Dell Windows 7 to 10 upgrade questions

[RossMAN]

I bought my wife a Dell Inspiron 3847 for $199 AR with free shipping. Upgraded RAM to 8GB and plan on eventually installing a 240GB SSD (we have a few lying around).

My wife prefers Windows 7 but I'd like to upgrade to Windows 10 for future proofing then revert back to Windows 7. We've been a little busy and the PC hasn't been powered on yet.

Specs:

338-BHBM 1 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-4170 Processor (3M Cache, 3.70 GHz)
619-AHTY 1 Windows 7 Professional English 64bit (Includes Windows 10 Pro License)
370-ABEN 1 4GB Single Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GBx1)
400-ABUZ 1 500GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive
429-AAKY 1 Tray load DVD Drive (Reads and Writes to DVD/CD)
555-BBOU 1 DW 1705 802.11bgn + Bluetooth 4.0, 2.4 GHz, 1x1
620-AAYW 1 Windows 10 OS Recovery 64bit – DVD

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/inspiron-3847-desktop/manuals

Since I have less than 2 days to take advantage of free Windows 10 upgrade offer, I have a few questions:

1) Looking at my order details above, it appears I already have a free Windows 10 license? Do I need to install and activate it before the deadline?

2) It has a 500GB mechanical drive which I plan on upgrading to SSD eventually, I'd rather not do it now. If I install and upgrade to Windows 10, is it forever tied to that specific HD or only the motherboard? I'd like to be able to sell or donate the 500GB HD as we're switching to SSD.

3) My final goal is to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, then revert back to Windows 7 with a clean and fresh install on an SSD. How would you accomplish that? I have a USB thumb drive ready to go.

Please provide step by step instructions and links.

Thank you all

 

[tidy]

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[Dahak]

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/inspiron-3847-desktop/manuals

1) Looking at my order details above, it appears I already have a free Windows 10 license? Do I need to install and activate it before the deadline?

2) It has a 500GB mechanical drive which I plan on upgrading to SSD eventually, I'd rather not do it now. If I install and upgrade to Windows 10, is it forever tied to that specific HD or only the motherboard? I'd like to be able to sell or donate the 500GB HD as we're switching to SSD.

3) My final goal is to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, then revert back to Windows 7 with a clean and fresh install on an SSD. How would you accomplish that? I have a USB thumb drive ready to go.

Please provide step by step instructions and links.

Thank you all

1)You already have a license yes, so you do not need to worry about the deadline
Dell just automatically downgraded to Win7, as most prefer it
Dell should have shipped some Win10 media, if not just use the same Win10 media from Microsoft and it will see the Win10 license in the Bios


2) For OEM Licensing, you are only allowed to use it with the computer it came with and Microsoft considers the motherboard the computer. While yes it creates a hash of various components, and you may need to reactivate if you change some hardware, its more forgiving now than in the xp days

3) Don't need to worry about the free upgrade, the machine already comes with a Win10 License

 

[VirtualLarry]

1)You already have a license yes, so you do not need to worry about the deadline
Dell just automatically downgraded to Win7, as most prefer it
Dell should have shipped some Win10 media, if not just use the same Win10 media from Microsoft and it will see the Win10 license in the Bios

3) Don't need to worry about the free upgrade, the machine already comes with a Win10 License

I believe that this is true, in your case, RossMAN. The laptop "officially" shipped with a Win10 license in the BIOS, but the OEM used "downgrade rights" to install Win7 Pro on it for you.

My Lenovo A6-6310 laptop with Win7 Pro was the same way, it shipped with a Win8.1 Pro license, but had Win7 Pro installed as part of "downgrade rights".

But that was Win8.1 Pro, not Win10, so I still need to consider the free Win10 upgrade.

 

[tidy]

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[Kaido]

Since you already have a 240gb SSD & a 500gb HDD :

1. Physically install the 240gb SSD. Install Win7, then run the Win10 upgrade. Run all updates & make sure it has all the drivers. Then remove it & stick it in a safe place until you're ready to use it. This way, (1) you get your computer registered in their Win10 online database before the deadline, and (2) you'll be all set to go when you're ready to make the swap.

2. Physically install the 500gb HDD. Install Win7, install Never10, and then run all updates & get all of the drivers. Never10 is a one-click application to prevent your computer from auto-upgrading to Windows 10; it's from a legit company as well (Gibson Research Corp). I recommend installing this right after installing Win7 so your computer doesn't start pre-loading the Win10 upgrade files with your system updates:

https://www.grc.com/never10.htm

If you want to make a clone of your hard drive (you can clone both Win7 & Win10 for safe-keeping if your USB stick is big enough), you can use Macrium Reflect (free edition), which is like a modern Norton Ghost:

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

There's a deal on a Samsung 128gb USB stick for $29 shipped here, which would be more than enough to store a copy of both images:

http://slickdeals.net/f/8957455-128...-card-w-adapter-for-10-99-s-h-more-newegg-com

If you don't want to do the separate-drive-install thing, the easiest way to restore an image is via a USB SATA dock. $23 on Amazon: (takes both 2.5" & 3.5" drives)

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Lay-Flat-Docking-Station-Supports/dp/B00APP6694

To quickly install Windows 7, you can rip the disc to ISO & then use the Win7 USB/DVD Tool to write the ISO to a bootable USB stick:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool

 

[RossMAN]

Thank you all for the great advice and BTW it's a desktop not laptop.

How many mainstream laptops offer a DVD-R/W and I did post a link to the Dell owners manual

 

[Puffnstuff]

Dell probably opted to downgrade to 7 because it didn't want to develop drivers for it.