Win10 upgrade and a retail purchase of Win10 Pro- not the same.

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  1. Posts : 3,257
    Windows 10 Pro
       #101

    alphanumeric said:
    Link to that info, if you have it please? What happens if you do that but don't wipe, the previous install/upgrade? What's to stop somebody from doing endless free upgrades with that one windows 7/8.1 Product code?
    If you have a retail copy, nothing. Just like nothing stops you from installing that retail Windows 7/8.1 on endless machines. After a while, Microsoft will require you to call them to activate, and if, say you put the key on the internet, and a billion people started activating the same key, it would be blocked.

    I really don't understand why this seems strange to you. Retail keys have always been more or less on the honor system up to a point.
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  2. Posts : 9
    Win 10
       #102

    alphanumeric said:
    How do you figure that? You can only activate with the generic key, if you first upgraded from an activated qualifying OS, and then activated Windows 10. Clean installs using that generic key on hardware not already previously activated, like I mentioned, will fail activation. That's the way its supposed to work anyway.
    Hey what he's trying to say is:
    -2 PCs
    -1 copy of Windows, e.g. Win 7 Ultimate

    Start with Win 7 Ultimate on PC 1. Upgrade to Windows 10.
    Transfer Win 7 Ultimate to PC 2. Upgrade to Windows 10.
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  3. pal
    Posts : 43
    Win10
       #103

    Mystere said:
    What part of "After the year of free upgrades is over, this will still work" didn't you understand? Your old Windows 7/8.x key is stored in MS's activation servers as having been free upgraded, so any time you re-upgrade it will activate even after the 1 year.
    How do you know that? We only know the hardware id of your computer is stored. Which is why they write "Once you upgrade, you have Windows 10 for free on that device" .
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  4. pal
    Posts : 43
    Win10
       #104

    edd1234 said:
    Hey what he's trying to say is:
    -2 PCs
    -1 copy of Windows, e.g. Win 7 Ultimate

    Start with Win 7 Ultimate on PC 1. Upgrade to Windows 10.
    Transfer Win 7 Ultimate to PC 2. Upgrade to Windows 10.
    The purpose of the activation server is to control this. You cannot just activate Windows on every machine you want to.
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  5. Posts : 3,257
    Windows 10 Pro
       #105

    pal said:
    How do you know that? We only know the hardware id of your computer is stored. Which is why they write "Once you upgrade, you have Windows 10 for free on that device" .
    Because the license says you can transfer an upgraded retail copy, and if they didn't allow you to, it would be a huge class action lawsuit.

    It's very simple, when you upgrade, your old product-id and hardware hash are sent to MS's activation servers. If you are performing a clean install, then it will look up your hardware hash and find you've already activated that device, and activate. If you are performing an upgrade install it will look up the product key and see that it's already been marked as an upgrade, and again activate the new hardware, storing the hardware activation hash of the new hardware with it for further keyless re-installs.

    Stop assuming the worst, people. Microsoft has *ALWAYS* been very lenient when it comes to activations, and this isn't going to change.

    As for "lifetime of the device", you just have to realize that 95% of all copies of Windows are OEM and cannot be transferred, so the vast majority of the time when they say something, they're referring to OEM copies. They're not going to confuse 95% of the people with talk about retail copies.
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  6. Posts : 15,025
    Windows 10 IoT
       #106

    Ok, let the free for all, begin.
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  7. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #107

    Mystere said:
    If you have a retail copy, nothing. Just like nothing stops you from installing that retail Windows 7/8.1 on endless machines. After a while, Microsoft will require you to call them to activate, and if, say you put the key on the internet, and a billion people started activating the same key, it would be blocked.

    I really don't understand why this seems strange to you. Retail keys have always been more or less on the honor system up to a point.
    Exactly! Thank you! Absolutely correct! Applause, applause!
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  8. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #108

    alphanumeric said:
    How do you figure that? You can only activate with the generic key, if you first upgraded from an activated qualifying OS, and then activated Windows 10. Clean installs using that generic key on hardware not already previously activated, like I mentioned, will fail activation. That's the way its supposed to work anyway.
    ----sigh----

    Computer #1 has Windows 7 installed with a retail key. User upgrades to Windows 10 and it activates. Windows 10 will now activate on that specific computer with that specific hardware configuration for the life of that hardware configuration because Windows 10 activation is now based upon two things and two things only - the generic key that Microsoft has provided to everyone who upgrades and that specific hardware configure from which Windows 10 calculates a unique and anonymous hardware ID - because it has activated once already as an upgrade.

    Now, user installs that same Windows 7 retail version using the same key on computer #2. Microsoft is bound by their contract to activate it - they will just ask user to verbally verify to them that that Windows 7 is installed on one computer. User upgrades that activated Windows 7 to Windows 10 and it activates. Windows 10 will now activate for the life of that specific hardware configuration of computer #2 because activation is now based upon the same generic key that Microsoft has provided and a hardware ID calculated from the specific hardware in computer #2 - because it has activated once already as an upgrade on computer #2.

    User installs the same Windows 7 retail version and key on computer #3. Microsoft will activate it when user tells Microsoft that Windows 7 with that key is on only one computer. User upgrades computer #3 to Windows 10. Windows 10 will activate for the life of that specific hardware in computer #3 because now Windows 10 activation is based only upon the generic key provided by Microsoft and the hardware ID Windows 10 calculates from the hardware configuration of computer #3 - because it has already activated as an upgrade on computer #3.

    User installs the same Windows 7 using the same retail key on computer #4..........

    Is that really that hard to figure out?
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  9. Posts : 15,025
    Windows 10 IoT
       #109

    NavyLCDR said:
    ----sigh----

    Computer #1 has Windows 7 installed with a retail key. User upgrades to Windows 10 and it activates. Windows 10 will now activate on that specific computer with that specific hardware configuration for the life of that hardware configuration because Windows 10 activation is now based upon two things and two things only - the generic key that Microsoft has provided to everyone who upgrades and that specific hardware configure from which Windows 10 calculates a unique and anonymous hardware ID - because it has activated once already as an upgrade.

    Now, user installs that same Windows 7 retail version using the same key on computer #2. Microsoft is bound by their contract to activate it - they will just ask user to verbally verify to them that that Windows 7 is installed on one computer. User upgrades that activated Windows 7 to Windows 10 and it activates. Windows 10 will now activate for the life of that specific hardware configuration of computer #2 because activation is now based upon the same generic key that Microsoft has provided and a hardware ID calculated from the specific hardware in computer #2 - because it has activated once already as an upgrade on computer #2.

    User installs the same Windows 7 retail version and key on computer #3. Microsoft will activate it when user tells Microsoft that Windows 7 with that key is on only one computer. User upgrades computer #3 to Windows 10. Windows 10 will activate for the life of that specific hardware in computer #3 because now Windows 10 activation is based only upon the generic key provided by Microsoft and the hardware ID Windows 10 calculates from the hardware configuration of computer #3 - because it has already activated as an upgrade on computer #3.

    User installs the same Windows 7 using the same retail key on computer #4..........

    Is that really that hard to figure out?
    And then Microsoft figures out what you did and deactivates all 4 PC's. Assuming it actually works in the first place. I'm not testing it out to see. If your intent on cheating the system, IMHO that's what your doing, then you may do that. On the other side of the coin, they get so strict that legitimate installs won't activate.
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  10. pal
    Posts : 43
    Win10
       #110

    Microsoft will of course not allow that. If you use your retail license to upgrade another machine, you'll lose the first one. Nothing else makes sense.
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