Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First  

As with any new version I have spent time with I always end up needing to find solutions for varying issues including previously as well as lately waiting for something to be updated. Between two desktops and a laptop I have already seen several clean installs with only one now a second on a VM however upgrades come out in working shape! The guide however will be a real timer as you saw for yourself on no longer needing to run into any buggy upgrade installs to see 10 go right on fresh.

The second desktop saw the upgrade go smooth as well as the 10565 Insider build upgrade over the current 10240 RTM on the VM set up to evaluate Insider builds by intent there! Since nothing there can actually be activated the Fast option for receiving each newer build won't be any problem while I plan to keep the physical installs running a long time!

For a key "Good for All" you then need to get into looking at Volume Licensing which falls under a totally different category. Large companies as well as small businesses and hardware vendors typically those types. You can use one key on 100 machines type licenses are the usual there.

Custom builders on the other hand selling custom built pcs like Alienware will have another single pc "OEM for System Builder" type license also an option available at Newegg, TigerDirect, etc. as well as the full retail license if you have multiple systems planned. For the gatherosstate.exe file described here you have to run that on separately on each machine that already has the activated installation for one of the previous versions. 7 with SP1, 8, or 8.1 qualifying. Home or Home Premium to 10 Home along with Pro or Ulimate(Windows 7 only not 8, 8.1) for the 10 Pro.

NavyLCDR said:

It is specific to the computer on which it was made - otherwise there would be one file that everyone could use universally.

Yep, that's correct... I wrote this script to display the hardwareID (save as a .ps1 file in the the same folder as GT.xml - this is based on one from Win 7 but works with Win 8 GT's as well)

Code:

$Path = $PSScriptRoot + "\GenuineTicket.xml"

[xml]$GT = Get-Content ($Path)

$node = $GT.genuineAuthorization.genuineProperties.properties

$Split = $node -split (';') 

if (($Split[0] -like '') -or ($Split[1].StartsWith("OA3"))) {

    $SessionID = $Split[2] -replace ("SessionId=")
}
else {
    $SessionID = $Split[0] -replace ("SessionId=")
}

$Decoded = [System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetString([System.Convert]::FromBase64String($SessionID))

$Split = $Decoded -split (';') 

$HwID = $Split[4] -replace ("Hwid=")

$HwID = [System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetString([System.Convert]::FromBase64String($HwID))

$Path = $Path -replace ("GenuineTicket.xml", "SessionID.txt")

$key = $GT.genuineAuthorization.genuineProperties.signatures.signature.key

$downlevelGTkey = [System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetString([System.Convert]::FromBase64String($key))


"SessionID:`n" + $Decoded -replace (';',"`n") | Set-Content $Path

"Hwid is RSA-SHA256 encrypted!:`n" + $HwID |  Add-Content $Path

"`nDownlevelkey:`n" + $key |  Add-Content $Path

"`nKey is RSA-SHA256 encrypted!:`n" + $downlevelGTkey |  Add-Content $Path

Invoke-Item $Path

Hello sos, :)

If you have a Windows 7 Pro, then you would need to install Windows 10 Pro, and not a W10 N Pro.

If you used the same key to activate more than one installation at the same time, then this could be why it was blocked.

That's for sure! The "N" in 10 Pro N when seeing it with "7 Pro" as in "7 Pro N" equals "NO GO" or simply "Not Happening"! You are defeating your own efforts there. sos1043

As far as seeing multiple 10 installs activated on the same machine I would think it would be a day or so between separate installs on the same machine unless upgrading from two separate editions of previous versions one Home the other Pro to see both 10 Home and 10 Pro simultaneously since each install needs the correct upgrade path.

Regional Distribution plays a role since an N build wouldn't what you would see in the US, UK, Canada, and other countries in these parts of the globe. But you have to remember that MS news pointing to 192 which includes the Eastern European block as well as Asia and South America as well as the African continent and Middle East since MS is global. Back when Vista Basic and 7 Starter were seen those were directed to developing countries. And to this day you will still find 34 language packs in the Optional updates available.