Complicated Licensing Issue Windows 10

[imported_mmshah]

So foolishly I upgraded early to Win 10 my first mistake but anyway here it is.

Laptop came with Win 7 OEM 32 bit Pro Mechanical HD.

Replaced HD with SSD and installed RETAIL Win 7 Pro 64 bit.

(Note: Retail Windows unlike OEM can be transferred to new hardware, including after Win 10 Upgrade).

Updated SSD with Retail Win 7 Pro 64 to Win 10 Pro 64 bit (only generic key provided).
No information is given on how this license could possibly be moved to another computer, question is asked 100's of times in microsoft community with no satisfactory answer.

Put back in old Mechanical HD and upgraded Win 7 Pro OEM 32 bit to Win 10 Pro 32 bit.

Now in the Devices on microsoft account I have only my laptop listed no clue if the license used is my OEM or Retail one or if one is simply gone now.

Possible solution:
Rollback both Win 10 Installations and make sure they are still activated (may require calling microsoft to explain issue). (64 Bit Win 10 Pro has issue with this as Rollback feature fails despite have Windows.old folder, may require reinstallation of Win 7 from scratch).

Reupgrade only OEM Win 7 Pro 32 bit to Win 10 Pro 32 bit. Confirm activation. Do clean install of Win 10 Pro 64 bit on SSD now that the laptop is relicensed. This is allowed unlike OEM version of Win 7 where you are tied to the 32 or 64 version you start with.

Alternative is to wait for Microsoft to sort out Retail Licensing Issues, thou even if they do it seems to me that since I upgraded 2 Windows from the same laptop they will not even have that information since the activation is tied to the hardware now. Also have only 1 month to Rollback Windows or so they say.

Any suggestions appreciated,
Thanks

 

[Elixer]

The only suggestion is to install the retail version to another device, and activate it, and see if it works.
If not, call MS.

 

[imported_mmshah]

Yes I've thought about trying this, just wondering if by doing that would it invalidate the Windows 10 license obtained from my OEM copy, supposed I can call and ask them if fix that too thou.

 

[alcoholbob]

As long as you reinstall whatever version of Windows 7 you want and on whatever hardware you want and reactivate it, you can do the Windows 10 upgrade.

I've already installed Windows 10 like 3 times on the same computer after I just happened to be upgrading some hardware at the same time. Each time I changed hardware my Windows 10 became un-activated, and there is no toll free phone call option to activate 10 currently. So all I could do was reinstall Windows 7, activate it, and then install Windows 10 again, which activated without any problems, even clean install.

 

[imported_mmshah]

Just to make clear what I would like, is to revert my Retail key to a Win 7 Key to keep for later use on another machine, and use the OEM laptop Key to qualify for the upgrade on the laptop.

To verify this from what I am gathering I should:

1) install my Win 7 Retail on another machine
2) activate
3) upgrade it to Win 10 and make sure its activated.

Wondering if step 3 is a required step or is just activating my Retail key on Win 7 sufficient to invalidate the Win 10 install I did on the laptop based on that key.

4) On laptop, if its Win 10 stays activated I guess I can assume the OEM key is still somehow associated with it and everything is fine.
5) If it becomes unactive, then I need to revert or reinstall Win 7 with its OEM key and upgrade again to Win 10 to associate the OEM key to the laptop in Win 10.

 

[SparkyJJO]

There is no "converting" of the key back and forth. Just reinstall Win7 retail on another machine. You've already reinstated the OEM win7 that came with the laptop and upgraded to win10 so you're not running the retail Win10 anywhere.

 

[ViRGE]

This may or may not make things any clearer: https://www.thurrott.com/windows/wi...ate-your-pc-with-your-free-windows-10-license

When you do so, Windows 10 will activate—yes, you need to be online for that, obviously—and the PC’s digital entitlement will be registered with Windows Store. What gets sent to Windows Store is interesting: it’s a hardware ID, unique to your PC, which is comprised of information about its CPU, motherboard and, if available, TPM. What’s not send to Windows Store is your Microsoft account information. Instead, it is the PC that is registered, essentially, which makes sense since you may later sell it or give it away. That PC will always activate new installs of Windows 10 going forward. (And yes, your previous OS will still activate too. This process doesn’t impact that at all.)

