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Important W10 activation key questions left unanswered by Microsoft

qubit

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There it is. After 30 days no more W7 or 8.1. You have only 30 days to go back @qubit.
I saw that. It doesn't explicitly tell you whether your old key becomes invalid or not, only sort of implies it and that point is extremely important.
 

newtekie1

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Similarly, does Microsoft actually explicitely give you a W10 key or do I have to use the Keyfinder utility?

You don't get a key, and if you use a keyfinder utility it just returns a generic public key that won't activate. They have updated their activation system with Win10, the OS will attempt to activate without a key and match your hardware ID to one stored in the activation servers. If the hardware ID matches your copy will activate with no key required. According to the FAQ, if you make "significant changes" to your hardware you may have to contact Microsoft tech support.

The one thing that does seem clear however, is that regardless of whether your old OS is OEM or retail, the upgrade to W10 is OEM and hence tied to the motherboard, which is quite restrictive if the original was retail. This is also a sneeky way to stop it from being a perpetual licence too, as it dies when the hardware dies or is replaced.

According to what I've read, if you have a retail version your upgrade is also retail and can be move between computers. That is where contacting tech support comes in.

I saw that. It doesn't explicitly tell you whether your old key becomes invalid or not, only sort of implies it and that point is extremely important.

Part of their upgrade licencing for all their upgrade versions has said the key becomes invalid. I would assume it is buried in the upgrade license for Win10 as well.
 
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As I understand it, you are correct in this "free upgrade' essentially bein an OEM tied to the life of your hardware. That's why I stated in your Refusenik thread when I finally deem W10 essential, I will buy a retail copy

Also, since you only have 30 days to change your mind on the upgrade, and W10 then deletes youe windows.old folder, you lose your old OS forever and are essentially trapped. It's a clever way to make sure you upgrade to W10 and stay there. While I think it's an abhorrent tactic, I have to admire it too.
well win 8.1 oem (for my laptop as a example) is also Tied to the hardware if i am not mistaken... no key no nothing : so why ask the question for 10 since it will likely be the same
also for "you can never going back to you old os" : kinda wrong eh? ... you can always do a fresh instal of W7 or 8.1 (no 8 still doesn't exist) even if the key is invalidated i don't see where is the problem, mainly because i get my 7 Pro key for less than 30$, as long as they can be activated and on the phone activation you get a "your entry has been acepted" :laugh:, tho i can see for those who would need to pay full price for a retail W7 ... (oohhh that remember me that i have a W7 Starter license on a dead netbook ... the upgrade starter to 10 remove the limitation of starter iirc )

ok then i will not upgrade the main rig but the laptop yes ... (less likely to change hardware on a laptop xD) and get a retail w10 for the main
 

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You don't get a key, and if you use a keyfinder utility it just returns a generic public key that won't activate. They have updated their activation system with Win10, the OS will attempt to activate without a key and match your hardware ID to one stored in the activation servers. If the hardware ID matches your copy will activate with no key required. According to the FAQ, if you make "significant changes" to your hardware you may have to contact Microsoft tech support.

I wonder how much of a hassle it is for a retail license. I tend to swap hardware quite frequently, would be super annoying if I actually had to talk to someone every time I changed motherboards.
 

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all that effort to reduce piracy with free upgrades, and they do it so restricted that people will end up pirating it anyway - and disabling windows updates to keep the cracks working - making all their efforts kinda redundantm, with pirated infected copies of windows still screwing things up for them.
 

qubit

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all that effort to reduce piracy with free upgrades, and they do it so restricted that people will end up pirating it anyway - and disabling windows updates to keep the cracks working - making all their efforts kinda redundantm, with pirated infected copies of windows still screwing things up for them.
Control freaks will never understand. :shadedshu:

+1 @Frick
 

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knowing that my keys get eaten concerns me, so i'll stick with my insider edition copies and dual booting my other OSes.


Gaming PCs aside, the forced updates have ruled out windows 10 on my laptops at least.
 
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Speaking of laptops, does this mean that if I ever have to do a total factory system restore that it won't work? Or win7 on it now won't activate once the upgrade is done?
 
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Speaking of laptops, does this mean that if I ever have to do a total factory system restore that it won't work? Or win7 on it now won't activate once the upgrade is done?

