How to upgrade another computer from Win 8.1 to Win 10 in 2024

jneil01 · 12 Mar 2024

Hello - I have Windows 10 on at least 3 computers. I also have an older computer that has Win 8.1 - I would like to upgrade it to Win 10. I downloaded the Win 10 upgrade media file, ran it, and it went fine until it got stuck at the screen that says my Win 8.1 software has not been activated and asks for a valid license key. I realize you can no longer upgrade for free, but I am not sure what to do. I have tried activating the 8.1 computer to no avail, but I'm not sure if that's even necessary. So I need some help -

1) Does Win 8.1 need to be activated in order to upgrade to Win 10?
2) If not, will a new valid Win 10 license key work to upgrade it?
3) I don't care if the hard drive is wiped. Would I be better off doing a clean install? If so, what do I need for that?

Thanks for your help,
John N

dalchina · 12 Mar 2024

Welcome to tenforums.

I don't care if the hard drive is wiped. Would I be better off doing a clean install?

Yes.

You need this:
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10
linked from
Clean Install Windows 10

- from the Tutorials section 'front page' - do feel free to have a look.

You will need a valid key- you can get these legitimately for under $40. E.g.
Daily free giveaways of paid apps & software
(scroll down).

Bree · 12 Mar 2024

Welcome to Ten Forums.

jneil01 said:

1) Does Win 8.1 need to be activated in order to upgrade to Win 10?

Yes, I saw the same thing when doing a serial in-place upgrade from XP > Vista > Windows 7 > Windows 10. At the W7 to W10 stage it required the W7 to be activated before it would begin the upgrade. You may have better luck if you disconnect from the internet before starting the upgrade, it may not then be able to determine the activation state.

2) If not, will a new valid Win 10 license key work to upgrade it?

I don't think there's any way you could provide a key during an in-place upgrade, it doesn't ask for one....

3) I don't care if the hard drive is wiped. Would I be better off doing a clean install? If so, what do I need for that?

....dalchina has answered that one. If a valid key is not accepted during the clean install then skip entering a key and install without one. Once installed you should be able to activate by changing the installed key.

Berton · 12 Mar 2024

A month or so ago I Upgraded a Win8.1 Home Notebook to Win10. Win8.1 was activated and I did the Upgrade using the MCT USB drive created from Microsoft site and while booted fully into Win8.1, did not boot to the USB. Win8.1 had only a Local Account with Administrative rights. Haven't seen any issues yet.

As I recall from when Win10 came out there were issues with Win8 and had to Upgrade to Win8.1 first.

jneil01 · 16 Mar 2024

Thanks for the replies. I have one question before I start the clean install - in order to boot from the USB drive I created, I have to change the BIOS boot order - so far so good. But I am wondering - during the install, when Windows wants to restart, do I have to go back and change the boot order again, so it doesn't try to boot from the USB drive?

I guess another question would be - when can I remove the USB drive?

Thanks,
John N.

dalchina · 16 Mar 2024

Before the first reboot. Of course, if your PC actually used a boot menu rather than BIOS boot device selection, no need to do anything..

jneil01 · 22 Mar 2024

Thank you - installation was easy after all. I still haven't bought an activation key - maybe later. For now, Win 10 works good enough for me.

Berton · 22 Mar 2024

I did an Upgrade from Win8.1 to Win10 couple months ago, ran the setup.exe file on the USB Thumb drive from within File Explorer while Offline instead of booting to the Thumb drive, worked fine and when finished went Online to update and Win10 was Activated.