Windows 7 and 8.1 Users, Don’t Try to Clean Install Windows 10 Without Upgrading First!

[Batu69]

Your old Windows 7 or 8.1 key won’t work in Windows 10

Now that Microsoft has finally started offering the free Windows 10 upgrade to users across the world, we’re seeing quite a lot of people trying to clean install the new operating system and thus avoid the painful process that the upgrade could turn out to be in case of compatibility issues or any other problems experienced during download and install.

And while the clean install worked for every single version of Windows released in the past, it doesn’t work for Windows 10, so you must not attempt to clean install Windows 10 without upgrading first!

The reason is as simple as it could be: the product keys you have for Windows 7 or 8.1 won’t work in Windows 10, and in order to benefit from the free upgrade, you need to perform the direct upgrade first.

How Windows 10 activation works

Microsoft explains how exactly this process works:

“Once your device upgrades to Windows 10 using the free upgrade offer and activates online automatically, an entitlement is registered to your PC’s hardware for your edition of Windows 10. (If you go to Settings >> Update & Security >> Activation says ‘Windows is activated.’) Now you will be able to clean install (i.e. boot from media and install Windows 10) the same edition of Windows 10 seamlessly without having to enter a product key.”

In other words, once you perform the direct upgrade to Windows 10 and the operating system is activated, you can do the clean install how many times you want, as the generic product key that’s being users for your system is then automatically re-used to activate it once again when you get back online.

“You CANNOT activate Windows 10 using a Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 product key. Upgraded Windows 10 PCs do NOT use unique product keys for Activation - all upgraded Windows 10 PCs use the same generic product key that activates ONLY if you launched upgrade while booted in your Windows 7/8 system,” Microsoft adds.

As far as new hardware is concerned, Windows 10 doesn’t bring anything new to the table, so if you make significant changes to your hardware configuration, you might have to contact Microsoft to re-activate your device.

Source

[R3dMan]

I have that problem, i have to upgrade from windows 8.1 for 10 and i wait for activation (24 hours i think), and the next day i do clean install and the key is not the same. I dont know what problem is.

[Gabben]

Personally i never give a rats a*s about windows activation. I'm using Windows since 1992 and it was always pirated. Much simpler and hassle free.

But i get that this is an important information to those who are on the legal way i just don't get why they are paying for a product that has a shity activation system.

[manju]

I have that problem, i have to upgrade from windows 8.1 for 10 and i wait for activation (24 hours i think), and the next day i do clean install and the key is not the same. I dont know what problem is.

my upgrade didn't activated on restart. so, i waited a day (more or less), them runned MTK from CODYQX4 :D

[CODYQX4]

Personally i never give a rats a*s about windows activation. I'm using Windows since 1992 and it was always pirated. Much simpler and hassle free.

But i get that this is an important information to those who are on the legal way i just don't get why they are paying for a product that has a shity activation system.

The only legit Retail laptop I've ever owned claimed my MSDN key (School MSDN, not leaked or anything) claimed my 7 Pro key was invalid. I threw my hands up and loadered it, because no way in hell was I going to call some call center halfway across the world to deal with it.

Windows activation really only stops legitimate customers, and people who install bottomfeeder "cracks" that patch and disable core Windows files/services to claim activation, and that is what WGA mostly targets. I think MS goes light on cleaner solutions just to not have to deal with us all patching our kernels monthly and crying that our OS broke, all while a million legit PCs broke due to a dodgy kernel update (you know, like every month).

[steven36]

LOL when I 1st using windows sites like these didn't exist yet witch even then some were upgrading to prated copies XP on ragged out old Win 98 boxes . But if you buy new computers every so often they come with the latest windows on them anyway. Why should someone that has a newer computer with legit windows 7 or windows 8 have to use prated copies for something for and upgrade that's free? When people brag about pirating windows it dont impress me much . It tells me ether you never have bought new computers in years or ether you built you're own and are to cheap to put a legit copy on it.

[Jordan]

Removed

[Gabben]

LOL when I 1st using windows sites like these didn't exist yet witch even then some were upgrading to prated copies XP on ragged out old Win 98 boxes . But if you buy new computers every so often they come with the latest windows on them anyway. Why should someone that has a newer computer with legit windows 7 or windows 8 have to use prated copies for something for and upgrade that's free? When people brag about pirating windows it dont impress me much . It tells me ether you never have bought new computers in years or ether you built you're own and are to cheap to put a legit copy on it.

