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Saw someone mention that they were able to
activate W10 with a W7 retail key a week ago.
So I tried mine in a VM and it worked!
It did not accept it at installation but did after W10 was installed.

Now I just hope I will be able to install the "retail" W10 in my next computer.

I wonder if this is limited to retail keys... I have a couple of unused OEM keys.

I've used it successfully with OEM keys since the Win10 free upgrade period expired, and it seems unlikely that that would have changed lately if it didn't for retail.

AFAIK all Windows 7/8/8.1 keys are still good for a Win10 upgrade, although MS doesn't advertise this.

At this point I doubt they're going to ever rescind that offer.

I upgraded my OEM W7 key to Win10 last year. I'm hoping I don't need to buy a new copy when I swap out my motherboard/CPU in a few weeks.

I just installed Win10 in a VM here using a Win7 key. Pretty nifty.

Although, attempting to install the creators update was a complete fail. I got as far as the logo screen and then it just dies. No spinny dots, or any other signs of progress of any kind. I guess I'll download updates and stuff now to see if that's going to be a recurring problem or not.

synthtel2 wrote:

I've used it successfully with OEM keys since the Win10 free upgrade period expired, and it seems unlikely that that would have changed lately if it didn't for retail.

I can confirm that the HP oem key worked on the wife's "new" laptop after transfering the drive from a lenovo t420 to a HP elitebook 8xxxp laptop. (I can't remember the exact model number)

Hallelujah!!! I've got about a dozen Win7 keys I haven't used yet and I thought I was screwed. Thanks for sharing.

jmc2 wrote:

Saw someone mention that they were able to
activate W10 with a W7 retail key a week ago.
So I tried mine in a VM and it worked!
It did not accept it at installation but did after W10 was installed.

Now I just hope I will be able to install the "retail" W10 in my next computer.

Your welcome

just brew it! wrote:

I wonder if this is limited to retail keys... I have a couple of unused OEM keys.

Yes indeed, i have about a dozen W7 OEM keys and so far I'm 6 for 6 on my list.

The only caveat is make sure to keep track of which OEM key you installed to which machine. I found in a double re-install that my key i used on my media box will not work on anything but the media box now. I kind of expected it which is why is deliberately swapped them in the reinstall test.

maxxcool wrote:

I found in a double re-install that my key i used on my media box will not work on anything but the media box now. I kind of expected it which is why is deliberately swapped them in the reinstall test.

That can be solved with a call to Microsoft. Pain, but only about half an hour of it.

Waco wrote:

maxxcool wrote:

I found in a double re-install that my key i used on my media box will not work on anything but the media box now. I kind of expected it which is why is deliberately swapped them in the reinstall test.

That can be solved with a call to Microsoft. Pain, but only about half an hour of it.

^ yup! Confirmed ..

I can tell you from experience that if the Windows 7 key wasn't activated as Windows 7, your Windows 10 install will eventually go to an non-Activated state. I just had this happen on one of my machines at home. I'm going to try installing Windows 7 in a VM to active that key and see if it fixes the problem.

curtisb wrote:

I can tell you from experience that if the Windows 7 key wasn't activated as Windows 7, your Windows 10 install will eventually go to an non-Activated state. I just had this happen on one of my machines at home. I'm going to try installing Windows 7 in a VM to active that key and see if it fixes the problem.

Doesn't that run a risk of making the Win10 install activateable (is that a word?) only in the VM?

I don't think so with a Retail key (mine are actually from MSDN). The plan is to activate the Windows 7 install in the VM, and then try to activate the Windows 10 install on his machine with the same key. If something does happen I have plenty of other Windows 7 keys to try other options. Standby and I'll post a follow up. I have the Windows 7 VM install going right now.

Yes, the computer in question that I have was a fresh install from the Anniversary Update. I never enter keys during the install and instead wait until I have all drivers, updates, and software installed. Then I activate. The install currently on the computer took the key and activated it. However, it now has the following message:

We can't activate Windows on this device as the previous version of Windows was not activated prior to upgrading to Windows 10. Go to the Store to buy genuine Windows. Error code: 0x803F7001

I'm still working on the Windows 7 VM.

EDIT: Well, turns out I was able to just enter the same exact key on the Windows 10 install and it now shows Activated. I'm going to keep an eye on it to see if it stays...particularly after the Creators Update.

EDIT 2: I'm running the Update Assistant on that PC to force the Creators Update now.

A word of warning...

I just ran into a win10 machine that won't activate with an 8pro license:

"We can't activate Windows on this device because the previous version of Windows was not activated prior to upgrading to Windows 10. Go to the Store and buy a genuine Windows. Error code 0x803F7001"

This is indeed the case, the 8pro license came out of a retail box that had never been used. What's really annoying is that

A) It initially activated just fine and was in use for several months before this error popped up.

B) The upgrade was done during the upgrade period.

C) It's a genuine 8pro license and is retail not even OEM.

Anyhow I guess the lesson is that even if you have a 10 license today it might be gone tomorrow.

Be sure to install and activate the OS you're upgrading on your hardware before doing an install of 10.

cheesyking wrote:

A word of warning...
...
Be sure to install and activate the OS you're upgrading on your hardware before doing an install of 10.