I have the same question, due to the problem I had yesterday @

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/windows-10-upgrade-issues-on-w8-1.214750/#post-3323055

My W8 license/ISO I re downloaded and burned to DVD disk, I tried to download the free upgraded W8.1 ISO using that license Key but it did not work. It was a different Key from the W8 Key. I have both Keys. It seems that I should have been able to directly download the W8.1 ISO.

So if you have to do a reinstall of W10 what Key do you insert after you have done a full wipe?
 

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Actually, those questions WERE answered by Microsoft, but perhaps you missed it because you've been busy posting all these Wn10 threads.

baaa dummmm tss
 
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baaa dummmm tss

Not helpful, and it sounds like you don't have any real experience in solving these current problems.

My upgrade did not go smoothly and Microsoft is guarded about what info they release.


Also, since you only have 30 days to change your mind on the upgrade, and W10 then deletes youe windows.old folder, you lose your old OS forever and are essentially trapped. It's a clever way to make sure you upgrade to W10 and stay there. While I think it's an abhorrent tactic, I have to admire it too.

Can we save our Windows.old folder for later use? mine is 12.5GB
 
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qubit

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Not helpful, and it sounds like you don't have any real experience in solving these current problems.

My upgrade did not go smoothly and Microsoft is guarded about what info they release.




Can we save our Windows.old folder for later use?
Thanks, +1.

Remember the old tactic: when you don't have a rational argument and lack knowledge: throw insults. Fails every time, lol.
 
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I wonder how much of a hassle it is for a retail license. I tend to swap hardware quite frequently, would be super annoying if I actually had to talk to someone every time I changed motherboards.
From what I understand full retail copies keep their key and will work if you change out your motherboard. OEM copies will not.
 
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I have the same question, due to the problem I had yesterday @

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/windows-10-upgrade-issues-on-w8-1.214750/#post-3323055

My W8 license/ISO I re downloaded and burned to DVD disk, I tried to download the free upgraded W8.1 ISO using that license Key but it did not work. It was a different Key from the W8 Key. I have both Keys. It seems that I should have been able to directly download the W8.1 ISO.

So if you have to do a reinstall of W10 what Key do you insert after you have done a full wipe?
My install went fine and is running okay but what happens if the rig refuses to boot and I want to use the factory restore to set the machine back to the way it came new? Am I screwed if I leave win 10 on here?
 
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My install went fine and is running okay but what happens if the rig refuses to boot and I want to use the factory restore to set the machine back to the way it came new? Am I screwed if I leave win 10 on here?

Does W10 break the factory restore option? Sounds like a question for the manufacturer.

You should make a DVD restore set.
In the case of "ransom ware" the factory restore partition can become corrupted as well.
I have had to order factory disks from HP to fix a corrupted rescue partition.

ANYONE have an answer to saving the Windows.old folder for later use?
 

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Does W10 break the factory restore option? Sounds like a question for the manufacturer.

You should make a DVD restore set.
In the case of "ransom ware" the factory restore partition can become corrupted as well.
I have had to order factory disks from HP to fix a corrupted rescue partition.

ANYONE have an answer to saving the Windows.old folder for later use?

Based on what limited and guarded information Microsoft has released, I'm going to say no. Sure, you could physically save a copy and try it out after 30 days, but it sounds like i will be no good because your old key is invalid after 30 days. I think it's MS way of keeping everyone forward who went forward. The fewer old OS around, the better for them.

Really though, the only way to know for sure is to wait until the 31st day and someone tries it.
 
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Is it possible to pull an image of the current OS (Win7 Pro in my case with orginal 64bit disc), after that upgrade to Win10 and put back the old image after more than 30 days? Will the key still be valid?

This whole Win10 upgrade thing is a fucking mess. Combine that with all the data collecting BS and I m really starting to think about going back to the old days of using an OS.
 

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Did a clean install today and didn't need a key to activate. However for giggles I tried to use my W8.1 key and it didn't work. So I installed Windows 10 on a freshly formatted (all partitions deleted) and when I logged in with my outlook account the OS activated. Did this on two different rigs. Worked flawless.

Upgrades also go smoothly IF you do not have a third party anti-virus/firewall. If you do I suggest you uninstall both before upgrading. It should be normal procedure for most of the old crew on here but some of the newer guys might not know. (I personally screwed up and forgot on my gaming rig and it was a Cosby date.)

Also driver updates are as mandatory as they were on XP, Vista, Win7,8 and 8.1. I have had ZERO issue changing to the drivers I want. People did a lot of crying for no reason as I suspected.
 

