If you have a Windows 7 or 8 PC on July 29th, you will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. This free license will only be offered for one year, but what happens if you need to reinstall your OS? The good news is that the license Microsoft is providing will allow you to clean install Windows 10 on the same device at any time.
The news comes from Gabe Aul, the head of the Windows Insider program at Microsoft. For those who do not like upgrading their machines and prefer to clean install Windows every time a new version is released, this is good news for you. Gabe said the following on Twitter:
Once you upgrade W10 w/ the free upgrade offer you will able to clean reinstall Windows 10 on same device any time
Microsoft is moving aggressively with Windows 10 by prompting Windows 7 and 8 users on their desktop with a free upgrade offer. The company is targeting to have one billion installs of the OS in the next 2-3 years, which means that they have to get users to upgrade quickly if they are going to meet this goal.
The flexibility of the upgrade license will likely put to rest concern that some users were having as they were expecting to have to install Windows 7/8 and then upgrade with the free key that Microsoft is providing if they needed to wipe their machine.
I have not found any information from MS - only speculations from people like me, so I hope someone here has had better findings.
When I upgrade a qualified version of Windows to Windows 10 and then want to do a clean install, I've heard that the installer won't ask for a key.But what if my HDD is formatted before I attempt the clean install? How does Windows 10 try to detect the valid 'upgraded' status? It seems that it doesn't in such a case, at least as far as I've tested.
So my question is: In that (or a similar) scenario: How do you clean install Windows 10?
In my case it's actually even more complicated. I'm from Germany so I can re-use OEM-licenses due to law.I have two qualified Windows OEM licenses which I both installed in a VM on my Linux installation and upgraded both to Windows 10.
Now I want to install one of them onto my bare physical machine - how would that be possible? Is there an official way of doing this or do I need to wait for those unofficial 'backup license'-tools being updated to work with Windows 10?
Once you have installed the upgrade to windows 10, if you want to clean install your machine, you have 2 options:
1) you can chose the 'reset' option to reset your machine to factory:
2) Clean install. You can indeed format and reinstall as before with previous versions of Windows. Check out This link for more information.
When installing, Windows 10 will always look for a product key.
If you are upgrading, reinstalling in place, or using 'Reset this PC' the current OS key will be used, alternatively if you have a PC where the key is stored in firmware the installer will try to use that, if none of those options work the installer will prompt the user for a key (it might also look for a key on the installation media - for streamlined installations).
The user can skip the product key entry during setup (multiple skips may be required).
When it comes to activation the hardware is what matters - as long as the PC has been upgraded to Windows 10 previously it will always be able to do a clean install of that version of Windows 10 and activate even if no product key was entered during installation.
For new installs either a Windows 10 product key is required, or the user must upgrade from a previously installed Windows version.
Finally from what I understand, Windows defines the motherboard as the PC - as long as the motherboard remains the same it is the same PC. I don't know how this will work for Germany, but I suspect that they fulfil the letter rather than the spirit of the law and require you to do an upgrade on each machine you want to install on (i.e. they are not quite restricting your license use - just making it a pain).
More information on clean installs can be found here.
Edit: Completely rewrote my answer to be more correct, clearer and more concise. Apologies to anyone who was mislead by what I said previously.
Just do a fresh clean install of windows 10, and when it asks for the activation key, you can enter any valid activation key from windows 7, 8, or 8.1.
If you are trying to activate windows 10 pro, you can't use any 'home' or 'basic' edition keys. It has to be windows pro/ultimate. 64/32 bit doesn't matter.
Starting with the November update, Windows 10 (Version 1511) can be activated using some Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 product keys. For more info, see the section Activating Windows 10 (Version 1511 or higher) using a Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 product key in this topic.
Owners of Windows 7 and 8.1 will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free but can they keep using that copy of Windows 10 if they need to reinstall Windows or replace their PC?
Reinstalling an upgraded version of Windows 10 on the same machine will be possible without having to buy a new copy of Windows, according to Microsoft.
People who have upgraded to Windows 10 will be able to download media that can be used to clean install Windows 10 from USB or DVD. There will be no need to purchase a new copy of Windows 10 provided it is being installed on the same Windows 7 or 8.1 machine that was upgraded to Windows 10. The installed version of Windows 10, Home or Pro, will be the same as the version they upgraded to.
When installing Windows 10, users will be able to skip the requirement to enter a product key and Windows 10 will activate automatically online.
TechRepublic's sister site ZDNet also recently published a guide for people running early builds of Windows 10 under the Windows Insider Program, detailing how to create ISO files from the OS that can be used for a clean install.
However, people running an upgraded version of Windows 10 may need to buy a new copy of Windows 10 if they switch to a new machine or 'significantly upgrade the device' - which Microsoft counts as replacing the motherboard.
