Confused about installing Windows 10.

mish · 29 Sep 2017 at 15:00

Hi,

I'm going to be installing Windows 10 this evening but I'm a little confused lol.

I've just purchased a key from the site named after a South American river and have the key and links to the download, but I'm confused as I don't know if I need to upgrade from within win 7 or just make the bootable USB and just do a fresh install.

Sorry if this has probably been answered somewhere before!

something daft already!! · 29 Sep 2017 at 15:01

Which licence did you buy? Retail? Upgrade?

You should just be able to install without upgrading TBH.

mish · 29 Sep 2017 at 15:06

Here's the confirmation email...I should maybe have read it lol. Looks like i need to do a fresh install?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there,
We thank you for your purchase. In the following you will find the download link and activation key with instructions for installation.

INSTRUCTIONS:
If you already have a version of the purchased software on the PC, you must first uninstall it.
1) Please note the key provided will activate on a FRESH install only, not an upgrade install. If you have existing versions of the software please ensure you have uninstalled them.

2) Use the download link provided to install a fresh copy of the software. When prompted enter your key:
Here are your Activation Key(s):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I'm guessing a fresh install? It's been a long week!

something daft already!! · 29 Sep 2017 at 15:09

Very odd, you can usually upgrade from 7 or 8 without issue. A clean install is usually recommend anyway but since Windows 10, the upgrade has mostly been plain sailing.

mish · 29 Sep 2017 at 15:17

I'll try a fresh install - i did have a google, but some say to upgrade first or the key won't be valid, hence my confusion!

scrivz69 · 29 Sep 2017 at 15:23

If your on 7 try using the windows upgrade assistant and you get 10 using your 7 key. http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-upgrade-assistant

demonix · 29 Sep 2017 at 17:09

Your windows 7 key will still be good for a windows 10 installation so you didn't have to purchase a new windows 10 key.

I would suggest going for a fresh installation since it'll stop any issues that might crop up with an upgrade, but I would suggest getting all the windows 10 compatible drivers to hand first since some of the generic MS drivers are complete garbage and any graphics card drivers will be woefully out of date and not include all the software.

Orcvader · 29 Sep 2017 at 17:19

As above, if you use this link, you can still claim a free upgrade to 10: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/accessibility/windows10upgrade

It will need to be an upgrade install but after that, you can do a fresh install and Microsoft will remember you have an activated copy of 10 and will reactivate itself.

heartburnron · 30 Sep 2017 at 13:48

mish said:
Here's the confirmation email...I should maybe have read it lol. Looks like i need to do a fresh install?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there,
We thank you for your purchase. In the following you will find the download link and activation key with instructions for installation.

INSTRUCTIONS:
If you already have a version of the purchased software on the PC, you must first uninstall it.
1) Please note the key provided will activate on a FRESH install only, not an upgrade install. If you have existing versions of the software please ensure you have uninstalled them.

2) Use the download link provided to install a fresh copy of the software. When prompted enter your key:
Here are your Activation Key(s):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I'm guessing a fresh install? It's been a long week!

I've been looking at the same thing on that site and a number of others. It appears that the above purchase is what is being sold for around £25 but how is this different from the standard price of around £90? I'm building a new PC and need Windows - would one of these cheaper key purchases work for me or do I need to buy the £90 version? Can someone explain the difference?

something daft already!! · 30 Sep 2017 at 13:53

They are OEM licenses which die with the device but the retail can be used again if you scrap your old PC or upgrade some major components.

heartburnron · 1 Oct 2017 at 13:03

howiepoohs said:
They are OEM licenses which die with the device but the retail can be used again if you scrap your old PC or upgrade some major components.

Ok thanks so does that mean that for a new build the cheaper offerings are no good to me?

something daft already!! · 1 Oct 2017 at 14:37

That depends on how often you plan on upgrading the major parts of your PC, IE motherboard and CPU. If often, then no.

jpaul · 1 Oct 2017 at 22:57

so how can you verify that any of these cheap OEM licenses sold on Amazon (by 3rd parties) are legitimate, and will not just cease working after a year whne Microsoft realises the tokens have not been used within their conditions ?

Someone else had commented that amazon has become just like ebay as a source for questionable merchandise, but how come microsoft are not just closing these 3rd parties down.

Windows 10 might be notionally free, so perhaps they are lax there, but Office 2016, for example, for which there are also oem licenses on Amazon, is not free.

one of the amazon reviews had the interesting remark, so is that the explanation ?

Like many others I was sceptical but these appear to be legitimate resales of previously used licenses and under the 2012 Case C‑128/11 of the ECJ, and restated in 2016, vendors do not appear to be able to prevent such resales within the EU. If worried please look it up and judge for yourself. Personally I looked at the court judgement itself rather than trust other websites. The process here is easy enough - you get sent a key, you plug this into a MS website. The website decides what software you have bought and it downloads. First time you use one of the applications the whole lot activates. Away you go. Brilliant software.

heartburnron · 2 Oct 2017 at 12:08

jpaul said:
so how can you verify that any of these cheap OEM licenses sold on Amazon (by 3rd parties) are legitimate, and will not just cease working after a year whne Microsoft realises the tokens have not been used within their conditions ?

Someone else had commented that amazon has become just like ebay as a source for questionable merchandise, but how come microsoft are not just closing these 3rd parties down.

Windows 10 might be notionally free, so perhaps they are lax there, but Office 2016, for example, for which there are also oem licenses on Amazon, is not free.

one of the amazon reviews had the interesting remark, so is that the explanation ?

Thanks for that. I'm still not sure what to do - in theory then do you think I could, using my current PC, go to said website, enter code and download windows on to a flash drive to then be installed via the BIOS on the new PC I'm building? Whilst I've replaced most of the parts in my PC over the past few years I've never actually built a whole rig from scratch so never installed Windows via the BIOS before and don't want to complicate this part significantly more than it would be already...