Bad news for insiders they will have to give up a key for the RTM.

groze said:

@alphanumeric

Once you upgrade windows version to another windows version it consumes that key. That what I meant by giving up.

Once again, it doesn't say "key", it says "license". And what they mean by "consume" is that you cannot take that you cannot (legally) take that Windows 7 or 8.x disk and install it on another computer at the same time you are running Windows 10 that was upgraded from that license.

You are still free to go back to Windows 7/8.x if you delete your Windows 10 installation. In other words, the new license is tied to the old license. That doesn't mean the old license is invalid, just that it's either 7/8.x or 10, but not both.

CountMike said:

I doubt anything would stop bootleggers, even hard keys got broken.

No better mouse trap yet ?

cyberrufus said:

Your 7 or 8.x key will be good for either 10 or your previous OS. If you become dissatisfied with 10 you can revert back.

BTW, there is no "free" upgrade to insiders without a valid 7 or 8.x OS. People tend to believe what they want to and that has taken on a life of its own.

Did you not read Gabe Aul's Tweet?

Gary said:

Did you not read Gabe Aul's Tweet?

Unfortunately, Gabe tends to be a bit terse. What he means is "Yes, you can upgrade to Windows 10 from the Insiders Preview for free, using your valid Windows 7/8.x key".

Mystere said:

Once again, it doesn't say "key", it says "license". And what they mean by "consume" is that you cannot take that you cannot (legally) take that Windows 7 or 8.x disk and install it on another computer at the same time you are running Windows 10 that was upgraded from that license.

You are still free to go back to Windows 7/8.x if you delete your Windows 10 installation. In other words, the new license is tied to the old license. That doesn't mean the old license is invalid, just that it's either 7/8.x or 10, but not both.

I already know that. That not what I am saying.

For example I can't keep this set up after the RTM is released even if I remain an insider. I don't have access to another windows 7 installation media.

Windows 7 Primary Partition 1 Oem clean install
Windows 10 Primary Partition 2 pro preview

So, I have to chose one or the other not both. I chose 7 unless they come up with a deal for the insiders.

Gary said:

Did you not read Gabe Aul's Tweet?

That tweet was already addressed on another thread.

A post made by myself a couple of days ago in thread "3 security updates" is perhaps relevant to this thread. I reprint.

"I suppose after faultless updates on all W10 previews from the beginning it was inevitable that something unforeseen would occur.
This latest update caused havoc, reason being "locked drive" which changed NTFS to RAW on "E" Drive.
I must explain, my setup consists of two SSD,s .."C" Drive W8.1 Pro and "E" Drive W10.

Not only was "E" drive affected, "C" drive needed a scannow and a dism to correct a corrupted W8.1.

All attempts to open W10 using all the Advanced methods failed, including Safe mode Admin, due to locked drive.
Finally solved the problem by disconnecting "D" Drive, had to fix corrupted drive "C" then reconnecting "D" drive which then proceeded to "scanning and repairing drive" which appears to have solved the problem."

The point I am trying to make is up until the above quoted updates both drives were connected separately in the computer and choosing which one I wanted to work with was made either by clicking F8 or changing the boot order in the bios.

Now this is no longer possible I believe, only one Microsoft O/S can use the same key at one time even though they are entirely separate systems.

I get round this problem by disconnecting one or the other drive.

alphanumeric said:

It says, you will need a valid Windows 7/8.x license. No where does it say you give it up?

groze said:

alphanumeric

Once you upgrade windows version to another windows version it consumes that key. That what I meant by giving up.

alphanumeric said:

That's your interpretation, not mine.

I don't know whom is not understanding whom.

Microsoft use to have upgrade disk. Windows 98se to WindowsME.

When you used the WindowsME upgrade disk, you had to show the path to win98se cab files or insert your windows 98se disk to upgrade. Once upgrade to WindowsME you were not suppose to use the same Windows 98se on another partition because that would violate the EULA. I think that what they are doing with windows 10. Of course, you can remove 10 and go back to 8.1 or 7. Just like you could remove windowsME and go back to windows 98se without violating the eula.