Ian Moulster, Windows product manager, said: 'My understanding is it's licensed to the device and not to you, so it's specific to the device and you wouldn't be able to use it elsewhere.'
A post on answers.microsoft.com suggests that only those who have upgraded from OEM versions of Windows 7 and 8 will need to buy a new Windows 10 license after replacing a computer's motherboard. Those upgrading from a retail version of Windows 7 or 8, the post says, would be able to transfer their copy of Windows 10 to a new machine or PC with a new motherboard.
Most owners of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 operating systems will see a Windows icon in their taskbar that will allow them to 'reserve' their free upgrade to Windows 10. The 3GB file can be downloaded from 29th July. The free upgrade will be available until July next year and those choosing to switch to Windows 10 can cancel their reservations at 'at any time', according to Microsoft.
To upgrade using Windows Update users must be running Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) or Windows 8 (Windows 8.1 Update). Other Windows 7 and Windows 8 users will still be able to upgrade to Windows 10 by downloading an ISO image from Microsoft.
The five million Windows Insiders who have been testing Windows 10 will also get Windows 10 on July 29.
Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education, editions will be available from Saturday, August 1. Neither version is available under the first-year-free promotion and both will be available for download from Microsoft's Volume Licensing Center.
We understand that you may have some questions regarding what to do if you have to reinstall Windows 10 at some point after you take advantage of the free upgrade.Here are some basic questions and answers regarding the free upgrade offer:
Tekken 6 game. Q: After doing a free upgrade to Windows 10, how do I clean install Windows 10 subsequently?
A: Once your device upgrades to Windows 10 using the free upgrade offer and activates online automatically, you will be able to clean install (i.e. boot from media and install Windows 10) the same edition of Windows 10 that you upgraded to on the same device during and after the free upgrade offer. You will not be required to purchase Windows 10 or go back to your prior down-level version of Windows.
Windows 10 FAQ covers which edition of Windows you'll get upgraded to depending on the edition of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 that you start from (Refer to the question 'What edition of Windows will I get as part of this free upgrade?'). More information onWindows 10 editions was published last month.
To enable clean installation of Windows 10 on devices that upgraded and activated online using the free upgrade offer
The automatic online activation will occur seamlessly after clean installing Windows 10 if the device had previously upgraded and activated online the same Edition of Windows 10. No product keys are required.
Q: What happens if I change the hardware configuration of my Windows 10 device?
A: If the hardware configuration of your Windows 10 device changes significantly (e.g. motherboard change) Windows may require re-activation on the device. This is the same experience as prior versions of Windows (e.g. Windows 7 and Windows 8.1).The free upgrade offer will not apply to activation of Windows 10 in such scenarios where hardware changes reset Activation.
If your installation of Windows 10 is acting up or misbehaving, it is possible to perform a reinstallation of Windows 10 that keeps your files, documents, data, settings, and apps intact. Reinstalling Windows 10 does not format your PC, and can be used to correct problems with missing DLL errors, failed sfc scans, start menu doesn’t work, and more.
Windows 10 repair installs make it possible to fix your PC without resorting to a format for the first time since Windows XP. Usb floppy emulator download.
A Windows 10 setup USB or DVD is required for these instructions!
If you do not have access to the Windows 10 setup USB or DVD, you cannot follow the instructions below. You can still try using our free Windows 10 recovery CDs to fix your Windows 10 PC and repair startup issues and system problems.
You must be able to boot into Windows 10 to follow these instructions!
If you cannot boot into Windows 10, you cannot perform a safe repair install of Windows. If you are unable to boot into Windows, you will first need to repair Windows 10 boot issues by using a recovery CD like EasyRE for Windows to fix your Windows startup and log in to your PC before following the instructions below!
Contents
Windows 10 reinstallation, also known as a Windows 10 in-place upgrade or Windows 10 repair install, can be used to reload Windows 10 system files, registry keys, and configuration to a known working state without the deletion or removal of user files, settings, and software. Reinstalling Windows 10 is not the same as formatting and reinstalling Windows or a clean Windows 10 install – it’s the very last thing you can try if your are experiencing problems running Windows 10 or Windows 10 applications and metro apps before resorting to a system refresh or clean install which would result in the loss of all installed software.
A Windows 10 in-place upgrade/repair installation can be performed to fix one or more of the following:
Repair install Windows when other approaches like using dism to check and repair the health of your Windows image have failed.
With Windows 10, Microsoft has separated the system files from the user configurations, installed applications, applied updates, and more. Using new filesystem imaging technology powered by the command-line dism tool, Microsoft has once-more made it possible to reinstall Windows without losing user settings and installed applications – something that hasn’t been possible since Windows XP.