Clean install now possible?

GatsbyGlen said:

Great! Thanks for the info :)

Your welcome Sir.

COMPUTIAC said:

No, you will not.
Since you did the upgrade the proper way, you won't have a problem.

I tried the clean install after upgrading and having the upgrade activated.

I was asked for a key but was able to skip entering one and proceed with the installation. (There's a button for that.)

The new Win 10 installation was activated online almost immediately.

Perhaps I'm being too literal-minded here. The installer will request a key, but you won't need one. Which is good, because you won't receive one. Activation is based on Microsoft's servers deciding that you're re-installing on the same hardware, presumably based on the hardware hash that the installer sends to the activation, as has been done since XP.

bobkn said:

I tried the clean install after upgrading and having the upgrade activated.

I was asked for a key but was able to skip entering one and proceed with the installation. (There's a button for that.)

The new Win 10 installation was activated online almost immediately.

Perhaps I'm being too literal-minded here. The installer will request a key, but you won't need one. Which is good, because you won't receive one. Activation is based on Microsoft's servers deciding that you're re-installing on the same hardware, presumably based on the hardware hash that the installer sends to the activation, as has been done since XP.

OK, since you have everything covered so well, What if anything is your question ?

GatsbyGlen said:

Oh, so if I were to do a clean install at a later point (on the same machine), I won't be prompted for a key??

You'll be prompted during the clean install but just skip it if you have already activated the upgrade. When you finish it will automatically activate.

Hi Guys,

Yesterday, I did an upgrade from Win7 to Window 10 Home. Using the media creation tool. During the upgrade, I had selected "Keep Nothing" option. The Windows 10 is activated now. Does this mean my system went through a "Clean Install"?

I can also see "Windows.old" folder with around 22 GB of data. Will running the disk cleanup tool be sufficient or do I need to perform it again using USB or Bootable DVD?

Please advice. As I was about start the installation of the other softwares on my laptop.

Thanks,

Sid

PRMan said:

You'll be prompted during the clean install but just skip it if you have already activated the upgrade. When you finish it will automatically activate.

Interesting. Anyway, I used a tool I found here called ShowKeyPlus to document the Win 10 key, if ever needed.

Showkey - Windows 10 Forums