I have a few custom built computers and i can afford Windows but i DON'T want to. Why? Because the whole activation system is not user friendly. It looks like a cop that is always at your house and asking what's in your bag? Where are you going? It should be a cop that only comes when i call for one.

Basically with pirated windows you can reinstall it all you want. You don't need support or phone activation if something goes wrong. Very user friendly.

I also always bought notebooks with Free DOS or Linux because pre-installed windows is full of bloatware and reinstall means a factory restore that is hidden on your hard drive.

I'm not braging just wanted to share my opinion. I'm not proud of this. How can you be proud on something that even an 8 year old can do?

[steven36]

LOL when I 1st using windows sites like these didn't exist yet witch even then some were upgrading to prated copies XP on ragged out old Win 98 boxes . But if you buy new computers every so often they come with the latest windows on them anyway. Why should someone that has a newer computer with legit windows 7 or windows 8 have to use prated copies for something for and upgrade that's free? When people brag about pirating windows it dont impress me much . It tells me ether you never have bought new computers in years or ether you built you're own and are to cheap to put a legit copy on it.

I have a few custom built computers and i can afford Windows but i DON'T want to. Why? Because the whole activation system is not user friendly. It looks like a cop that is always at your house and asking what's in your bag? Where are you going? It should be a cop that only comes when i call for one.

Basically with pirated windows you can reinstall it all you want. You don't need support or phone activation if something goes wrong. Very user friendly.

I also always bought notebooks with Free DOS or Linux because pre-installed windows is full of bloatware and reinstall means a factory restore that is hidden on your hard drive.

I'm not braging just wanted to share my opinion. I'm not proud of this. How can you be proud on something that even an 8 year old can do?

I'm not rich but no means I have one pc i bought new with windows 8 OEM and activated to windows 10 with out a hitch. Also I have one that came with Vista back when Windows 7 was the thing some had access to legit retail keys and one my friends gave me one for 3 computers . If you had friends in the right places a legit Windows 7 key was not hard to get back in 2011 . Both activated fine my OEM activated right away and the old computer with retail key did a little bit latter . ;)

​

​Most desktop PCS come with a TB HHD nowadays both of my computers have one . Even my OEM after I removed all OEM stuff and upgraded it to 10 it has almost a full HHD and I have 7 TB extra in extremal drives ... i would never clean install it because I dont want to lose Factory restore . if i decide I dont want windows 10 I can hit one button and go bk to windows 8 already Im allready activated. Im not messing up my computer for no new windows . :)

[straycat19]

I have been using windows since version 1.03 and I have never bought a copy nor have I ever used a pirated version. I get mine free thru the various jobs I have had. On laptops I format the drive and install pro or enterprise on it regardless of what it came with because I don't want all the crap that was put on the system. People that complain about Windows are just ignorant of the tweaks that can be obtained through the use of policies and registry hacks to secure the system and make it behave the way you want it to. Script Kiddies are too lazy to learn the OS they rely on. Those of you who were around with windows 3 may recall how we had to modify the ini files to modify how programs started and where to load them into the memory in order to tweak our systems and get the most memory from the 640k that was allotted. Script Kiddies would still be running DOS because they wouldn't be able to figure it out. There wasn't any download this, install this, then run this to get the final product.

Personally, I believe anyone who uses a pirated OS gets exactly what they deserve. I download and examine the various ISOs that pirates produce and I wouldn't put that crap on anyone's computer. If I were going to use a pirated copy I would only start with an official ISO from Microsoft, not one of the modified/updated pirate copies, and then use an activator that I could disassemble and look at the code to verify that it was not adding something personally malicious to the installation.

Too many 'script kiddies' around today that couldn't find their ass with both hands, a picture, and written instructions and will go to any length to get something for 'free'. And their pirated copies are potentially dangerous to every site their systems touch.

I apologize for my rant and if I offended you maybe you ought to be offended.

[Gabben]

Personally, I believe anyone who uses a pirated OS gets exactly what they deserve. I download and examine the various ISOs that pirates produce and I wouldn't put that crap on anyone's computer. If I were going to use a pirated copy I would only start with an official ISO from Microsoft, not one of the modified/updated pirate copies, and then use an activator that I could disassemble and look at the code to verify that it was not adding something personally malicious to the installation.

I never used modified ISO. Always offical then download an activator from trusted source where hundreds of other users tested it. Like from nsane. Sometimes i download updated ISO because too many updates need to be downloaded after an install or reinstall. But that is the only modification that i accept.