 

[smakme7757]

This may or may not make things any clearer: https://www.thurrott.com/windows/wi...ate-your-pc-with-your-free-windows-10-license

Pretty much what I was going to write.

The Windows 10 "Key" is bound to the System ID of the computer that received the upgrade. It's as easy as that. (You can still change CPU/HDD/RAM)

On the plus side you will never have to worry about activation or loosing your key for that machine.

On the downside you cannot transfer the license to a new build/machine.

 

[us3rnotfound]

Pretty much what I was going to write.

The Windows 10 "Key" is bound to the System ID of the computer that received the upgrade. It's as easy as that. (You can still change CPU/HDD/RAM)

On the plus side you will never have to worry about activation or loosing your key for that machine.

On the downside you cannot transfer the license to a new build/machine.

You can change everything but the motherboard then?

 

[smakme7757]

You can change everything but the motherboard then?

In the old days it used to be the case.

As for Windows 10. I know that you can change the CPU as i did that yesterday.

Wether or not you can change CPU, RAM, GPU and HDDs all at the same time, I can't be sure as i havn't tested it. But a big change like that might flag your PC as a new system with so many changes all at once.

 

[GrumpyMan]

What surprised me was that you only have 30 days after the upgrade to go back to your old OS if you don't like 10, after that they burn your previous activation so that you can't go back even if you wanted to and had a legit key or at least that's the way I read if from this article on Tom's. So what happen to family packs that used all the same activation code if you want to keep some on 7? We'll see I guess.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-10-revert-os,29727.html

 

[kmmatney]

I've upgraded 2 Win 7 32-OEM systems to Windows 10 64-bit. It was a multi-step process, but it works and pretty easy.

"(Note: Retail Windows unlike OEM can be transferred to new hardware, including after Win 10 Upgrade)"

This is not true, I have 7 systems at home running windows 7 OEM, and you can get about 3 motherboard upgrades before activating becomes a hassle, and even after that you just have to phone in to get windows activated. My Windows 8 is actually a retail copy, and it behaved the same - I had to call in after 3 upgrades to my system - this was annoying as I bought it retail, just to avoid that situation. The only OS where I've had to call Microsoft and argue about the license was my old Window Home server, running the original WHS version. It wouldn't activate after 1 motherboard upgrade, and I had to call and argue about it. This was stupid, as they only sold one version of WHS v1, I had no option to buy retail.

Anyways, to go from WIndows 7 OEM 32-bit to 64-bit windows.

1. Upgrade to windows 10 in-place as normal - it will be 32-bit. make sure it as officially activated
2. Download and install Windows 10 64-bit from the ISO download. I used a USB stick
3. During the 64-bit install it will ask for a key - just avoid doing this every time it asked.
4. When the windows 10 64-bit version is installed, it will find the original key from your in-place upqrade, and activate.

I've done this with 2 PCs and they are working great, and have already added a few more GBs of RAM to them to take advantage of 64-bit.

 

[kmmatney]

What surprised me was that you only have 30 days after the upgrade to go back to your old OS if you don't like 10, after that they burn your previous activation so that you can't go back even if you wanted to and had a legit key or at least that's the way I read if from this article on Tom's. So what happen to family packs that used all the same activation code if you want to keep some on 7? We'll see I guess.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-10-revert-os,29727.html

I think that only applies to the option of reverting back within Windows 10, using their reset feature. You can always reformat and re-install from your old install media. At least I'm assuming you can do that.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Pretty much what I was going to write.

The Windows 10 "Key" is bound to the System ID of the computer that received the upgrade. It's as easy as that. (You can still change CPU/HDD/RAM)

On the plus side you will never have to worry about activation or loosing your key for that machine.

On the downside you cannot transfer the license to a new build/machine.

Technically you're not supposed to transfer OEM licenses anyway.

Retail can still be transferred (says right in the EULA). A little unclear how the licensing process differs though.

