Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10586 for PC Insider

Fafhrd · 15 Nov 2015

Superfly gave a list of acceptable windows 7/8/8.1 keys acceptable for 10565 direct activation a few weeks ago:

Next big Windows 10 release will ease activation hassles - Page 3 - Windows 10 Forums

I installed 10565 using the MCE key when asked for a key the first time during setup - accepted after a pause, while I guess it was checked, then the install was activated "with digital entitlement" when it completed.

The MCE had previously been used for Windows 8, then retired when I upgraded to 8.1. I have another MCE key which was never used during the period it was supposed to be eligible for upgrading 8Pro to 8MCE. I wonder if that would still be valid?

I'd also used a key from a Windows 7 Starter COA on the back of a dead netbook on a totally different desktop - which was accepted and activated on a machine which has never seen windows 7 or 8 Home edition.

Anything non-SLP seems to be accepted as a valid key for a clean install, and SLP is acceptable for an upgrade. Since the upgrade can then be clean installed, it seems kinda pointless to exclude SLP keys at this point.

Wynona · 15 Nov 2015

alphanumeric said:

I haven't used one of my Windows 10 MSDN keys yet. I did the free upgrade on my 4 home PC's. Now that you can install and activate 10 with 7 and 8 keys, I have way more keys than I'll ever use for Windows 10. I still have unused TechNet keys for 7, 8.0 and 8.1. Same deal for MSDN only it's 7, 8.0, 8.1 and 10. I'm not going to run out any time soon.

Neither will I, Alpha. I still have plenty of Windows 7 Pro keys, but unless I actually build a new PC (and it could happen), I won't need any of those. Since they're Technet, I can't pass 'em out.

I gave my one retail Windows 7 upgrade to my daughter so she could upgrade Vista in order to use Office 365 2016. I still have to convince her to upgrade to Windows 10!

groze · 15 Nov 2015

Fafhrd said:

Anything non-SLP seems to be accepted as a valid key for a clean install, and SLP is acceptable for an upgrade. Since the upgrade can then be clean installed, it seems kinda pointless to exclude SLP keys at this point.

Fafhrd
I never got around to testing OEMSLP as a clean install. From what I understand you can upgrade from Oemslp and it will activate but you won't be able to do a clean install of windows 10 but I could be wrong.

I also had a fluke when I was testing insider builds my oemslp was actually upgraded to windows 10 pro insider preview and it was permanently activated. I haven't tried installing a pro

alphanumeric · 15 Nov 2015

Fafhrd said:

Superfly gave a list of acceptable windows 7/8/8.1 keys acceptable for 10565 direct activation a few weeks ago:

Next big Windows 10 release will ease activation hassles - Page 3 - Windows 10 Forums

I installed 10565 using the MCE key when asked for a key the first time during setup - accepted after a pause, while I guess it was checked, then the install was activated "with digital entitlement" when it completed.

The MCE had previously been used for Windows 8, then retired when I upgraded to 8.1. I have another MCE key which was never used during the period it was supposed to be eligible for upgrading 8Pro to 8MCE. I wonder if that would still be valid?

I'd also used a key from a Windows 7 Starter COA on the back of a dead netbook on a totally different desktop - which was accepted and activated on a machine which has never seen windows 7 or 8 Home edition.

Anything non-SLP seems to be accepted as a valid key for a clean install, and SLP is acceptable for an upgrade. Since the upgrade can then be clean installed, it seems kinda pointless to exclude SLP keys at this point.

Ok, great, thanks for the added info and clarification.

You can do the free upgrade from a system with an in use OEM-SLP key. I verified it myself. I would say they are just blocked from entering them manually during a clean install. Which makes sense. They are listed on the Internet. Anybody could hunt one up and enter it in and get a free Windows 10 install.

alphanumeric · 15 Nov 2015

Wynona said:

Neither will I, Alpha. I still have plenty of Windows 7 Pro keys, but unless I actually build a new PC (and it could happen), I won't need any of those. Since they're Technet, I can't pass 'em out.

I gave my one retail Windows 7 upgrade to my daughter so she could upgrade Vista in order to use Office 365 2016. I still have to convince her to upgrade to Windows 10!

I don't give mine out either, that's why I have so many. I only use my keys for PC's I actually own. As it should be. Not everybody does that though. Which was likely one of the reasons TechNet got killed off. At least we get to keep and use any keys we had before it was cancelled.

mfaklis · 15 Nov 2015

It was a complete surprise to me and caught me off-guard.

Night Hawk · 15 Nov 2015

Here I saw both upgrades from the 10240 build on the physical drives upgrade to the 10586 without issue besides a few small apps and no keys required since 10 had already been activated on both desktop. On VMs on both machines however the 10586 Insider Preview immediately took the 7 key there and saw the VM activate while the Threashold 2 VM failed!

I have never been able to get any 7 VM to activated where that could be upgraded to end up with an activated 10 upgrade VM while the TH2 upgrade over the 10586 went smooth as silk there besides a couple of apps needing either new shortcuts to pin or put back on again as to be expected with any upgrade install with any version of Windows note! 10 isn't in a lonely hearts club all by itself in that area.

lx07 · 16 Nov 2015

Night Hawk said:

I have never been able to get any 7 VM to activated where that could be upgraded to end up with an activated 10 upgrade VM while the TH2 upgrade over the 10586 went smooth as silk there besides a couple of apps needing either new shortcuts to pin or put back on again as to be expected with any upgrade install with any version of Windows note! 10 isn't in a lonely hearts club all by itself in that area.

I'm not sure I quite understand you. Are you saying when you upgrade an activated VM from 7 to 1511 it isn't activated any more? This certainly works for me. You aren't trying to use the same key for different VMs are you?

mfaklis · 16 Nov 2015

My desktop has two video cards driving four LCD monitors. When I did the Windows 8.1 Professional x64 upgrade to windows 10, I had just two display working. The upgrade didn't load the driver for one of my display cards. The vendor dropped support stating it the card was obsolete. I manually loaded the Windows 8 driver which worked, but I was unable to reinstall any of the video card utilities.

larc919 · 16 Nov 2015

mfaklis said:

The vendor dropped support stating it the card was obsolete. I manually loaded the Windows 8 driver which worked, but I was unable to reinstall any of the video card utilities.

Take this for what it's worth since I haven't kept up with replies you got. But the vendor often isn't the best place to look for display card drivers. Nvidia and to a lesser extent AMD (Radeon), for instance, are better sources of current drivers for older cards with their chips.