Windows 8 cheap upgrade key - Transferable?

Bubo

Bubo

Bubo

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
8,433
Location
Scun'orp
I took advantage of that £25 windows 8 upgrade deal a couple of years back, and I did an in place install of it over windows 7. I had it on for about 2 days but had to go back to win 7 via an image I had taken, due to a program not being compatible with win8, Been using windows 7 ever since, but still have the win8 iso dvd I made with its win8 key.

Fast forward to today, my nephew's PC which runs Vista needs windows reinstalling. Ideally I want to use the win 8 iso and get rid of Vista on his pc.

If I do this, using the key I got when I originally bought win 8, will this either:

A) Stop my windows 7 working now when win 8 is activated on his machine?

or

B)Stop me from upgrading to Windows 10 for free in the first year using my current windows 7 install, if the windows 8 key I got is in use on another machine.

It would be nice if I could somehow retrospectively transfer the "upgrade" copy of windows I used to get the Windows 8 key from my windows 7 to his Vista, so that my win7 key has not effectively been used for 2 upgrades. How strict do you reckon Microsoft are going to be with the free Win 10 upgrade?
 
I have an email from Microsoft at the time I bought windows 8 upgrade version, with the key in the email. I'm not on my home pc at the moment so I cant check if this is the same as my windows 7 key, but my gut felling is they will be different. Will check this tonight. Are you saying that they should be the same if it is the scenario of a £25 win7 to win 8 upgrade job? And if so, that would scupper my plans re: using it on to upgrade vista instead.

I can't actually remember what I did to install windows 8 though I am pretty sure I must have entered this key I got in the email at some point.

edit: Now I'm thinking back, that cheap £25 win 8 deal, was that actually for a standalone copy of Windows 8, and therefore not actually an upgrade as such?? I just can't remember. I only know I took advantage of the deal cos I thought "What the hell, its only 25 quid". I actually had the key for a full year before I got round doing an in place install over my win 7 install, and I only did that because I remember there was some free Windows media centre key offer about to expire at the time. But like I said it was only on there for a couple of days.

edit2: I think I'll be alirght, according to the blurb on the Microsoft support site:-

If you see error 0xC004F061 when you try to activate Windows 8.1 or Windows 8, it means one of the following:

  • You're using a product key to update to Windows 8.1 or Windows 8, but a previous version of Windows wasn't installed on your PC. To update, you need to have Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP already on your PC.
    If you formatted or replaced your hard drive, you won't be able to use a product key to update to Windows 8.1 or Windows 8. You'll need to install your previous version of Windows, then reinstall Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.
Click to expand...

It implies it only matters what OS is on he PC at the time you upgrade. Sounds like I just have to make sure I can get his Vista working or reinstall it before using my Win8 iso dvd on it. Seems the check is made during install over any qualifying OS, not tied to the OS I had on my PC when I originally ran Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant to buy the key in the first place. By my reckoning it should leave by Win7 untouched and free for a later upgrade to 10.
 
Last edited:
You need to check the terms of the upgrade license. You may find that the upgrade license covers upgrading Vista to Windows 8, in which case you're golden. Otherwise, if it is an upgrade key purely from Window 7 to Windows 8, you should stop using your Windows 7 license when you use the 8 upgrade license, just as if you had transferred your Windows 7 license to your nephew's PC and then upgraded it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom