What happens to those free Windows 10 upgrades after July 29, 2016?

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  1. Posts : 135
    Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit)
       #50

    alphanumeric said:
    I see what your saying, I just wanted to clarify I wasn't using an MSDN key in this instance, that's all. MSDN or not had no bearing on what happened on my clean install. All current Windows 10 install media does the same thing.
    @alphanumeric.

    Let me share you this " its really messed up and has been for awhile being in the inside of all this " and hopefully it all gets resolved
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 135
    Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit)
       #51

    Its all in the hands going forward to our CEO what will happen its his call " lets just hope he makes the right choices at the right time "

    There has been lots of hush hush the last 6 months " lets wait and see what is in the works "
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 15,027
    Windows 10 IoT
       #52

    orlbuckeye said:
    Well whether there is an embedded key or not when upgrading the process checks if the upgraded version is genuine. Once it's detemined it's genuine the digital entitlement takes place.

    I'm was technet member when it went away
    That's the thing though. I'll just run one more thing by you and then let this whole thing drop. Assume I have never installed Windows 10 on my laptop. It came from the factory with Windows 8.0 Core. I wait until after the 29 th and then decide to buy Windows 10 Pro. I put the DVD in and run the setup. Instead of 10 Pro I get 10 Home. No prompt for a key and no prompt to select Home or Pro. It read and used the 8 core key. The free upgrade is over though so it will not get a digital entitlement. The key in use will be the generic Home key. It will fail to activate. Is that right? I know what to do next but I bet you a lot of your basic PC users won't and will have to call Microsoft to sort it out. And be not to happy about it. If it had rejected the windows 8 key I would have been prompted to select home or Pro, and prompted to enter a product code. A much better scenario IMHO.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 135
    Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit)
       #53

    alphanumeric said:
    That's the thing though. I'll just run one more thing by you and then let this whole thing drop. Assume I have never installed Windows 10 on my laptop. It came from the factory with Windows 8.0 Core. I wait until after the 29 th and then decide to buy Windows 10 Pro. I put the DVD in and run the setup. Instead of 10 Pro I get 10 Home. No prompt for a key and no prompt to select Home or Pro. It read and used the 8 core key. The free upgrade is over though so it will not get a digital entitlement. The key in use will be the generic Home key. It will fail to activate. Is that right? I know what to do next but I bet you a lot of your basic PC users won't and will have to call Microsoft to sort it out. And be not to happy about it. If it had rejected the windows 8 key I would have been prompted to select home or Pro, and prompted to enter a product code. A much better scenario IMHO.
    @alphanumeric.

    That's really strange something doesn't add up... and I would call support something didn't register correctly on the MS side

    "activations are automated"

    MS servers, give a new licence and activate and store your activation and ' Q ' numbers on a separate system that are interconnected

    there is a structure of inventory and the system assigns you what version is compatible for your device and this can go wrong and undermine or oversee the process and give you a lower level of request
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 3,453
       #54

    In order to have the firmware key not being recognized, they have to remove the Windows/System32/spp/tokens/pkeyconfig/pkeyconfig-downlevel.xrm-ms file.
    In addition, the base pkeyconfig.xrm-ms still has Win 8 OEM Core (NB: not retail nor any 8.1 nor Pro) key signatures - so they will have to clean that up first.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 135
    Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit)
       #55

    Superfly said:
    In order to have the firmware key not being recognized, they have to remove the Windows/System32/spp/tokens/pkeyconfig/pkeyconfig-downlevel.xrm-ms file.
    In addition, the base pkeyconfig.xrm-ms still has Win 8 OEM Core (NB: not retail nor any 8.1 nor Pro) key signatures - so they will have to clean that up first.
    @Superfly.

    Or back up what is important and format your current drive and install a fresh copy of Win 7 or Windows 8/8.1 and you will get upgraded to Win 10 as long as you have hard drive space.

    A virus or hardware changes can also kick down your activation or give you problems in the upgrade process
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 490
    Windows 10 Pro
       #56

    Just to be clear, Windows 10 OEM do use product keys. But they are like OEM keys always have been. They are blocked on Microsoft's servers. The computer you buy with Windows 10 installed does not use digital entitlement. That means that after the drop dead date this summer we will go back to 95% of consumer copies of Windows 10 being product-key self-activated just like in the past. Also, if you purchase Windows 10 from the Windows Store and receive it by electronic software delivery rather than in the mail or over the counter it will be digitally entitled and not product-key activated. See the Microsoft paper at

    Activation in Windows 10 - Windows Help
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 135
    Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit)
       #57

    Cbarnhorst said:
    Just to be clear, Windows 10 OEM does use keys. But they are like OEM keys always have been. The are blocked on Microsoft's servers. The computer you buy with Windows 10 installed does not use digital entitlement. That means that after the drop dead date this summer we will go back to 95% of copies of Windows 10 being product-key self-activated just like in the past. Also, if you purchase Windows 10 from the Windows Store and receive it by electronic software delivery rather than in the mail or over the counter it will be digitally entitled and not product-key activated. See the Microsoft paper at

    Activation in Windows 10 - Windows Help
    @Cbarnhorst.

    Cbarnhorst that will be all changed right after Windows 2016 gets out of the way and updated system wide

    " Like I said the COLA will be re-written and modified more then any Windows upgrade will ever be "

    MS made that very clear that there will be changes going forward at end user level through the current and updated COLA user policies this is the only built in tool that overrides everything when needed and used by MS to do whatever they want when you press agree with their terms
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 15,027
    Windows 10 IoT
       #58

    AcuraTML said:
    @alphanumeric.

    That's really strange something doesn't add up... and I would call support something didn't register correctly on the MS side

    "activations are automated"

    MS servers, give a new licence and activate and store your activation and ' Q ' numbers on a separate system that are interconnected

    there is a structure of inventory and the system assigns you what version is compatible for your device and this can go wrong and undermine or oversee the process and give you a lower level of request
    It was brought up on the Microsoft yammer group and the reply was that this behavior was by design. Right now, when Home is installed automatically, you get a digital entitlement via the free upgrade. That's why my laptop had digital entitlement for Home and Pro. I did the free upgrade from 8.1 Pro to 10 Pro. Then decided latter on to do a clean install. That's when I ended up with Home instead of Pro. I had to do a change key and enter the generic Pro key to then upgrade to Pro. If I had waited until after the 29th to do my clean install, that default Home install wouldn't get a digital entitlement and it wouldn't have activated. An even worse scenario is if you buy Home after that date and Pro gets installed due to an OEM key. You are screwed. You can't do a change key because you can't upgrade to Home from Pro. These scenarios are remote but it does happen. The Microsoft Community Forum was flooded with "Microsoft ripped me off" posts when people got Home on a clean install instead of the Pro edition they originally had from the free upgrade.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 490
    Windows 10 Pro
       #59

    No, that will not be changed. Most consumer computers will be product-key activated because they are off-line activated. That has been true since XP debuted. That is how it is now. July won't affect that. What won't happen after July is upgrade licenses. They are gone. Every copy of Windows 10 is Full Package Product.
      My Computer


 

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