Anniversary Upgrade W10 dual-boot license change

DavidE said:

I've read different threads/posts about Anniversary Upgrade license/activation changes/issues/questions.
My situation is different than what I've read, so i created this thread as an fyi for anyone interested in multi-boot.

Here's what happened for me with a multi-boot PC with 2 Win 10 OS's:

The Anniversary Update changed my Insider Preview W10 OS from a license with an expiration date to a permanently activated license.
This OS is not a free Upgrade license, it is the OS I installed before the official release of the free upgrade offer.
It always has been an Insider Preview OS with an expiration date until now.

This PC also has a W10 RTM (not an insider) OS that was the free upgrade from W7 to W10.
The W10 RTM OS has always been a permanently activated retail pro license.

I use the same MS Outlook.com address on both of these OS's, and i also have a Local Admin account on each OS.
To me, it seems the Anniversary Update "applied" my permanent RTM OS upgrade license to my Insider OS that should have an expiration date.
The Anniversary Update also changed my Local Admin account to a Local Standard account on the Insider OS.

Each OS is on a different drive, and all other drives were disconnected when installing the Anniversary update except the drive/OS being updated.

From what i see, i now have 2 permanent W10 OS's.
I should only have 1 permanent, and 1 with an expiration date.

All Insider versions of current version show no expiry date. This is so you can leave the Insider Programme if you wish keeping all existing files and programs. This only happens when the Official and Insider versions are the same.

The moment you get a new Insider build, they will have expiry dates again.

Do not confuse expiry date with activation. If you leave the Insider Programme in your case, it will deactivate as you never upgraded from a valid 7/8 or 10 licence.

I guess theoretically, you could stop all updates on your Insider version whilst remaining on the Insider Programme, and your version would remain activated and would not expire, but you could never update it again without reverting to the normal time-expiry versions.

cereberus said:

If you leave the Insider Programme in your case, it will deactivate as you never upgraded from a valid 7/8 or 10 licence.

Does it actually deactivate the current install? I always figured you were good until you had do the next clean install.

NavyLCDR said:

It won't deactivate the current install. Both current installs are on the normal digital license type activation and are permanent (and probably in violation of the EULA).

Yes, that part I know. I should have been more specific in my question. And I agree with the in violation of the EULA part.

If you have only ever run the insider preview from day one, and clean installed it originally. No upgrade from another OS. On a clean install will it activate?

NavyLCDR said:

It will if the activation screen shows a digital entitlement or license. When build 10240 came out as RTM, Microsoft gave insiders permanent digital activations.

Makes sense. I remember when the rules changed. Must have missed that part. Or just didn't understand the wording.

NavyLCDR said:

It will if the activation screen shows a digital entitlement or license. When build 10240 came out as RTM, Microsoft gave insiders permanent digital activations.

As far as I know this is not the case. If you were using Windows 10 TP, you had to remain on the Programme to remain activated, unless you had originally upgraded from a valid licence. This caused a lot of fuss as people said MS reneged on promise of a free licence if you were on TP. MS counter claimed you would remain activated provided you stayed on Programme.


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