windows 10 Upgrade

maklabouhlel · 29 Jun 2016 at 14:33

Hi. I just upgraded Windows 7 to 10 using the free Microsoft upgrade offer. After using Windows 10 for a couple of days, I formatted the ssd and did a clean reinstall of Windows 7. In a year or so, can I reinstall Windows 10 for free?

Casdawer · 29 Jun 2016 at 14:37

Yes (as long as your hardware is the same)

rossiboy001 · 29 Jun 2016 at 21:48

So your saying you can do the free upgrade, then roll back but keep the key/rights till such time you do want to change to Windows 10, even if that is 1-2 or say 5 years down the line?

IT Troll · 29 Jun 2016 at 22:33

Yes, free upgrade entitlement (once activated) is good for the lifetime of the device (motherboard).

mbmbmb · 29 Jun 2016 at 22:45

Following on from this, I've got a win 8 pro license that I wanted to load as 10 on a sff pc at some point in the near future.

I probably won't have the parts I need for that by the month cut off, but have the bits I need to cobble another pic in the house, I assume this wouldn't be enough to load up upgrade and then move over to my sff when ready to go?

IT Troll · 29 Jun 2016 at 23:43

If the motherboard changes it will need to be manually reactivated. Which means talking to MS Support. It is unclear if MS will reactivate free upgrades after the cut off given the "lifetime of the device" phrase used in the terms of the offer. Safest option, if you can, is to activate before the cut off on the final hardware.

mbmbmb · 29 Jun 2016 at 23:50

A reason to start the buying now, oh if I must...

maklabouhlel · 30 Jun 2016 at 00:24

IT Troll said:
Yes, free upgrade entitlement (once activated) is good for the lifetime of the device (motherboard).

So if I replaced all the hardware except for the activated motherboard then it should automatically reactivate?

Hagar · 30 Jun 2016 at 13:30

I have just replaced a motherboard and have not needed to reactivate (except Office and that was painless online).

This is a windows 10 pro upgrade from windows 7 ultimate retail.

However we are still in the 'free' period.

maklabouhlel · 30 Jun 2016 at 16:50

nkata said:
I have just replaced a motherboard and have not needed to reactivate (except Office and that was painless online).

This is a windows 10 pro upgrade from windows 7 ultimate retail.

However we are still in the 'free' period.

Did you reinstall Windows after replacing the motherboard? If so did you go straight to Windows 10 installation or did you install Windows 7 first?

IT Troll · 30 Jun 2016 at 17:49

nkata said:
I have just replaced a motherboard and have not needed to reactivate (except Office and that was painless online).

Was that a like-for-like replacement? MS haven't actually revealed what they use to "fingerprint" the hardware. However a motherboard change normally triggers a reactivation. This is even more likely if you need/want to perform a clean install with the new motherboard.

Edward78 · 1 Jul 2016 at 04:55

So I reserved my upgrade maybe a month back, but win10 isn"t ready yet... When will it be?

maklabouhlel · 1 Jul 2016 at 04:57

Edward78 said:
So I reserved my upgrade maybe a month back, but win10 isn"t ready yet... When will it be?

You can force it.

Edward78 · 1 Jul 2016 at 06:12

I have the ISO can I install it from the drive? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO hmmm, ok I will try the media tool, I can do it from the hdd...