Re-Installing W10 from USB onto a VM

Kari · 21 Aug 2016

That Single Language is of course an exception; Sigle Language is only available as pre-installed OEM version, they key tied to that specific hardware and Windows.

Let's try again: Windows 10 Home, Home N, Home KN, Pro, Pro N, Pro KN, Education, Education N, Education KN, Enterprise, Enterprise N, Enterprise KN and Enterprise LTSB product keys, regardless if OEM, retail or volume licensing are totally language independent and can be used to activate any language version of the same edition of Windows 10.

Kari

tfwul · 22 Aug 2016

Thanks again Kari!
and probably...
this also counts for fresh installations on new pc's of Windows 10 versions that are/were actually upgrades from -retail- versions of 7-8.1.
After all, in the 'old' days, a boxed/retail version of Windows could be installed on new hardware, after properly being uninstalled on the old (slmgr.vbs -upk)

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jimbo45 · 23 Aug 2016

Hi there

1) Upgrading from W7 / W8 / W8.1 to W10 -- you can only upgrade to the same edition WITH SAME BASE LANGUAGE - e.g HOME Premium to Home premium - one exception is that W7 Ultimate will upgrade to W10 Pro as there's no W10 Ultimate.

2) As Kari says you can install Language packs on the relevant issues of Windows - simply then in settings change the display language (and can also change the logon splash screen etc too) to your desired language.

3) Multiple languages need W10 PRO or ENTERPRISE -- you can't add languages to HOME PREMIUM (seems silly to me but that's the rules).

Cheers
jimbo

tfwul · 23 Aug 2016

Kari wrote
"retail or volume licensing are totally language independent and can be used to activate any language version of the same edition of Windows 10."

I have 7 Ultimate and 8.0/8.1 Pro all upgraded to W10 Pro.
So, to my understanding, when I do a clean install, i.e. using the .iso from Media creation tool and I am at the point of choosing the interface-language, I can then select English, even though the original 7/8/8.1 was non-English.

Like the below...

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Kari · 23 Aug 2016

Yes, you have understood it correctly.

jimbo45 · 24 Aug 2016

Kari said:

Yes, you have understood it correctly.

Hi there
@Kari

That's new then -- I knew VL (or Volume) wasn't a problem - but most people here don't have VL licences -- Retail I thought could only install the original base language although of course with PRO versions and up you can add languages.

OK then I stand corrected if that is the case. My stuff for W7/W8/W8.1 was from the old TechNet system which wasn't strictly speaking "True Retail". For example the "Retail" versions allowed 10 activations on the same or different hardware per key - etc.. No wonder Ms shut the program down --it really was great value while it lasted. !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

Kari · 24 Aug 2016

jimbo45 said:

That's new then -- I knew VL (or Volume) wasn't a problem - but most people here don't have VL licences -- Retail I thought could only install the original base language although of course with PRO versions and up you can add languages.

Windows product keys really are not language specific, have never been. You can install English Windows XP Pro with product key from French XP Pro DVD pack, Spanish Windows 7 Home Premium with Mongolian Windows 7 Home Premium product key, US English Windows 10 Pro with Canadian French Windows 10 Pro key.

You can also upgrade Windows 10 with another language version, but you can only keep installed software and your files and settings if the language version is the same or if the base language is the same (EN-US and EN-GB have same base, for instance, as well as SWE-SWE and SWE-FIN).

French (Canada) Windows 10 Pro can be upgraded to next build with French (France) Windows 10 Pro install media without product key, keeping the apps, settings and files, Portuguese (Brasil) Windows 10 Home can be upgraded with Portuguese (Portugal) Windows 10 Home install media without product key, keeping apps, settings and files, both these example cases because the base language (Portuguese) remains the same.

However, French (France) Windows 10 Pro can also be upgraded to next build without product key using Portuguese (Portugal) Windows 10 Pro install media but in this case user cannot keep apps, settings and files because base language is different.

Kari