Microsoft Explains When You Need a Windows 10 Product Key and When You

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  1. Posts : 490
    Windows 10 Pro
       #20

    [QUOTE=halasz;409169]What are you basing this assertion on? It isn't how it works for me.

    If you upgrade Windows 7 or 8 to ten you can NOT transfer to another PC without talking to MS techs as the PID is not recognized by the phone activation robot.. The PIDs generated by upgrades are never accepted by the phone activation system irrespective of what you upgraded from (OEM or retail).

    However a retail 10 Pro with a key you CAN transfer to another PC using only the phone activation robot as the PID is accepted.[/QUOTE/]

    You have to activate by phone anytime an entitlement activation is involved in a transfer. The automated agent can't provide an activation string when any blocked product key is involved, whether a generic Windows 10 key or any other generic key.
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  2. Posts : 10,311
    Wndows 10 Pro x64 release preview channel
       #21

    [QUOTE=Cbarnhorst;409191]
    halasz said:
    What are you basing this assertion on? It isn't how it works for me.

    If you upgrade Windows 7 or 8 to ten you can NOT transfer to another PC without talking to MS techs as the PID is not recognized by the phone activation robot.. The PIDs generated by upgrades are never accepted by the phone activation system irrespective of what you upgraded from (OEM or retail).

    However a retail 10 Pro with a key you CAN transfer to another PC using only the phone activation robot as the PID is accepted.[/QUOTE/]

    You have to activate by phone anytime an entitlement activation is involved in a transfer. The automated agent can't provide an activation string when any blocked product key is involved, whether a generic Windows 10 key or any other generic key.
    So basically activation has changed since Windows 7.

    I ran the preview version of Windows 7 until RTM then bought a retail copy.
    During the time I used Windows 7 I changed motherboard 3 times, CPU twice, changed HDs once, memory twice and graphics card 3 times. Never once did I have to phone MS to activate. It just remained activated.
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  3. Posts : 490
    Windows 10 Pro
       #22

    [QUOTE=DooGie;409202]
    Cbarnhorst said:

    So basically activation has changed since Windows 7.

    I ran the preview version of Windows 7 until RTM then bought a retail copy.
    During the time I used Windows 7 I changed motherboard 3 times, CPU twice, changed HDs once, memory twice and graphics card 3 times. Never once did I have to phone MS to activate. It just remained activated.
    That could have been the case prior to the activation changeover just before rtm. Up until that time clean installs of a preview activated. But with rtm even new insider builds have to comply with the new activation technology. Microsoft uses two terms for activation now, entitlement activation and product key activation. Entitlements include Get Windows 10 program upgrades, whether from OEM or retail licenses, OEM self-activations, etc. Product key activations are stand-alone licenses, Home to Pro upgrades via the Store, etc. Any situation where a generic key is inserted during installation is an entitlement activation. If you used XP Mode during Windows 7 days, that was also an entitlement activation, since the key was generic. All generic keys are blocked on the activation servers.

    A Microsoft paper outlining Windows 10 activation scenarios is at

    Activation in Windows 10 - Windows Help
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  4. Posts : 343
    Windows 10
       #23

    DooGie said:
    "(manual re-activation is needed when you make significant changes to your PC configuration, such as replacing the motherboard)."

    That's the statement I've been waiting for, up until this a lot of users were under the impression they would have to purchse a copy of Windows 10 if they significantly updated their PC. It appears not.
    Good to hear as I'm planning on a new motherboard, CPU and SSD early next year. Have to see if it works without having to make a phonecall to MS support.
    Well that's not necessarily true. Sometime activation fails when non-significant changes are made and the way to correct the activaion error is to call MS.
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  5. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #24

    Hi there

    there is ONE LEGAL way of getting a W10 activation on a new computer if you change the Mobo etc.

    Do the following --it worked for me (I changed from a computer with AMD CPU that was dying to a brand new Intel Mobo with HD graphics and INTEL CPU).

    1) Re-install my old W7 Ultimate (retail) on the new computer, upgrade all the fixes and then activate. Activation by phone was OK -the Robot actually worked OK -- made me enter a set of numbers but no probs.

    2) Backup the newly installed W7 system (always do that in case of problems / or to recover a working OS).