 

[Anteaus]

The key is embedded into the bios now. After your initial activation, all future activations are automated based on the existence of that key. The mistake some people make is that when they attempt to clean install they enter a key. You are supposed to skip all screens asking for a key and as long as you have access to the internet and the original key is embedded, it will automatically activate.

I've already done this on 2 out of 3 of my machines. The first one I went so far as to use a completely different hard drive after activation just to make sure it worked and it did no problem. If you try to use that generic key you extract then it will fail.

There is no legit way to extract your actual license key because it is encrypted in the BIOS. The readily available extraction programs only produce the generic key for whichever Windows version is installed.

Presumably the retail versions will come with an actual key that can be used to activate via the normal activation system (internet/phone) should a transfer be necessary. Since the free versions are system builder (OEM), they are restricted to the "device".

Personally, I really like the new system. I can replace everything but the motherboard and be fine, whereas the old system could trigger reactivation if your combination of hardware changed sufficiently.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Saw this link.

http://imgur.com/gallery/8OJ4t

Even MS tech support seems to only add confusion if its legit.

 

[Anteaus]

Saw this link.

http://imgur.com/gallery/8OJ4t

Even MS tech support seems to only add confusion if its legit.

Yeah it is confusing because people are caught between the new system and the old. When MS talks about changing hardware, they mean the entire machine. I think that guy was purposely trying to bait the tech person who was less knowledgeable than himself. MS has not changed how their OEM licenses work. They only changed the method of activation which adds enforcement to a license scenario that was previously unenforceable.

I think its funny how so many people are getting excited about what has been busy as usual for years now.

 

[Auric]

As long as you reinstall whatever version of Windows 7 you want and on whatever hardware you want and reactivate it, you can do the Windows 10 upgrade.

I've already installed Windows 10 like 3 times on the same computer after I just happened to be upgrading some hardware at the same time. Each time I changed hardware my Windows 10 became un-activated, and there is no toll free phone call option to activate 10 currently. So all I could do was reinstall Windows 7, activate it, and then install Windows 10 again, which activated without any problems, even clean install.

A universal image of Windows 7 would make that a lot easier.

 

[smakme7757]

Technically you're not supposed to transfer OEM licenses anyway.

Retail can still be transferred (says right in the EULA). A little unclear how the licensing process differs though.

The Windows 10 upgrade license is definately an OEM license no matter if your Windows 7/8/8.1 was retail or not.

 

[imported_mmshah]

As SparkyJJO has said transfer rights of Retail Win7/8/8.1 are mantained says in EULA as well as being quoted countless times by Microsoft support staff.

I ran slmgr /dlv on the SSD (Win10 Pro 64 bit) of my laptop and it spits back RETAIL, guessing if I put in my mechanical HD (Win10 Pro 32 bit) it will spit out OEM.

So I still think the safest course of action is install Win7 Retail on a different machine upgrade to Win10 and get that RETAIL key associated with different hardware. Then go back and check laptop with SSD in, it should become unactivated. Whether or not it would reactivate on its own seems doubtful to me despite having already associated my OEM also to that laptop. To then get the OEM key associated to the laptop put back mechanical HD in laptop it should still be activated and would then register an OEM version with microsoft servers for that laptop. Then reinstall Win10 on SSD in laptop and it should be the OEM version that is now associated to that laptop.

In any case this is alot of work for licensing issues that seem to have been poorly implemented by microsoft IMO. This could have all been made much simpler but just having microsoft gives us new keys, OEM for OEM and RETAIL for RETAIL and not allow both the old key and new replaced key to be activate at the same time, which was what I was expecting but oh well.

The only lesson I can say is do not upgrade multiple versions of Windows from the same machine (VMware included), it will only leave you with a licensing headache. Only upgrade the version you plan to use on that hardware, save any other RETAIL installations to upgrade at a later time on different hardware.

 

[SparkyJJO]

The Windows 10 upgrade license is definately an OEM license no matter if your Windows 7/8/8.1 was retail or not.

