Can't seem to find a retail version of Windows 10. Mine is unregistered and I keep wanting to customize it but cant. If I get an OEM and then get a new motherboard I wont be able to reinstall (as far as I know) so I was looking for a retail version but Best Buy, Newegg and Amazon don't have anything but OEM.
I tried Microsoft Toolkit but there are no servers available.
My motherboard is not compatible with Windows 11
Thanks . . .
I'm still using my Windows 7 so I cant do that. That's why I never activated 10. I have a Win-7 OEM disk I used for my laptop but I still use the laptop once in a while. It came preinstalled with XP and I upgraded it to 7. Do you think it will work without killing the laptop?
Sven1458's suggestion might work but I will have to reinstall from scratch if I get Windows 10 Pro. It's inconvenient but doable. I don't have a lot installed on my Win-10 because the programs I use dont work on it. I had to get Windows 10 to install TurboTax starting in 2021. Windows 10 Pro has virtualization capabilities and I think I might want to play around with that to install Windows XP to see if I can keep AutoCad 2004 working but for now I have dual boot to XP which is fairly easy to do but the browser locks up if I try and check the weather at Weather Underground so XP is on it's last leg for any internet use.
The world is moving too fast for us old codgers . . .
Are you dual booting Win 7 and Win 10 on same computer?
I don't see as a license violation to have Win 7 and Win 10 using same license on same computer.
First of all, Microsoft has done away with the distinction between OEM and retail licenses. They now allow OEM licenses to be moved (and even copied) from computer to computer. Secondly, with Windows 10 digital licensing, a product key only needs to work once. It does not need to keep working after you get the digital license for Windows 10.
For $6 you could get this:
Buy cheap Windows 10 Professional 32 64 Retail Key - Electronic First
I purchased a product key from them as an experiment. The first product key I received from them did not activate. I called Microsoft, and it was a little bit of a hassle, but Microsoft themselves activated it and the whole process took about 30 minutes. Then toss the product key it is never needed again because you have a digital license (which is very easily converted both ways between an OEM and Retail digital license). Microsoft told me that if I wanted a re-useable product key (and not just a digital license which I could always copy to a new computer anyway), that I would need a replacement from the company. I emailed the company that information and they immediately, within an hour, sent me a new product key which did activate the first time. I was using Virtual Machines for this experiment, which only cost me $7 and a little bit of time to do.
And, as others have stated, old Windows 7/8/8.1 product keys, even OEM keys, will still activate Windows 10 - the exception being if the Windows 7 product key came from an old computer's BIOS - that is not a real product key, just a marker.
To be honest, you are making a much larger deal out of this than needs to be.
Also, you said you would need to install from scratch to get Windows 10 Pro. That is absolutely 100% incorrect. Just upgrade Home to Pro. It takes less than 15 minutes for the upgrade. You could even upgrade your current, unactivated Windows 10 Home to unactivated Windows 10 Pro.
I did not know that, especially the part about the OEM version or I would never have posted anything . . . I dont know why you are saying I'm making a BIG DEAL out of it as if I should know better. Knowledge is everything and ya gotta ask in order to get it. I will definitely try this option as soon as I get my key. I tried getting one on line but after I paid they said they were out of stock but I did get a refund two days later so I'm a little leery of trying that again.
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