Why Activate?

quarkrad said:

Three times I have tried to go from my legit win7 to win10 but it fails C1900101-20017 - so I cannot get win10. I can do a clean install via the downloaded iSO but obviously cannot get it activated becuase I do not have a win10 key. From what I have read there are two relatively weak issues by it not being activated, otherwise it is fully functional (update wise). So ... why activate win10 - just do a clean install?

There is a workaround for this.

Yen courtesy of MDL said:

1. Validate your w7 SP1 (W8.1) online, best using IE.

2. Generate a genuine ticket of your installation by:

2.1 Copy gatherosstate.exe from your downloaded Windows 10 10240 ISO to your installation which should be upgraded.

2.2 Run it on your activated and validated Windows. It'll output GenuineTicket.xml. Save this on a USB thumb drive or something.

2.3 Then do a fresh install with your suitable w10 ISO, skip to enter key at setup procedure.

2.4 Once it's installed make sure your internet connection is DISABLED/do not enable the internet connection!
2.5. Copy GenuineTicket.xml to C:\programdata\microsoft\windows\clipsvc\genuineticket\ of your w10 installation.

2.6.Reboot w10 and connect online, it should activate.

NB: gatherosstate.exe is in the /Sources folder of the Win10 iso. GenuineTicket.xml can only be generated on an activated sytem and contains your hardware ID and underlying Win 7 activation.