Help! Updating from Windows 10 Insider build

spapakons · 05 Oct 2015

Bogester said:

In the end I reinstalled Windows 7 and now I can upgrade to Windows 10. Surely I shouldn't have had to do this and I should've been able to go straight from an insider build of Windows 10 to the official release?

Windows Setup checks for a specific build version to allow upgrading. The Windows Insider Preview has a higher build number from either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, so it doesn't pass this check and upgrade is not normally allowed. Sorry to hear that you had to reinstall Windows 7, because there is a workaround! You can cheat by copying all the Windows setup files to a folder like W10SETUP. Then go to folder sources, find file cversion.ini and open it with Notepad. Replace both values with your own build number. To find out which is that press Win+R to open a run dialog and execute the command winver. After you set both values to your build save the file and start setup from the folder where you copied the files. Your Windows version should now qualify for an upgrade! I had a notebook where I installed the Insider Preview for testing purposes. I had installed too many applcations that I didn't want to format and clean install Windows 10 RTM. So I did this trick and it upgraded to Windows 10 Pro final without any issue! I was even able to automatically activate it, legally!

NavyLCDR · 05 Oct 2015

spapakons said:

Windows Setup checks for a specific build version to allow upgrading. The Windows Insider Preview has a higher build number from either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, so it doesn't pass this check and upgrade is not normally allowed. Sorry to hear that you had to reinstall Windows 7, because there is a workaround! You can cheat by copying all the Windows setup files to a folder like W10SETUP. Then go to folder sources, find file cversion.ini and open it with Notepad. Replace both values with your own build number. To find out which is that press Win+R to open a run dialog and execute the command winver. After you set both values to your build save the file and start setup from the folder where you copied the files. Your Windows version should now qualify for an upgrade! I had a notebook where I installed the Insider Preview for testing purposes. I had installed too many applcations that I didn't want to format and clean install Windows 10 RTM. So I did this trick and it upgraded to Windows 10 Pro final without any issue! I was even able to automatically activate it, legally!

And this is how your method violates the EULA:
Section 2.c:

2. Installation and Use Rights.
c. Restrictions. The manufacturer or installer and Microsoft reserve all rights (such as rights under intellectual property laws) not expressly granted in this agreement. For example, this license does not give you any right to, and you may not:
(iv) work around any technical restrictions or limitations in the software;

You even call your method a "workaround".

And then - and I'll have to switch computers to quote it - but the EULA for the evaluation builds of Windows 10 are for evaluation and testing ONLY - not using that build as a basis to obtain a free upgrade to a new installation of Windows 10 that the user would not otherwise qualify for without upgrading from a fully licensed and activated Windows 7/8/8.1.

CountMike · 05 Oct 2015

NavyLCDR said:

And this is how your method violates the EULA:
Section 2.c:

You even call your method a "workaround".

And then - and I'll have to switch computers to quote it - but the EULA for the evaluation builds of Windows 10 are for evaluation and testing ONLY - not using that build as a basis to obtain a free upgrade to a new installation of Windows 10 that the user would not otherwise qualify for without upgrading from a fully licensed and activated Windows 7/8/8.1.

Therefore my post #10, only ways to legally have licensed version of Windows 10 are to upgrade from licensed copies of eligible previous Windows, buy retail version or obtain device with OEM Windows 10. Just being an insider (to my chagrin too), does not make you eligible but you can always stay in Insider program, I have one of each and am not sorry, both work just fine in dual boot.

Ztruker · 05 Oct 2015

What build did you have? If you kept up with the insider program you would have had build 10240 which is identical to the released version of Windows 10. You could have kept it and stayed with the insider program and would currently be at build 10547. Or you could have left the insider program and as long as you started with a legal, activated Win 7, 8 or 8.1 that would have been it and you would have been at the RTM level and no longer an insider.

See the post by Andre Da Costa here for more info on this if you're interested: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...0-90aff47aa1ce

spapakons · 06 Oct 2015

Yes I realize this is not allowed by the EULA. Sorry, I didn't mean to help getting Windows 10 illegally, I just said there is a way to install Windows final in Insider. To be legal though you should upgrade from 7 or 8.1

NavyLCDR · 06 Oct 2015

spapakons said:

Yes I realize this is not allowed by the EULA. Sorry, I didn't mean to help getting Windows 10 illegally, I just said there is a way to install Windows final in Insider. To be legal though you should upgrade from 7 or 8.1

Well, also, it would seem that the computer would have to have an activation entitlement saved on the MS activation servers for the build 10240 to be activated if upgraded to from a previous Insider build. So the person upgrading that way may only end up with a permanently installed build 10240 that isn't activated.

A previous insider build may only have a product key activation which may not have created an activation entitlement on the MS server.