W10 licence transfer. What happens if I change/upgrade my PC later on?

Chris2005 said:

Well, I upgraded directly from Windows 7 and didn't have to put in any product key.

Good to know. That sounds like having a UEFI BIOS will store both Win7 and Win8.1 product keys.

According to this Microsoft Community thread:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/how-do-i-transfer-windows-retail-license-after/6ee1dfe0-8adc-4cce-a46a-748963cf56d1?rtAction=1438237655029

when we upgrade Retail Win 7/8.1 to Win 10, we don't actually get a Win 10 retail license that would allow us to install Win 10 on a new machine? (assuming current machine with upgraded Win 10 breaks down completely after 2 years)

That's my understanding. The Windows 10 license is valid on that computer only. I have yet to read definitive proof to the contrary.

I expect things to work differently later on. If the Win 7 / 8 full retail license is registered with Microsoft's servers as being valid for a Windows 10 upgrade, including beyond the 1-year free upgrade period, then it should just identify as a Windows 10 compatible license.

I think Microsoft will see this reasoning, and make the proper adjustments. There is no purpose to a person laboriously installing Win 7 / 8 before initiating an upgrade, only to format again once it's finished to a Win 10 clean install on the same device. That's discourteous of Microsoft towards people's time, people's SSD health by making excessive and needless writes, and it makes a poor impression of Microsoft's planning and organization skills. It also presents a potential motivation for a person to not bother with moving to Windows 10: If Microsoft can't handle this small part smoothly, cleanly, and efficiently, what does that say about Windows 10?

Doing that process does add time, but it only needs to be done once per computer. That amount of data isn't going to be a measurable blip on the life of an SSD. It isn't the ideal method, but it certainly isn't a big deal. I'm somewhat looking forward to it, because I'll be able to run 8.1 on my new tower build to test out the hardware before upgrading to Windows 10. I always end up installing my OS twice on a new build anyway. Once to test the hardware and make sure I have the best drivers installed. Then, once everything seems smooth, I format, install again, and then start adding my data and apps.

alpha said:

According to this Microsoft Community thread:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/how-do-i-transfer-windows-retail-license-after/6ee1dfe0-8adc-4cce-a46a-748963cf56d1?rtAction=1438237655029

when we upgrade Retail Win 7/8.1 to Win 10, we don't actually get a Win 10 retail license that would allow us to install Win 10 on a new machine? (assuming current machine with upgraded Win 10 breaks down completely after 2 years)

Read further down the replies. Yes, you can transfer it to a new machine, but you have to do so by installing Windows 7/8.1 on the new machine and upgrading that.

Mystere said:

Read further down the replies. Yes, you can transfer it to a new machine, but you have to do so by installing Windows 7/8.1 on the new machine and upgrading that.

That's not transferring the existing Win10 license; that's generating a new license for the new device. MS has said for a long time that the Win10 license is good for "the life of the device". This clearly means that a different device requires a different license.

I think Microsoft will see this reasoning, and make the proper adjustments. There is no purpose to a person laboriously installing Win 7 / 8 before initiating an upgrade, only to format again once it's finished to a Win 10 clean install on the same device. That's discourteous of Microsoft towards people's time, people's SSD health by making excessive and needless writes, and it makes a poor impression of Microsoft's planning and organization skills. It also presents a potential motivation for a person to not bother with moving to Windows 10: If Microsoft can't handle this small part smoothly, cleanly, and efficiently, what does that say about Windows 10?

Disagree ... the "purpose" is to be able to do a clean install -- removing all the "cruft" that has accumulated over the years on PCs that started out with Win7 or Win8. Understand that when you create the reinstall media (AFAIK) this will only reinstall the OS -- NOT the apps, settings, and data you have on your PC.

The "purpose" of MS doing this is to allow folks to do a clean install on their PCs, should that become necessary, without have to go to all the trouble of reinstalling Win7 or Win8, doing hundreds of Windows updates again, and doing the Win10 upgrade again -- just to get a working PC back.

Mark Phelps said:

That's not transferring the existing Win10 license; that's generating a new license for the new device. MS has said for a long time that the Win10 license is good for "the life of the device". This clearly means that a different device requires a different license.

That seems like it could back-fire on MS. If all Windows 10 licenses use a generic license, or a unique license, then a person who has a registered upgrade license from Win 7 / 8 -> 10 might be able to iterate copies of Windows 10 on as many devices as they want, with nothing to signal that any of them are invalid.

Mark Phelps said:

That's not transferring the existing Win10 license; that's generating a new license for the new device. MS has said for a long time that the Win10 license is good for "the life of the device". This clearly means that a different device requires a different license.

No, it's not. I quote from the EULA:

Stand-alone software. If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you.

The license is the license. You can't "generate a new license". The license is the legal terms. Not the key, not the installation, not the upgrade.

The first time you perform an upgrade, your Windows 7/8.x product key is marked in MS's databases as being associated with an upgrade to Windows 10. No new key is generated (other than a generic one used by all windows 10 upgrades).