Win 10 won't upgrade legal activated win 7 pro

Windows 10 Media-creation tool downloads and runs up until the point where it puts out a message that there is a problem with the Windows 7 product key. (sorry, I don't have the exact text at the moment)

This Windows 7 Pro 64 is an unquestionably legal oem installed OS and it was activated successfully.
The Windows 7 PC is joined to a domain whose PDC is Windows Server 2016 and it works in all respects -- so far!

I don't understand why Windows 10 would refuse to upgrade Windows 7.

I really need to upgrade this PC to Windows 10.

Ideas???

Thanks...

I was having this argument with a mate about 2 weeks ago - if the free Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade had finished or not.

As a test I started up an activated Windows 7 x86 HP in VMware, then cloned it (I know, breaks EULA but I deleted it after the test). I downloaded the current Windows 10 iso, mounted it in the VMware DVD drive, and ran setup.exe from within Windows 7. When it was done, I had a peek in activation and it said activated with digital license.

My understanding of VMware is that Microsoft sees any VM as a completely separate, new installation - so I guess I got a free upgrade.

wyeknott said:

Windows 10 Media-creation tool downloads and runs up until the point where it puts out a message that there is a problem with the Windows 7 product key. (sorry, I don't have the exact text at the moment)

This Windows 7 Pro 64 is an unquestionably legal oem installed OS and it was activated successfully.
The Windows 7 PC is joined to a domain whose PDC is Windows Server 2016 and it works in all respects -- so far!

I don't understand why Windows 10 would refuse to upgrade Windows 7.

I really need to upgrade this PC to Windows 10.

Ideas???

Thanks...

Upgrade Install does NOT require product key. Unless you were doing a Clean Install.
When you were asked for product key, select the "I don't have a product key" ( or SKIP if you see that), and continue.
Activation is supposed to be automatic providing your Win 7 Pro has a legit license.

Perhaps you want to start over.
Revert your system back to Win 7 Pro > make sure it is activated > and run the Upgrade Install again.
It could be possible that your entering of the Win 7 Pro product key when you were asked had complicated the process.

davidhk said:

Upgrade Install does NOT require product key. Unless you were doing a Clean Install.
When you were asked for product key, select the "I don't have a product key" ( or SKIP if you see that), and continue.
Activation is supposed to be automatic providing your Win 7 Pro has a legit license.

Perhaps you want to start over.
Revert your system back to Win 7 Pro > make sure it is activated > and run the Upgrade Install again.
It could be possible that your entering of the Win 7 Pro product key when you were asked had complicated the process.

That's how I have done it but only with Win7 w/SP1 and Win8.1 as per the requirements of the free offering and with the Assistive Upgrading. And it was done while booted into Windows. For a couple of computers for a non-profit and wanting to save the data I created the Factory Restore discs, changed the HDDs [legal requirements], installed the restore discs on the clean HDDs, booted to Win7 then Upgraded to Win10. It went quite smoothly and didn't take as much time as I thought it would. Things have been good for nearly a year now so I can now clean the original drives.

davidhk said:

Upgrade Install does NOT require product key. Unless you were doing a Clean Install.
When you were asked for product key, select the "I don't have a product key" ( or SKIP if you see that), and continue.
Activation is supposed to be automatic providing your Win 7 Pro has a legit license.

Perhaps you want to start over.
Revert your system back to Win 7 Pro > make sure it is activated > and run the Upgrade Install again.
It could be possible that your entering of the Win 7 Pro product key when you were asked had complicated the process.

Hi Davidhk,

I didn't enter a product key for Win 7 Pro - it's as if the upgrade tool decided it didn't like the existing key. But, it doesn't say why and this PC is genuine and activated. I couldn't find any log information that explained the problem in language I could understand.

wyeknott said:

Hi Davidhk,

I didn't enter a product key for Win 7 Pro - it's as if the upgrade tool decided it didn't like the existing key. But, it doesn't say why and this PC is genuine and activated. I couldn't find any log information that explained the problem in language I could understand.

I misinterpreted. My apology.
I have no solution for you, for the time being.
Wish you success in upgrading to Win 10 Pro.

cereberus said:

It is possible the issue lies with the key itself.

Run showkeyplus, use "check product key tab", enter key.

Then click on keys to hide them and post image.

Sorry, I seem to have mis-read your instructions.
Here's the TXT file from client's PC with keys munged:
-----------------
ShowKeyPlus - Windows Product Key Information

Product Name: Windows 7 Professional

Version: 7601.Service Pack 1 (64-bit OS)

Product ID: 00371-OEM-8992671-00211

Installed Key: *****-*****-*****-*****-*****

OEM Key: #####-#####-#####-#####-#####

OEM Edition: Win 8 RTM Professional OEMM
------------------------

It looks to me as if they got downgrade media with the PC and downgraded from Win 8 Pro to Win 7 Pro.
I thought that should be perfectly alright.

-Wye