Microsoft Will Now Let Windows 10 Upgraders Use Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 Product Key to Activate

dt97583

dt97583

dt97583

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Today, Microsoft has released a new Windows 10 build for Windows Insiders, and Brad has a full write-up about what’s new. But what I’m particularly excited about is a major change to product activation: With this build, Microsoft will now let customers enter a Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 product key to activate Windows 10.

This is a major change, and one that I think will address an issue that I and many other upgraders have experienced: That is, when you clean install Windows 10 after have already upgraded (from Windows 7 or 8.1), it is supposed to auto-activate. But many times it does not, and when customers contacted Microsoft support, they were told they would have to install the old OS again, and then upgrade again. To be clear, this is not how this system is supposed to work.

Here’s how Microsoft describes the change.

“We have received a lot of feedback from Insiders on making it easier to activate Windows 10 on devices that take advantage of the free upgrade offer to genuine Windows by using existing Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 product keys. If you install this build of the Windows 10 Insider Preview on a PC and it doesn’t automatically activate, you can enter the product key from Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 used to activate the prior Windows version on the same device to activate Windows 10 by going to Settings > Update & security > Activation and selecting Change Product Key. If you do a clean install of Windows 10 by booting off the media, you can also enter the product key from prior Windows versions on qualifying devices during setup.”

If I’m reading this correctly and not missing anything, it means that you can use any Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 product key to activate an upgrade or clean install of Windows 10. I assume that certain keys—like those provided with a PC—will only work on the same PC for which the PC was created. But this still a big improvement over what was already a very generous system. (Assuming it worked properly, which it did not all the time.)
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https://www.thurrott.com/windows/wi...se-windows-7-8-or-8-1-product-key-to-activate
 
About time. It was inevitable because there is no way people should be told to spend a few days backing up, reinstalling an old OS, updating it, upgrading to Win 10, then reinstalling all apps and data... because you upgraded or changed a setting in your BIOS.

Last time I installed a clean Win 7 disk and patched, it took the best part of 4 hours to get it to the point where it had all patches necessary for the Win 10 upgrade, and then a day for the upgrade prompt to come back. It can't be unattended, because every time you install a batch of updates, a load more appear after you reboot and refresh Windows update. This is on a fast machine with a fat internet pipe. It was crazy for Win 10 to ship with this being the method to fix any small change in hardware configuration.

I'm glad MS has seen the light.
 
Steampunk said:
About time. It was inevitable because there is no way people should be told to spend a few days backing up, reinstalling an old OS, updating it, upgrading to Win 10, then reinstalling all apps and data... because you upgraded or changed a setting in your BIOS.

Last time I installed a clean Win 7 disk and patched, it took the best part of 4 hours to get it to the point where it had all patches necessary for the Win 10 upgrade, and then a day for the upgrade prompt to come back. It can't be unattended, because every time you install a batch of updates, a load more appear after you reboot and refresh Windows update. This is on a fast machine with a fat internet pipe. It was crazy for Win 10 to ship with this being the method to fix any small change in hardware configuration.

I'm glad MS has seen the light.
Click to expand...

ditto. About time they did this - makes life a lot easier.
 
Am I missing something here? It states that a clean install can be performed on "qualifying devices", so presumably anyone with a retail licence that changes hardware will still need to contact MS and ask for a new key.
 
Hopefully it means that you can enter your 7/8 key and then go through automated telephone activation, rather than have to convince MS to give you a completely new key.
 
I just downloaded the ISO for a friend to install today.

He had 7 and did his free upgrade to 10 but for some unknown reason he wasn't using an SSD so an SSD later I came over to load W10 on to it.

I copied his W10 product key and still had his W7 product key. Was asked for key during install, wouldn't accept either. Skipped the step and it activated when connecting to the internet for the first time of its own bat.

I'm assuming the ISO I downloaded this morning wasn't the insider build but essentially, it made no difference because it was the same machine.

Now as MS are saying you can use an old key then surely you will still have to go through the old process of MS phone support if changing machine or hardware so I'm not seeing how this will actually help as once you've upgraded from 7/8/8.1 you can do as many clean installs and skip activation and it will still activate once online, it's only when changing hardware it makes a difference yet you still need to call support and inform of the change.

One question I do have is that if I now go and buy a new and cheap copy of 8.1 Pro or 7 Ultimate, will i be able to change my W10 product key with that one and have W10 Pro?
 
Was the SSD the only component your friend changed? I've done clean installs to a new SSD, but on the same motherboard. I'm fairly sure that the motherboard is the key component of the hardware hash MS uses for activation.
 
zola25 said:
Was the SSD the only component your friend changed? I've done clean installs to a new SSD, but on the same motherboard. I'm fairly sure that the motherboard is the key component of the hardware hash MS uses for activation.
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Yeah it was only the SSD but W10 wouldn't accept his W10 or W7 product key. I assume I didn't have the right ISO and must have had the build prior to the new update but the fact remains that even though they are allowing the W7/8/8.1 codes to activate the same issue will arise if moving on to a new system (mobo).

They've made it sound like you can reuse your product key but in actual fact you still need to ring up should you change hardware
 
^ Yep, completely agree. You'd think it would be in both the user's and MS' best interests to make this easier for retail customers to change hardware.
 
This was the day after I decided to buy a Win10 key rather than keep upgrading on a fresh install of Win7/8!

However OEM keys for Win10 were only ~£14 on discounts sites anyway.
 
I had assumed this was part of the most up to date release, not on insider and done a clean install on a replacement motherboard thinking I could use the 8 key.

Had a chat with an ms rep yesterday who was telling me to reinstall 8 then upgrade again

If I wait until this insider release hits live then I should be able to activate with my 8 key, right? Or will I not get updates on an unactivated copy of 10?
 
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