Windows 10 key

[Ketchup]

I have never liked "the life of the device" terminology. Makes me wonder if, when you call in to activate your Retail copy for a new motherboard, one should just say "I moved it to another computer."

 

[Freejack2]

That's certainly easiest, yeah. You can clean install very easily after you've done the upgrade procedure on the new equipment. Make sure 10 is activated before you wipe.

Thanks. I'm about to shut down and start now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Edit: 7 hours later, and a lot of headaches, I finally have my new hardware in and a clean install of windows 10. Now to install all the software, then see about overclocking.

Edit2: Most software installed with minimal problems. Samsung drive magician has minor issues, but seems to work. For overclocking, 4.5ghz overclock on first try. Not sure if I'll try for more. It runs 60 - 63c at full load.

 

[kmmatney]

You don't need an ms account? I thought that's what the key gets tied too.

I upgraded my daughter's computer from Win7 32-bit OEM to Windows 10 64-bit, and everything worked fine,even though she does not have a Microsoft account. So I can confirm that you don't need a Microsoft account.

The conversion from 32-bit Windows 7 to 64-bit Windows 10 required me installing WIndows 10 twice. First, as an in-place upgrade to Windows 10 32-bit. Once this was activated I did a clean install to Windows 10 64-bit. The 64-bit "found" the previous activation and used it. I'm not sure how it found the activation - it either found it on the hard disk, or it may be tied to the hardware, and just re-activated the same hardware online. I'm not sure, but either way a Microsoft account was never involved.

My daughter already has a Google and Apple account - didn't really need a third one.

Out of the 10 computers at my house, I've moved 5 of them to Windows 10 (one is a tablet). It didn't not go smoothly in all cases, and I had a few hours of frusteration, but in the end all systems are working fine. I still think Windows 7 "looks" better, but can't complain all that much. The App store is not really much better, so I continue to ignore it (even on the tablet) but at least it's easy to do that. Two of the systems are "work" systems, so I installed CliassicShell with the 2 column start menu option, and productivity is fine.

 

[Puffnstuff]

You really want that MS account so important information can be automatically backed up via onedrive. FWIW your hardware id is what windows uses to activate during a clean install once an in place upgrade has been performed and activated.

 

[SparkyJJO]

You really want that MS account so important information can be automatically backed up via onedrive. FWIW your hardware id is what windows uses to activate during a clean install once an in place upgrade has been performed and activated.

....Nah. I don't want my stuff on MS servers, personally.

 

[Ketchup]

....Nah. I don't want my stuff on MS servers, personally.

Exactly. Once your OS is tied to your hardware, nothing more is needed for the current and future installations to work on that hardware. Some are concerned as to how well retail versions will move around, but we will just have to wait and see how well that works.

 

[twjr]

How does MS treat a clean install of a win8 upgrade licence? Will it be a retail licence as far as win10 is concerned or something else?

 

[Ketchup]

How does MS treat a clean install of a win8 upgrade licence? Will it be a retail licence as far as win10 is concerned or something else?

Do you mean "from" an Windows 8 upgrade license?

In a sense, every free version offered right now is an upgrade. But this time, after you run the upgrade to Windows 10, a snapshot (for lack of a better word) of your system is taken, so that now you can do a regular install with Windows 10 copied to a DVD or Flash drive, and it will active when it sees that it's your system. With Windows 10, there is no longer an upgrade version (at least not now).

 

[twjr]

Do you mean "from" an Windows 8 upgrade license?

In a sense, every free version offered right now is an upgrade. But this time, after you run the upgrade to Windows 10, a snapshot (for lack of a better word) of your system is taken, so that now you can do a regular install with Windows 10 copied to a DVD or Flash drive, and it will active when it sees that it's your system. With Windows 10, there is no longer an upgrade version (at least not now).

No I meant 'of'.

First I have performed a clean install of Win8 upgrade on a machine. Normally Win8 upgrade needs to be installed over a previous install but it can be clean installed. Then, in this case, when I upgrade to Win10 (from Win8) on this machine will it treat the Win8 upgrade as a retail or OEM version?

People have previously said that Win10 inherits the rights from Win8 which in turn inherited the rights from whatever OS Win8 was upgraded from. In the case of a clean install of Win8 upgrade it has no previous OS to inherit rights from. So what rights/version will Win10 have/become? Can I then change my hardware at some point down the line? If I change the motherboard, which is likely as the CPU is soldered, I will have to call MS to activate I take it?

 

[Ketchup]

No I meant 'of'.

Microsoft isn't doing anything with your license for Windows 8. It's the same as it always was.

As to your question about Windows 10:
The OEM vs Retail status will stay the same: Retail you can upgrade/change. OEM will only work with the hardware you have.
The version (Home, Pro, Ultimate) will also stay the same.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I used to be a firm believer in the retail version of the software until MS blocked my vista ultimate key because they said I'd abused it by activating it too many times. They didn't care that it was a retail version that allowed me to move around on new hardware and they didn't care that bios updates forced me to reactivate it several times along with hardware failures. Ever since then I've made it a point to acquire oem and move it as I please until they block the key. I will never again pay more for them to shut me down anyway.

 

[Ketchup]

I used to be a firm believer in the retail version of the software until MS blocked my vista ultimate key because they said I'd abused it by activating it too many times. They didn't care that it was a retail version that allowed me to move around on new hardware and they didn't care that bios updates forced me to reactivate it several times along with hardware failures. Ever since then I've made it a point to acquire oem and move it as I please until they block the key. I will never again pay more for them to shut me down anyway.

This is a valid point, unless things change with 10. I don't have the link, but Microsoft has implied that they will be more strict with hardware changes on 10. Then again, they may just be publicly keeping a stand they have always had, but in reality they are a bit more generous on an individual basis.

 

[twjr]

Microsoft isn't doing anything with your license for Windows 8. It's the same as it always was.

As to your question about Windows 10:
The OEM vs Retail status will stay the same: Retail you can upgrade/change. OEM will only work with the hardware you have.
The version (Home, Pro, Ultimate) will also stay the same.

This much I know. What I don't know is how MS treats the Windows 8 Pro Upgrade, retail or OEM licence, when it has been clean installed; subsequently what version Windows 10 will be when upgraded.