Windows 10: Activating two copies of windows 10 on the same puter

Hi there

This has me puzzled

I have upgraded to windows 10 from my OEM windows 7, now that went okay, and I understand that I now have Windows10 activated on this machine with a continuation of the OEM licence.

I have a Windows7 retail disk, what will happen if I install that on the same machine, and then upgrade that to Windows10, will that in effect give me a retail version of Windows10 ?

Just curious
Zoo

:)

 

Dual-Boot Two Copies of Windows 10 on Same SSD

Hello all,

I have a work laptop that I am trying to dual-boot with two copies of Windows 10 on the same SSD. One partition is for my work, the other is for my personal use. Both copies of Windows 10 are legal Windows 10 Pro copies and both have been installed and ran
at least once, as well as both being updated to latest versions of Windows 10.





From the Windows 10 Boot Manager, both partitions show up with no issue:





The problem I am having occurs (about 75% of the time) when I try to boot the PC from a complete shutdown or "cold start" (it works just fine after a restart or sleep action).

Booting from a complete shutdown the laptop boots straight to "Preparing Automatic Repair" --> "Diagnosing your PC" --> "Attempting repairs" where the attempts fail and the laptop gives me the option to Shutdown or Advanced options.

Shutdown does nothing. In the advanced options I have tried everything I know how:

-I have tried to reset all of my BIOS settings by going to Troubleshoot>Advanced options>UEFI Firmware Settings where I reset everything to default

-I have tried using Startup Repair, which is where the issue tries to fix itself (so, useless for this case)

-I have tried "Continue" and "Use another operating system" to try and switch between the two booting OSs and there's no luck

Advanced options:





Troubleshoot>Advanced options:





UEFI Options>Boot Sequence:





This issue only occurs every so often. If I reset the UEFI settings to default, sometimes it will go through and complete the boot to the OS I select where I can see both partitions in the "This PC" section:





My questions are:

-Does this occur because I have both instances of Windows 10 installed on the same SSD?

-If not, are there any solutions to help this error from occurring every time I boot?

Laptop Model: Dell Latitude E5450

OS: C: Windows 10 Pro / D: Windows 10 Pro

Thank you for your support!

 

Dual-Boot Two Copies of Windows 10 on Same SSD

Hi Nathan,

You hard drive must be firmly connected to your computer as this can be a factor that can cause the issue you're experiencing now. To provide the best steps to resolve the concern, we'd like to know if you're getting any error messages when performing an
automatic repair. This will help us identify if the issue is about the dual boot configuration or the drive letter where your operating system is installed.

Meanwhile, you can refer to the links below which may help you with the boot issue:

Repair the boot menu on a dual-boot PC

BCDBoot Command-Line Options

We look forward to your response.

 

It will give you a second installation of Windows 10 exactly like your first one, including the same generic Windows 10 Product Key (assuming your retail Windows 7 is the same version - Pro or Home - as the OEM Windows 7 was).

 

I understand that, but will my Windows10 rights be OEM or Full retail ?

 

It will be a free promotional copy of Windows 10 for that computer only not transferable to other computers. It will have the exact same generic Product Key that everyone else has. In order for it to be transferable to other computers, you would have to have a unique product key.

 

So..
If you upgrade a full retail copy then those rights don't carry, a full retail becomes effectively an OEM ?

 

The EULA says you keep your right to transfer - it seems you just have to phone them as the generic key you get via upgrading doesn't allow this. I phoned them and was given a unique Windows 10 Pro key which then activated automatically though phone activation on a new computer.

I needed a retail Windows 10 key so I could native boot and run through VM which are seen as 2 different computers. I tried upgrading the host and guest separately (so both hardware hashes would be stored) but that didn't work. I needed a retail Windows 10 key which I was given with no argument once I got through to a MS tech who understood what I meant.

 

Microsoft GIVES you FOR FREE a copy of Windows 10 for that computer as a promotional offer. Now, as halasz points out, in the EULA it says that retail licenses upgrade to retail Windows 10. That was Microsoft's mistake. They should have done a separate EULA for the promotional giveaway because they never intended to give away full retail transfer rights, they only intended to give away free upgrades on individual computers. However, if called on it, it is cheaper for Microsoft just to give you a unique key than it is to fight it arbitration or a lawsuit.

