Licence questions about home premium retail version

ianmozzy · 03 Jul 2016

Hello
I have windows 7 home premium , but apparently it is OEM, so cannot take to another machine or when I do a big upgrade. If I do the windows free upgrade to windows 10, it is still apparently tied to the computer.

I was looking at buying windows 10 home premium retail but have a few questions.

Firstly, I understand it is not tied to specific hardware, but can only be on one PC at a time. Is that correct?
I understand windows 10 is the last OS microsoft will make, so it makes sense to be able to use it in future computers if I buy another , or if I do large upgrades to the hardware. Is that also true?

Could I run dual boot with windows 7 and 10 in the mean time, with separate licences & keys for each on the same machine?

Can windows 10 home premium do software raid, specifically striped drives? My present OS cannot.

I am looking to maybe using windows 10 for entertainment like gaming so can use directx12, and also linux for everything else. Apparently linux does not need to be reinstalled if you change a lot of hardware. Windows obviously does.

Thanks

lx07 · 03 Jul 2016

There is no Windows 10 home premium - only Home and Pro. 7 Home Premium will get you an upgrade to 10 Home. There is a table here with the differences...

You are right - if you upgrade your OEM 7 Home Premium it is tied to that device (same as if you don't upgrade it actually).

If you buy a retail license for 10 you can move it between machines and you can certainly use it to dual boot with 7 on the same machine as you would have 2 instances of Windows and 2 licenses.

Any version of windows 10 can use Storage Spaces (which allows striping). Storage Spaces Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

I'm not sure you are correct about re-installing being required after changing hardware. Generally Windows will not need re-installing if you change hardware - it will try to install the drivers it needs on the first boot on the new hardware. You can then install any others that are required. You would need to activate it again but with a retail key this will not be an issue.

ianmozzy · 03 Jul 2016

Thanks for the reply.
A reinstall is probably the best way for things to run smoothly.
Ah so 'Windows 10 home' is the one I should be looking at. Storage spaces seems useful.

lx07 · 03 Jul 2016

Worth considering is the free upgrade stops on 29th of this month. It would probably be worth making a backup of your existing system and doing an upgrade. This will register that device on Microsoft servers. You can then restore back to 7 and if you decide at any point in the future to upgrade it will be free.

If you make big changes then you'll need to get a license (most likely) but if you kept the same PC and wanted 10 in future it would be a shame to have to pay for it for no reason.