Used Windows 7 Key to activate Windows 10 - 10586

Antilope · 20 Nov 2015

My wife has a Dell Inspiron 1545 notebook computer that had Windows 7 Home Premium. I upgraded it to Windows 10 - 10240 in July 2015 and it activated right away. I just got a good deal on a 120GB SSD drive and installed that in the old notebook, replacing the old spinning hard drive. Tried to do a clean install, skipping entering the key, and when Windows 10 - 10586 booted up it said it was not activated and wouldn't activate automatically.

So, I tried the new option of entering the Windows 7 Home Premium key that came with the notebook computer. In this case the Windows 7 key was printed on a label that is under the removable battery. It worked entering the Windows 7 Home Premium key and Windows 10 - 10586 activated instantly. I used the Settings, Activation, Change Product Key option to enter the Windows 7 Home Premium key.

So if a clean install of Windows 10 - 10586 doesn't activate automatically, try entering your old product key from Windows 7.

Winuser · 20 Nov 2015

Thanks for letting us know that using the Windows 7 key will work.

Antilope · 20 Nov 2015

Everyone has a digital camera now. Take a picture of your Windows Product Key labels just in case they get damaged. It's easy for the product key to be scraped or rubbed off the label. It's good to have a backup.

spapakons · 21 Nov 2015

Your clean-install without key probably failed because you chose Pro instead of Home. To activate you must install the version for which you are digitally entitled on Microsoft servers. Selecting the wrong version doesn't activate and you need to buy a new license. Entering the Windows 7 key (in new build only) makes sure you install the right version as it is done automatically and you are not given the option to choose (and make a mistake).