Good to know. And yuck, what a PITA.

cheesyking wrote:

A word of warning...

I just ran into a win10 machine that won't activate with an 8pro license:

"We can't activate Windows on this device because the previous version of Windows was not activated prior to upgrading to Windows 10. Go to the Store and buy a genuine Windows. Error code 0x803F7001"

This is indeed the case, the 8pro license came out of a retail box that had never been used. What's really annoying is that

A) It initially activated just fine and was in use for several months before this error popped up.

B) The upgrade was done during the upgrade period.

C) It's a genuine 8pro license and is retail not even OEM.

Anyhow I guess the lesson is that even if you have a 10 license today it might be gone tomorrow.

Be sure to install and activate the OS you're upgrading on your hardware before doing an install of 10.

It might be worth calling MS to fix that. I can't imagine they intended this to be normal.

What makes you think it is not intentional? I could easily see MS arguing that since the offer was of a free upgrade for existing W7/W8 users, it only applies to activated licenses. If the license was never activated then it wasn't being used, therefore you're not an existing user!

I also tend to think that if it was a bug in the activation process it would've been fixed by now, since I'm sure a lot of people have hit it.

just brew it! wrote:

What makes you think it is not intentional? I could easily see MS arguing that since the offer was of a free upgrade for existing W7/W8 users, it only applies to activated licenses. If the license was never activated then it wasn't being used, therefore you're not an existing user!

I guess I can see that perspective.

I strongly dislike Microsoft "logic" these days.

That's the same message I had, and as my edit above shows, I was able to just enter the same product key again to re-activate the install. I've also updated the machine to the Creator's Update and it's still activated.

But I do agree that you're probably better off activating the key before hand if you're able to. It adds extra time, but would you rather spend time or money?

Waco wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

What makes you think it is not intentional? I could easily see MS arguing that since the offer was of a free upgrade for existing W7/W8 users, it only applies to activated licenses. If the license was never activated then it wasn't being used, therefore you're not an existing user!

I guess I can see that perspective.

I strongly dislike Microsoft "logic" these days.

I tend to not worry about it much any more.

Aside from a potential gaming build on the horizon (keep meaning to get back into that, hence my interest in this issue...), MS and Windows have very little impact on me these days. I run Linux at home, and at work I run OS X and Linux (in VMs). I have to open an MS Office document at work maybe once or twice a month, and I occasionally need to troubleshoot other family members' Windows problems (but things have been mercifully quiet on that front for the past 6-12 months).

I can honestly say that there are many weeks where I do not interact directly with a Microsoft product at all. And when I do put together that gaming build, it is going to be strictly for entertainment purposes; I won't be relying on it for anything important.

just brew it! wrote:

Waco wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

What makes you think it is not intentional? I could easily see MS arguing that since the offer was of a free upgrade for existing W7/W8 users, it only applies to activated licenses. If the license was never activated then it wasn't being used, therefore you're not an existing user!

I guess I can see that perspective.

I strongly dislike Microsoft "logic" these days.

I tend to not worry about it much any more.

Aside from a potential gaming build on the horizon (keep meaning to get back into that, hence my interest in this issue...), MS and Windows have very little impact on me these days. I run Linux at home, and at work I run OS X and Linux (in VMs). I have to open an MS Office document at work maybe once or twice a month, and I occasionally need to troubleshoot other family members' Windows problems (but things have been mercifully quiet on that front for the past 6-12 months).

I can honestly say that there are many weeks where I do not interact directly with a Microsoft product at all. And when I do put together that gaming build, it is going to be strictly for entertainment purposes; I won't be relying on it for anything important.

I'd be there years ago, but... DirectX 12. Sigh.

Indeed... that's what's gonna get me to dip a toe back into the Windows pool. But it's gonna be a separate, dedicated PC.

My only reason for running Windows at home is gaming. If I didn't game, I'd be running some flavor of Linux.

curtisb wrote:

That's the same message I had, and as my edit above shows, I was able to just enter the same product key again to re-activate the install. I've also updated the machine to the Creator's Update and it's still activated.

But I do agree that you're probably better off activating the key before hand if you're able to. It adds extra time, but would you rather spend time or money?

Why didn't I see you're post? I must be going mad.

EDIT
and as far as gaming on Linux goes, it's really quite good as long as you're not worried about being able to play literally every game that's released. There are a good mix of games and performance isn't that bad especially now Vulcan games are starting to appear. You can even use the open source amd graphics drivers with many games now.

Keep your W7 keys!

I used my Retail W7/64Pro key in a VM, activated it and then installed W10/64 Pro.
and it all activated.

Put my Ryzen 1700 together this weekend.
I extracted my W10/64 (Retail key?) with Magic Bean from the VM.
Or at least Magic Bean did give me a number sequence that W10 did not
immediately reject.

But W10 refused to activate with the extracted key.
I had to gave it my original W7 retail key to get activation.
Thank goodness that did work.

Thoughts welcome.
jmc2

TBH that's how I'd expect it to work. MS wouldn't expect a user to download a key extractor before being able to reinstall.