Ditto. I see allegations from certain seemingly knowledgeable posters that a MS "account" is NOT needed for any upgrade/clean install purposes, possibly UNLESS you are coming from an "insider" install. A purely "local account install" is sufficient.
More to be revealed over the next few days as more experimentation is done.
Retrieve your product code and google the last 5 digits. https://www.tenforums.com/software-ap...7-showkey.html All 4 of my PC's that I upgraded for free have the same generic common product code. Activation is most likely done by the hardware hash of the PC, likely even linked to your Microsoft account. It's not tied to your product code as in the past. This also stops you from moving your install to another PC by activating with your product code on that PC. The product code is a common code so no way to tell what install was moved and from what PC. You may have a Retail version but the free upgrade does not have full retail rights, IMHO.
I did not register my MS account / e-mail when reserving my copy, it is not associated with my upgrade, and I am fully activated.
Nah, I am just trying to make sure that the mass confusion of what MS was up to with the upgrade is starting to slowly getting straightened out. For the longest time, I was convinced that I would get a shiny new valid Retail Win10 product number from each of my Win7/8.1 product keys, a nice one to one swap. It has only been on the past few weeks that MS started actually making it somewhat less murky (let alone a nice, clear, consistent FAQ).
Are people really able to just jump from a Win7 OS and do a clean install of Win10? I simply did not think that was possible at all but I have heard some say that it does indeed work. If that is the case, a lot of what I feel is my understanding of exactly how the Win10 upgrade works will radically change. Again.
Alpha, thanks for the defense. I am a grizzled old campaigner and this was mild in comparison to other sites.
I suppose that it's like an oem version. I am installing my W10 upgrades to relatively modern motherboards with solid capacitors which will hopefully last well. I hope that if I have software or hdd problems, that a clean install from an ISO would be accepted by Microsoft.
Hi there
Actually there's a bit of mis-information in this thread.
For example I installed (from scratch again) a Win 8.1 version I got from TechNet when that program was active. I activated it and then installed W10 upgrade (free one).
If I check the product key AFTER W10 installed - it actually has TWO -- an "OEM" key which is the TechNet key for my W8.1 Pro and the generic key from W10.
I did a new clean install and Windows remained activated -- no probs and it has all the Retail extra features so it IS the same as the retail version.
Now being a TechNet W8.1 it means you can usually use a key 5 - 10 times before "Activations exceeded" message - so I tried again on another machine.
No problem - activation and upgrade as before on totally different hardware.
Now if you are using an OLD retail version of W8.1 - you can activate by phone for moving to a new machine. W10 upgrade will then work.
If it's an OEM version of Windows then the old restriction remains that the W8.1 system is only valid ON THAT MACHINE - so moving W10 to a new machine doesn't arise --just like moving the OS to a new machine. Nothing new at all.
So what you have to do --on ANY machine you want to run W10 on using the FREE upgrades is to get the old OS ACTIVATED first and then upgrade -- and if it's an old retail copy which you want on a NEW machine then simply activate by phone. If it's an OEM copy -- No go I'm afraid unless you upgrade ON THE SAME MACHINE.
So what's the problem.
Cheers
jimbo
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