Windows 10 Pro Upgrade from Win 8.1 Pro license key

Hey, I've been running insider preview since build 98xx, after final build came I decided to to a clean install and get my "free" license so I installed Windows 8.1 Pro with a valid license during initial setup I as prompted that I could upgrade to Windows 10 for free, this was after I had singed inn to my Microsoft account, I ran the said upgrade and installed Windows 10, but i noticed that it actiaved with the insider preview key (VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T), Where as showkeyplus shows both that key and my initial Windows 8.1 key.

How do I get a proper key for my installation of Windows 10?

Once again, this should be a "sticky" :) No keys are involved

"The basic process is that when you perform an upgrade to Windows 10 (over a genuine Windows 7 or 8.1 system), an anonymous and unique hardware hash is generated that is based on your systems hardware configuration. Since it is anonymous, you do not have to use a Microsoft Account. This hardware hash is generated even if you choose to install Windows 10 with a Local Account.
That same hardware hash is sent to Microsoft servers and a corresponding certificate is created to validate your systems activation status. From this point forward any future installs, including one where you delete all partitions and install Windows 10 from scratch, will be activated because of that unique hardware hash and the corresponding certificate. Since it is all stored on Microsoft’s servers there is no reason for us to keep a backup either."
http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/h...s-10-activated

Thank you for quick response and explanation, how does is this hash effected if i switch out my system SSD?

night said:

Thank you for quick response and explanation, how does is this hash effected if i switch out my system SSD?

From what other people have posted it would activate ok.

Torquemada said:

Once again, this should be a "sticky" :) No keys are involved

"The basic process is that when you perform an upgrade to Windows 10 (over a genuine Windows 7 or 8.1 system), an anonymous and unique hardware hash is generated that is based on your systems hardware configuration. Since it is anonymous, you do not have to use a Microsoft Account. This hardware hash is generated even if you choose to install Windows 10 with a Local Account.
That same hardware hash is sent to Microsoft servers and a corresponding certificate is created to validate your systems activation status. From this point forward any future installs, including one where you delete all partitions and install Windows 10 from scratch, will be activated because of that unique hardware hash and the corresponding certificate. Since it is all stored on Microsoft’s servers there is no reason for us to keep a backup either."
http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/h...s-10-activated

As you said this hash is based on hardware, if for example, I upgrade/ downgrade my RAM/ Processor or something as such, what happens then?

Fahid said:

As you said this hash is based on hardware, if for example, I upgrade/ downgrade my RAM/ Processor or something as such, what happens then?

I should imagine it will be like all previous versions of Windows, there will be a threshold as far as hardware changes are allowed. When that is reached it won't reactivate and you'll get the dreaded "ring Microsoft" . All will become clear as people actually have to do this.

Fahid said:

As you said this hash is based on hardware, if for example, I upgrade/ downgrade my RAM/ Processor or something as such, what happens then?

Its my experience that upgrading RAM has no impact on the windows activation, however upgrading you CPU ( or even taking an 8 core and disabling 4 cores) can cause issues. I ran into this when overclocking my AMD 8120 8 core CPU (with only 4 cores active) after activating windows 8.1pro with all 8 cores running , I received a prompt that my hardware had changed and I would have to reactivate windows. Long story short I had to call MS and explain exactly what happened after which they provided me with a working key. Needless to say now I am running winX I have all 8 enabled in order to avoid this issue a 2nd time.

How do I get a proper key for my installation of Windows 10?

The consensus on this from other threads is that you -- don't. Win10 activation appears to be based on hardware hashes, not product keys. So, when you do the Upgrade, the hardware hash is generated and sent to MS. That's so, if you later do a clean install of Win10 on that same hardware, it will reactivate without problems -- because it already has the hardware hash. This also explains why so many folks have mentioned they all have the same Win10 product key.

I can confirm that changing RAM does not affect activation. I have an old desktop whose RAM I have upgraded repeatedly over the years, and not once, have I had to deal with reactivation. I've even changed hard drives -- went from an HDD to an SDD, and then, to a newer, larger SDD, and although it was deactivated upon reboot, almost immediately, it automatically reactivated.

Torquemada said:

Once again, this should be a "sticky" :) No keys are involved

"The basic process is that when you perform an upgrade to Windows 10 (over a genuine Windows 7 or 8.1 system), an anonymous and unique hardware hash is generated that is based on your systems hardware configuration. Since it is anonymous, you do not have to use a Microsoft Account. This hardware hash is generated even if you choose to install Windows 10 with a Local Account.
That same hardware hash is sent to Microsoft servers and a corresponding certificate is created to validate your systems activation status. From this point forward any future installs, including one where you delete all partitions and install Windows 10 from scratch, will be activated because of that unique hardware hash and the corresponding certificate. Since it is all stored on Microsoft’s servers there is no reason for us to keep a backup either."
http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/h...s-10-activated

I tried for 6 days to activate a clean install of windows 10 using my OEM key extracted from the bios + 4 long sessions to Microsoft answer desk but as things began to unfold and checking out various posts around the net it became clear that you MUST do an upgrade on an activated win 7 /8 /8.1 system . So biting the bullet I began the process of reinstalling 8.1 pro and activating then updating to win 10 pro which activated automatically as you describe , then I used the media creator tool to create the win 10 iso which I then used rufus to make a bootable uefi USB and performed a clean install of windows 10 ( I almost couldn't look at the activation area of system properties for fear that it hadn,t worked) but it was fine . I believe we were all misled a bit by Microsoft when we thought we could use our genuine windows 7/8/8.1 key to do a clean install but it cant be done as far as I can understand . Tip : don't know if it made any difference but on installing the clean install I skipped all the prompts to insert a product key and it still activated ..... pewwwww