Windows 10

Marketing · 3 Jun 2015 at 18:37

Skeeter said:
Its a full upgrade. Its on offer at a price of £0 for the first year. After that buying a Windows 10 upgrade will cost £something.

They have only confirmed you can move to the final release if your running Windows 10 Preview having installed it over a Windows 7 or 8.1 install though the Windows Update method.

MS have not confirmed how (or if) you will be able to do it if you clean installed Windows 10 Preview, as there is no license key anywhere in those installs.

I was under the impression that the license keys would still work that you had before installing the Preview?

Simian · 3 Jun 2015 at 18:41

For all those who think that after a year, and they have to re-install for some reason, that they'll have to pay...

http://www.windowscentral.com/dont-...stalled-cleanly-if-need-be-after-free-upgrade

"Once you upgrade W10 w/ the free upgrade offer you will able to clean reinstall Windows 10 on same device any time."

Skeeter · 3 Jun 2015 at 18:42

Marketing said:
I was under the impression that the license keys would still work that you had before installing the Preview?

If its in the install from the 7 or 8 you upgraded from yes. But if you clean installed how does it know what version you had before, or if you even own a Windows copy at all.

The upgrade requires a 7 or 8 license. Clean installing W10 Preview doesn't have this.

I'm expecting it to be possible however, MS have just not confirmed it yet. Personally I'm hoping that the W10 ISOs will take your 7 or 8 key and then register it as having been upgraded.

Skeeter · 3 Jun 2015 at 18:45

Simian said:
For all those who think that after a year, and they have to re-install for some reason, that they'll have to pay...

http://www.windowscentral.com/dont-...stalled-cleanly-if-need-be-after-free-upgrade

Good good. So even if the W10 ISOs won't take your 7 or 8 key, the worst you will have to do is install 7 or 8, update it, and then format and reinstall 10.

And as someone pointed out in the thread earlier, the concept of a "reinstall" from an ISO is rather outdated now as W10 has the ability to factory reset itself, performing a clean install of W10 triggered from within W10 itself.

I now await the usual uproar about the use of the word "device"

Cavallino · 3 Jun 2015 at 18:49

Wont they just provide you with a new W10 key once pre registered copies are arranged?

Skeeter · 3 Jun 2015 at 18:53

Cavallino said:
Wont they just provide you with a new W10 key once pre registered copies are arranged?

No, there are no new keys for the update, as most devices now have the key stored in the BIOS anyway.

A key now identifies a device rather than a Windows version.

Cavallino · 3 Jun 2015 at 19:01

Skeeter said:
No, there are no new keys for the update, as most devices now have the key stored in the BIOS anyway.

A key now identifies a device rather than a Windows version.

Ah that's new, didn't know! So you're saying that all mobo makers are going to be putting unique identifiers in the bios of their mobos?

Not sure how the hell theyre going to pull this "clean install thing off" then.

Glaucus · 3 Jun 2015 at 19:13

Cavallino said:
Ah that's new, didn't know! So you're saying that all mobo makers are going to be putting unique identifiers in the bios of their mobos?

Not sure how the hell theyre going to pull this "clean install thing off" then.

Only on pre installed systems and it's not the mobo manufacturers but the system manufactures load the serial key into the bios. Then windows just finds the key from the bios and activates. So no issue with clean installs.

Cavallino · 3 Jun 2015 at 19:15

Glaucus said:
Only on pre installed systems and it's not the mobo manufacturers but the system manufactures load the serial key into the bios. Then windows just finds the key from the bios and activates. So no issue with clean installs.

I see understood, so what if you are installing on a brand new system which doesn't have a key preloaded in the bios?

Glaucus · 3 Jun 2015 at 19:17

Cavallino said:
I see understood, so what if you are installing on a brand new system which doesn't have a key preloaded in the bios?

More than likely same as it's always been just type in your serial key.

Deleted member 77746 · 3 Jun 2015 at 19:19

awaybreaktoday said:
when will it be available on msdn

Soon probably.

Brutos · 3 Jun 2015 at 19:21

Marketing said:
It wouldn't be completely clean, but you could always do a clean install via an Insider Build (grab the ISO from Microsoft), use your existing key and then update the Insider Preview once the full version is out.

I would be surprised if they isn't an option to clean install anyway.

Am thinking they may convert you license and provide you with it via email or once you upgrade once you can reinstall base os then upgrade to 10 longer but this is ms we are talking about

K@rl · 3 Jun 2015 at 19:48

For anyone having issues like I had

Try this!

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...9ae-a132-a999a883265b?page=1&tm=1433357271797

Skeeter · 3 Jun 2015 at 19:49

It

Glaucus said:
More than likely same as it's always been just type in your serial key.

Yep. The 8 and 8.1 USB images MS release will read your BIOS key and use that if it can, or ask you for a key if it can't. On my HP Stream 7 the MS USB asked for a key as the BIOS key is for 8.1 with Bing and that version isn't in the USB image. When I got a 'with Bing' image it installed straight on with no prompt.

This is why Microsoft refer to "the life of the device" as most people will have keys in the BIOS.

gareth170 · 3 Jun 2015 at 20:05

Simian said:
For all those who think that after a year, and they have to re-install for some reason, that they'll have to pay...

http://www.windowscentral.com/dont-...stalled-cleanly-if-need-be-after-free-upgrade

that only means via the reset feature tho, just like in w8/8.1

the problem is MS hasn't really answered the question what happens if the HDD dies after the year.

Skeeter · 3 Jun 2015 at 20:18

How have you come to that conclusion?

dreigns · 3 Jun 2015 at 20:20

Think what i'm going to do is buy a copy for my main PC I do all my gaming on because it is the most important then on my laptop i'll just upgrade that and also do the same for my parents as they will never see the difference from a total clean install .
Also on my media pc that I use from watching videos i'll upgrade that theres only a few things on that

Skeeter · 3 Jun 2015 at 20:22

Even though its been confirmed you can clean install it?

So your happy to just throw away ~£100 :confused:

?

gareth170 · 3 Jun 2015 at 20:23

Skeeter said:
How have you come to that conclusion?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9334/...-can-clean-install-windows-10-after-upgrading

Skeeter · 3 Jun 2015 at 20:26

gareth170 said:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9334/...-can-clean-install-windows-10-after-upgrading

I guess we’re not sure yet if that means you can do a reset using the Windows Recovery tools, or if you can actually start with a new hard drive or ISO in order to do the clean install.

Hopefully we’ll get the final bit of clarification on this soon, but since this is one of the most asked questions that I have seen, I felt it was worth letting everyone know.

So just caution from them rather than any confirmation. The reset feature is a clean install in all but name anyway. All a Windows installation is is a C:\Windows folder and a pointer in your boot manager.