Question about upgrading to windows 11 over a Windows 10 Pro OEM key

You will not be able to use the same key for both installs. Personally I would go with 11.

NavyLCDR said:

Completely incorrect. You can use the same product key for hundreds of installs of the same edition of Windows 10 or 11 (IE: Home or Pro) on the same computer.

No you cannot, especially if they are on the same machine. You are the one who seems to complain that non-activated versions of Windows are illegal, now you are stating that it is legal to use the same key to do installs in the hundreds if not thousands. You have to have a Volume license agreement to use a Volume key, not a home user/OEM/Retail key. Even if on the two drives, the activation servers will not allow it.

TWB said:

Windows 11 upgrade on a clone of the original drive, and maintain the original drive with the original Windows 10 install in the event I want to stick with it after trying Windows 11.. It was more of a thought exercise on if doing that would screw up access to the original drive if I reinstalled it into the machine.

Rather labyrthine way of thinking. Use image backups. Cloning is predominantly designed to copy a drive for hot replacement if existing drive fails or is to be replaced.

Image backups do exactly what you want and are much more space efficient - you can have mutiple backup images at different stages etc.

bro67 said:

No you cannot, especially if they are on the same machine. You are the one who seems to complain that non-activated versions of Windows are illegal, now you are stating that it is legal to use the same key to do installs in the hundreds if not thousands. You have to have a Volume license agreement to use a Volume key, not a home user/OEM/Retail key. Even if on the two drives, the activation servers will not allow it.

You are incorrect. A digital licence will automatically activate same edition of Windows 10 or 11 (e.g. both pro).

There is absolutely no difference between a w10 key or a w11 key.
@NavyLCDR is correct about it being against EULA to run unactivated.

It is technically against EULA to dual boot two installations of Windows with same licence key but that rule predates digital licences. Install a second copy of Windows on same pc (same edition) and it activates automatically. The absurd point is you cannot comply with EULA even if you tried.

The only way to fully comply is uninstalling windows 10 say each time you install Windows 11 and vice versa but that is absurd as well.

You can reinstall W10 or W11 hundreds of times on same pc perfectly legally if the only installation. What is slightly against EULA is to multiboot with same licence but as I said, MS automatically activate multi boot installations (also EULA is a bit vague anyway).

However, you can only run one instance at a time, so in effect you meet the spirit of the EULA.

What is definitely forbidden is to use the same licence key on multiple devices - that is piracy.

You make the following statement

Even if on the two drives, the activation servers will not allow it.

Have you ever tried it - obviously not!

Please do not make such statements without trying it!

NavyLCDR said:

+1! For safety reasons I would NOT remove the M.2 SSD because you drop that little retaining screw and....

Yep LOL.