    3) do the W10 upgrade using the upgrade tool. Skip the serial number prompt

    4) The W10 system will now be activated.

    5) Now Backup again - just in case activation is lost. (Backup the w10 system).

    6) Clean install --Hey presto it's activated.

    On RETAIL W7 you CAN move to a new computer -- and from there you can get the W10 upgrade FREE.

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 319
    Windows 10 Pro
       #25

    "Once the upgrade is complete, the system automatically activates (assuming you were running a genuine version of Windows 7 or 8.1), with Microsoft then allowing you to clean-install without asking for a product key anymore."

    This statement in the article is un-true for me...it didn't work as they printed it. I have screen shots of an activated Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 after I did the upgrade; but the clean install would not activate and Microsoft Support didn't help me. I even asked to get my case escalated to an engineer and that was refused.

    What a headache this has been for me.
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  7. Posts : 15,027
    Windows 10 IoT
       #26

    gzt7d8 said:
    "Once the upgrade is complete, the system automatically activates (assuming you were running a genuine version of Windows 7 or 8.1), with Microsoft then allowing you to clean-install without asking for a product key anymore."

    This statement in the article is un-true for me...it didn't work as they printed it. I have screen shots of an activated Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 after I did the upgrade; but the clean install would not activate and Microsoft Support didn't help me. I even asked to get my case escalated to an engineer and that was refused.

    What a headache this has been for me.
    When you did the clean install, did you install the correct version? For example, if you got 10 Home with the free upgrade, but install Pro, or the N version, that will happen.
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  8. Posts : 44
    Windows 10 Pro
       #27

    jimbo45 said:
    Hi there

    there is ONE LEGAL way of getting a W10 activation on a new computer if you change the Mobo etc.

    Do the following --it worked for me (I changed from a computer with AMD CPU that was dying to a brand new Intel Mobo with HD graphics and INTEL CPU).

    1) Re-install my old W7 Ultimate (retail) on the new computer, upgrade all the fixes and then activate. Activation by phone was OK -the Robot actually worked OK -- made me enter a set of numbers but no probs.

    2) Backup the newly installed W7 system (always do that in case of problems / or to recover a working OS).

    3) do the W10 upgrade using the upgrade tool. Skip the serial number prompt

    4) The W10 system will now be activated.

    5) Now Backup again - just in case activation is lost. (Backup the w10 system).

    6) Clean install --Hey presto it's activated.

    On RETAIL W7 you CAN move to a new computer -- and from there you can get the W10 upgrade FREE.

    Cheers
    jimbo
    I had that problem before, luckily phone activation did it through for me (thru Robot call). If it didn't, I would have insulted Microsoft's real CS lol.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #28

    gzt7d8 said:
    "Once the upgrade is complete, the system automatically activates (assuming you were running a genuine version of Windows 7 or 8.1), with Microsoft then allowing you to clean-install without asking for a product key anymore."

    This statement in the article is un-true for me...it didn't work as they printed it. I have screen shots of an activated Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 after I did the upgrade; but the clean install would not activate and Microsoft Support didn't help me. I even asked to get my case escalated to an engineer and that was refused.

    What a headache this has been for me.
    Phone them again (and again). Some of their engineers are better than others.

    They seem to have a list of "go away" answers like "restore back and upgrade again" or "the line is very bad" or "can I have your number" or "we have a technical issue at the moment try in 2 days".

    If you get any of these just hang up and try again. And again. 2 times now I've had clean install fail to activate (on the same hardware). I've been given 2 new Windows 10 keys to use.

    It is untrue that you always get activated when you clean install after having a activated 10.. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
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  10. Posts : 490
    Windows 10 Pro
       #29

    halasz said:
    Phone them again (and again). Some of their engineers are better than others.

    They seem to have a list of "go away" answers like "restore back and upgrade again" or "the line is very bad" or "can I have your number" or "we have a technical issue at the moment try in 2 days".

    If you get any of these just hang up and try again. And again. 2 times now I've had clean install fail to activate (on the same hardware). I've been given 2 new Windows 10 keys to use.

    It is untrue that you always get activated when you clean install after having a activated 10.. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
    I agree. I had to call and got transferred twice, but then I got a level two agent who remoted in and not only fixed the activation issue but inserted a retail product key in the bargain. Now I have a free $200 product key for my trouble. Great service.
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