10 minutes, to recover from any blunders I've made in the Win 10 upgrade.

bobkn said:

You can run the upgrade from the .iso. Unfortunately, to be activated, you have to initially do the installation as an upgrade over an activated Windows 8. (Supposedly, subsequent clean installs will activate, if done on the same hardware.)

I doubt that you need to have all of the Win8 updates installed. Unfortunately, you may need Win 8.1 rather than 8.0. I hope that you can get there without needing to do a gigabyte or so of update downloads.

That's why I keep an image of my Win 8.1 drive on hand. I can restore it in about 10 minutes, to recover from any blunders I've made in the Win 10 upgrade.

It worked from Windows 8 without any updates! Thanks for the help. Great to see the Microsoft community being such good neighbours.

petersteele said:

It worked from Windows 8 without any updates! Thanks for the help. Great to see the Microsoft community being such good neighbours.

Peter, are you saying you have an activated Windows 10 install from an 8.0 activation, for FREE? Using the download tool? That's a big question mark in our bleepingcomputer forum, here. Thank you for whatever time you spend, in reply!

brainout said:

Peter, are you saying you have an activated Windows 10 install from an 8.0 activation, for FREE? Using the download tool? That's a big question mark in our bleepingcomputer forum, here. Thank you for whatever time you spend, in reply!

Hi, sorry for the late reply. It did indeed work for me. It says Windows is activated under activation. The reason why it worked for me and not for others might be that although I upgraded from 8, I did already have 8.1 installed and activated on my system previously.