New
#1
Retail license W10 upgrade permanent?
So the MS position on upgraded Win 7 / 8 machines is straight-forward: for the life of the device. But what does this mean for non-OEM people, who are using a retail Windows license, which they upgrade to Windows 10?
If they get a new PC, and install Windows using their retail key, what will happen? Will it lose its upgraded status on a new PC, and will they then only be able to install Windows 7 or 8 with it - whichever it originally was for? Will it not be accepted as a Windows 7 / 8 key any longer? Will it work to register the new PC for Windows 10 (de-registering its association with the previous hardware)?
The only restriction for retail licenses is that they can be used on one PC at a time - but there is no limit to the number of times it can be transferred to a new PC. This doesn't harmonize with the MS statement of "for the lifetime of the device" - but MS can't take away a person's owned Win 7 / 8 retail license - which should supposedly be upgraded to Win10 status.
I'm guessing the same license will transfer as usual, and allow Windows 10 to be installed on new PC hardware, just as it works for doing that with Windows 7 / 8. But MS haven't addressed this in particular. Their statements seem to only acknowledge OEM license considerations.