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Is it possible to pull an image of the current OS (Win7 Pro in my case with orginal 64bit disc), after that upgrade to Win10 and put back the old image after more than 30 days? Will the key still be valid?

Yes, if you were previously activated when you made the image. This is the way to have the ability to revert back, and this is how M$ has really treated these upgrades since they offered upgrades. It's not any different this time to how it has been in the past.
 

MxPhenom 216

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Not helpful, and it sounds like you don't have any real experience in solving these current problems.

My upgrade did not go smoothly and Microsoft is guarded about what info they release.




Can we save our Windows.old folder for later use? mine is 12.5GB

Does anyone with an OS that just released 2 days ago?? And I was responding to cadaveca because I thought his reply was pretty funny, and quite accurate.

Did a clean install today and didn't need a key to activate. However for giggles I tried to use my W8.1 key and it didn't work. So I installed Windows 10 on a freshly formatted (all partitions deleted) and when I logged in with my outlook account the OS activated. Did this on two different rigs. Worked flawless.

Upgrades also go smoothly IF you do not have a third party anti-virus/firewall. If you do I suggest you uninstall both before upgrading. It should be normal procedure for most of the old crew on here but some of the newer guys might not know. (I personally screwed up and forgot on my gaming rig and it was a Cosby date.)

Also driver updates are as mandatory as they were on XP, Vista, Win7,8 and 8.1. I have had ZERO issue changing to the drivers I want. People did a lot of crying for no reason as I suspected.

So did you just do the normal upgrade, then did the clean install from your upgrade Windows 10?
 
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TheMailMan78

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Does anyone with an OS that just released 2 days ago?? And I was responding to cadaveca because I thought his reply was pretty funny, and quite accurate.



So did you just do the normal upgrade, then did the clean install from your upgrade Windows 10?
On my gaming rig I did a normal upgrade with a third party antivirus/firewall and it screwed up a lot of stuff (expected when you don't uninstall a security suit before an OS change). So I formatted everything and did a clean install of Windows 10 and it activated like a champ with no key. They tie the activation to your MS account.

Also Phenom ignore the trolls. They are all butt hurt they have to jump through more loops to get free crap.
 

cadaveca

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On my gaming rig I did a normal upgrade with a third party antivirus/firewall and it screwed up a lot of stuff (expected when you don't uninstall a security suit before an OS change). So I formatted everything and did a clean install of Windows 10 and it activated like a champ with no key. They tie the activation to your MS account.


Not only that, you can check your M$ account and see what devices are listed there, so you know if you can do a clean install or not. Do the upgrade, get it activated, verify that it is listed in your account, then feel free to do a fresh install without activation issues ever.
 

rtwjunkie

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Does anyone with an OS that just released 2 days ago?? And I was responding to cadaveca because I thought his reply was pretty funny, and quite accurate

Actually, that's the problem. His reply was not accurate (pointed to a forum, not the official word, and also not completely accurate), and they were haughty and condescending, so not funny. No one, not even the most historically over-the-top Microsoft supporter (You, ;)) can deny that MS have been the least clear they have EVER been about all the rules, and very likely it was purposeful.
 

TheMailMan78

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Benchmark Scores Benching is for bitches.
Not only that, you can check your M$ account and see what devices are listed there, so you know if you can do a clean install or not. Do the upgrade, get it activated, verify that it is listed in your account, then feel free to do a fresh install without activation issues ever.
Yup! I saw it in there this morning. I really like this new activation route they have gone so far. Super easy to maintain.
 

cadaveca

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Actually, that's the problem. His reply was not accurate (pointed to a forum, not the official word, and also not completely accurate), and they were haughty and condescending, so not funny. No one, not even the most historically over-the-top Microsoft supporter (You, ;)) can deny that MS have been the least clear they have EVER been about all the rules, and very likely it was purposeful.
I don't agree. To me, what you are suggesting is laughable. They aren't a nefarious company trying to take over your life...they simply want access to your life so they can sell you stuff you already want. :p

I'll agree, my sense of humour doesn't always come over well, but the difference for MxPhenom is that he and I have talked many many times in teamspeak, and sarcasm and such is related easier in voice than text. He knows I'm just being a bit of an ass, but I do feel Qubit is as well. NO big deal. Qubit asked me to use smilies... meh... that's not as fun. Peverse, sure, but I never claimed to be normal. ROFL. I didn't post that yesterday in response to YOU, sir, and if you felt that way , Ido apologize. That comment I posted yesterday was directed at qubit.
 
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