Again, this is NOT the case. I wish people would stop repeating false information. I've posted the part of the EULA before which specifically addresses this. Here, I'll post it again, with the bolded/underlined parts as usual:

4. Transfer. The provisions of this section do not apply if you acquired the software as a consumer in Germany or in any of the countries listed on this site (aka.ms/transfer), in which case any transfer of the software to a third party, and the right to use it, must comply with applicable law.
a. Software preinstalled on device. If you acquired the software preinstalled on a device (and also if you upgraded from software preinstalled on a device), you may transfer the license to use the software directly to another user, only with the licensed device. The transfer must include the software and, if provided with the device, an authentic Windows label including the product key. Before any permitted transfer, the other party must agree that this agreement applies to the transfer and use of the software.
b. Stand-alone software. If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you. You may also transfer the software to a device owned by someone else if (i) you are the first licensed user of the software and (ii) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. You may use the backup copy we allow you to make or the media that the software came on to transfer the software. Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device. You may not transfer the software to share licenses between devices.

As SparkyJJO has said transfer rights of Retail Win7/8/8.1 are mantained says in EULA as well as being quoted countless times by Microsoft support staff.

I ran slmgr /dlv on the SSD (Win10 Pro 64 bit) of my laptop and it spits back RETAIL, guessing if I put in my mechanical HD (Win10 Pro 32 bit) it will spit out OEM.

THANK YOU. At least someone here is paying attention.

 

[artemicion]

Anyone know if updating the firmware on your motherboard can somehow change your Hardware ID with Microsoft for Windows Activation purposes?

Having HUGE issues on multiple fronts with my Windows 10 upgrade on my laptop. It was running Windows 8.1 OEM. Only thing I can think of is that I upgraded the motherboard firmware in between Windows 10 activations.

1) Began the Windows 10 upgrade process through the reservation system in Windows Update.

2) Somewhere during the Windows 10 upgrade, the computer just froze completely. Powering down the computer and restarting caused it to hang on boot.

3) Tried a clean Windows 10 install (wasn't sure if it'd activate, but I figured what the hell), and it *initially* worked and I confirmed activation.

4) Ran Windows Update, it downloaded a bunch of updates and drivers, and subsequently would freeze consistently upon restart and login.

5) Tried to reinstall and the computer would freeze during installation. Twice.

6) Figured maybe may Windows 10 USB install was corrupted, I redownloaded it on a different USB. I also downloaded all the drivers I could find direct from Dell to avoid any issues with the drivers loaded during Windows Update. I also downloaded a firmware update that I found while looking for drivers.

7) Reinstall worked. Kept the laptop offline to avoid Windows Update. Installed drivers. Fine. Updated motherboard firmware. Fine. Ran Windows Update. Fine (except it downloaded new drivers when I told it not to update drivers via Windows Update. WHATEVER.)

8) Checked Windows 10 Activation Status. NOT ACTIVATED. Says my key is blocked.

9) Checking my "Devices" in my Microsoft Account, it lists TWO Dell Laptops with Windows 10 Home. I only own one.

Figured this is going to take a call to Microsoft to figure out. I was just going to try to reinstall Windows 8 and go through the in-place upgrade option again, but the fact that my Microsoft Account lists TWO laptops, I'm guessing it's an issue on their end not recognizing that I'm trying to activate Windows 10 on the same laptop twice.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Hm, that could suck if it does :hmm:

 

[imported_mmshah]

Thinking about trying the following rather than reinstalling:

Open a command prompt as an Administrator.

Enter slmgr /upk and wait for this to complete. This will uninstall the current product key from Windows and put it into an unlicensed state.

Enter slmgr /cpky and wait for this to complete. This will remove the product key from the registry if it's still there.

Enter slmgr /rearm and wait for this to complete. This is to reset the Windows activation timers so the new users will be prompted to activate Windows when they put in the key.

This should put the system back to a pre-key state.

Do all the above on the RETAIL install of my SSD, put in Mechanical OEM install, its already activated so then microsoft servers should then identify laptop as OEM install. Put SSD back in laptop, let it try to activate and hopefully it will as OEM and RETAIL copy is then freed up for new hardware.