Windows 10: More free upgrade and activation questions answered

I can't even begin to understand all the terms and conditions listed in the EULA, so I just formed my own opinion based on all the rules originally laid out by Microsoft when the free upgrade first started. Some of it has disappeared, been taken down, rewritten etc. And it's open to interpretation. Lots of people have a very different interpretation of those rules, and I respect that. That's why I don't debate it anymore. It's a no win conversation at best, IMHO.

retreaded said:

I upgraded all my PCs, including my laptop to Win10 before the deadline. Unfortunately my laptop had to be rolled back due to no support for Bluetooth (Lenovo). The laptop ran Win10 fine but without Bluetooth support, that was a deal breaker for me. My question: If some 3rd party should come along and provide my laptop with a Bluetooth driver, will I be able to re-install Win10 for no fee?

Welcome to the Ten Forums! retreaded One immediate advice I can pass along is how I was able to get an old XP/Vista discontinued PCI type tuner card to work normally on the 64bit 10 Pro as well as still not finding any 10 support for the older model Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI Express sound card that only saw upto 8.1 support. That is what I used!

For the old tuner card being far more problematic the solution was finding out the exact chipset used on the old PCI card was then put to use on a newer PCIe version while the software changed a bit from the old Legacy/XP gui to a newer Media Center appproach. When 10 instantly found the 8.1 driver I still needed a working app and gave the new card's MC approach the test and found that went wel.

For the sound card the 8.1 driver set wasn't neglected by the 10 WU either while sound card's software portion had to be looked up for the 8.1 flavor which then sees the web updater run following the system restart required for the 10 update you still can't find at the support site anywhere. Creative is simply too busy pushing newer models out to be bothered and lets the web updater do the work.

retreaded said:

I upgraded all my PCs, including my laptop to Win10 before the deadline. Unfortunately my laptop had to be rolled back due to no support for Bluetooth (Lenovo). The laptop ran Win10 fine but without Bluetooth support, that was a deal breaker for me. My question: If some 3rd party should come along and provide my laptop with a Bluetooth driver, will I be able to re-install Win10 for no fee?

Yes. Once Windows 10 has been on a machine, you have a digital license for it.

Only one gotcha: If it's an OEM that came with Home on it and you've upgraded it to Pro, you may have to jump through a few hoops to get back to Pro.

If the above applies, go to this thread and read the first post. Installation and Activation of Windows 10 Pro - Windows 10 Forums

I don't know if there's a tutorial on this issue yet.

jshaw42 said:

Can I assume that if I use the Anniversary Upgrade ISO on an already upgrade W10, everything is covered and I don't need to be online?

Sorry to be a pest. I just don't want to fry my wife's laptop.

What does being online or offline have to do with frying the laptop? Not trying to be a smart @ss, I just don't get that? If you do it offline, you won't get any updates until you go online. It won't activate until you go online. But yes, if you have the ISO you can do it all offline, if you so chose. I do all mine online. Upgrades and clean installs.

Wynona said:

Yes. Once Windows 10 has been on a machine, you have a digital license for it.

Only one gotcha: If it's an OEM that came with Home on it and you've upgraded it to Pro, you may have to jump through a few hoops to get back to Pro.

If the above applies, go to this thread and read the first post. Installation and Activation of Windows 10 Pro - Windows 10 Forums

I don't know if there's a tutorial on this issue yet.

I did the free upgrade, then latter on reinstalled the original Windows 8.1 OS I upgraded from, on my laptop as a test. It activated just fine. Then after that I did a clean install of Windows 10, skipped entering a key, and it activated with the Digital License it got originally with the free upgrade. You don't lose the Digital License by going back to the original OS.

jshaw42 said:

Can I assume that if I use the Anniversary Upgrade ISO on an already upgrade W10, everything is covered and I don't need to be online?

Sorry to be a pest. I just don't want to fry my wife's laptop.

Replying again because I want to add to what I already said. Worst case scenario is a corrupted install. In that case you just do a clean install of the Anniversary Edition. It will activate with the preexisting DL. Problem solved in most cases. I prefer a clean install over an upgrade in any month with a week in it.

alphanumeric said:

I did the free upgrade, then latter on reinstalled the original Windows 8.1 OS I upgraded from, on my laptop as a test. It activated just fine. Then after that I did a clean install of Windows 10, skipped entering a key, and it activated with the Digital License it got originally with the free upgrade. You don't lose the Digital License by going back to the original OS.

Talk about jumping through hoops, Alpha! Frankly, I'm pretty sure my 8.1 Pro will no longer activate, since it's been several months since I upgraded to Pro, and MS says you only have 30 days to roll back.

However, that said, through all the testing we've all been doing, there is more than one way to skin this OS, but . . . new info says maybe not for too much longer . . .

Did I give the impression that the Digital License would be lost by going back to the original OS, or are you being sure the OP knows that it won't be lost? I truly don't want to give wrong info.

Wynona said:

Talk about jumping through hoops, Alpha! Frankly, I'm pretty sure my 8.1 Pro will no longer activate, since it's been several months since I upgraded to Pro, and MS says you only have 30 days to roll back.

However, that said, through all the testing we've all been doing, there is more than one way to skin this OS, but . . . new info says maybe not for too much longer . . .

Did I give the impression that the Digital License would be lost by going back to the original OS, or are you being sure the OP knows that it won't be lost? I truly don't want to give wrong info.

I was just being sure the OP knows that it won't be lost. Your post was fine. I did my reinstall of Windows 8.1 well after the 30 day rollback period ended. To prove you could go back after the 30 days. It's 30 days because a scheduled disk cleanup deletes the Windows.old. Once the Windows .old is deleted Rollback won't work, there is nothing left to roll back too. You can still clean install the original OS if you have install media.