If they did go to court, I am pretty sure Microsoft would win for one simple fact - the customer did not pay for Windows 10 therefore the customer could not suffer any losses due to false advertising on Microsoft's part - even if the judge ruled the promotional offer, in combination with the Eula, to be false advertising. But it's just cheaper for Microsoft to give away a couple hundred unique, retail Windows 10 product keys than to pay a lawyer for even 1 hour of time.

If Microsoft was cancelling the transfer rights of the retail Windows 7/8/8.1 that was being upgraded from - then that would be a different situation - but they aren't. You can still transfer the Windows 7/8/8.1 to a different computer as you always were allowed to - to just have to uninstall it or any resulting upgrade on the old computer first.

 

Note that I have not checked, if what you write is correct. However, if it is, then all Microsoft does is to stick with the license terms, which they offered the end user and which he agreed to. They just stick to a legally binding contract as it is their duty.
It is not the end user's duty to start thinking about whether Microsoft - should that be - has been too stupid to use the right license. If the end user, through the license, is given a certain right, then it also is his right to make use of this right.

 

Not really. Microsoft never offered to give away free retail copies of Windows 10. All Microsoft offered to do was upgrade computers already running Windows 7/8/8.1 for free to Windows 10 for the life of that computer. Then when someone digs into the EULA of the free upgrade they see the language that would come with a normal purchased upgrade - retail license upgrades to retail license. Which is a legal technicality - not intention. And, so far, when pushed to honor the technicality, Microsoft appears to be cooperative. But when the user first clicks on Upgrade this PC now from Windows 7/8/8.1 - at that point all Microsoft has promised them is to upgrade that one computer for free and the user clicking on Upgrade this PC now should never have been expecting anything more at that point in time.

 

Oh come on. How is this a legal technicality not an intention? It hardly involves digging and it is what you agreed to when you upgraded (even if you didn't read it).

The EULA isn't either long or complicated and it is surely improbable MS published it without being sure what they meant or asking some of their lawyers to check it.

Thing is most people do not have retail license and while the upgrade key doesn't cover transfers, neither did their original license. The EULA clearly states what you can do if you have a retail license and this is honored if you activate by phone - they just swap your generic key for a normal one. All they are doing is what they always said they would do.

Really there is nothing to worry about...

 

You don't wanna do that as Windows 10 licensing apparently is tied up to the hardware. That will just end you up with 2 licenses locked to 1 machine. But you can transfer it and call MS for re-activation on different machine.
If you need a second copy on the same machine, you can just try cloning it. I am not sure, maybe someone can also enlighten me about this, if Windows 10 licensing is also now tied up to a hard drive because it's not the case with Windows 7.
So basically, you don't wanna waste the retail copy of your Win 7 if you are planning to build another machine in the future. But then again, it's still transferrable but requires some extra legwork with MS.

 

That works, yes, you can swap disks as much as you want.

The only time (that I've found) that you need a Retail Windows 10 license key is when you are running the same system and swapping between native boot and a VM when the underlying OS is not an activated version of Windows (OSX for example).

For example if you are running Windows 10 host you'll need a separate license to run a VM but you can native boot a VHDX and it will pick up and use the license of your host computer. An upgrade license with the generic key is fine.

If you are dual booting Windows and Linux or OSX and you sometimes want to run Windows as a VM using raw disk access to the Windows partition then you'll need a retail 10 license. In this case upgrading both separately (VM and native) doesn't work. In theory it should register both the real and virtual hardware with MS but it doesn't let you switch between the two if you have upgrade key - it just gives the "0xC004C003 key blocked" for the generic key. If you swap it for a 10 retail key then it works fine.

The only thing you can't do is run more than one instance at a time. If you only dual boot you aren't - as far as licensing is concerned it is the same as if you had restored a different backup as the hardware is the same.

 

It is not just "legal technicality" (whatever that should mean) - it is a binding contract.

A customer does not know what Microsoft "intended". I mean: How should he? Nor does he have to know. The customer also has no duty to start thinkng about if what Microsoft does is clever, stupid or whatever. That is just not his cup of tea. The license is very clear: If it says retail upgrades to retail, then this is what the contract is about.

Not what we are speaking about, but what Microsoft might try to do from a legal point of view might be this: At the point where the user decides to upgrade to a newer version, maybe called Windows 10.1 or whatever, there he maybe has to accept a new EULA. And in this EULA, Microsoft could maybe try to change the user's rights. I think this will work as long, as someone from the media notices that and then it's in the news like "Microsoft taking customers their granted rights away". Although I think this might be legally possible, Microsoft should better think about whether the negative press is worth it - before they use a license text. Breaking binding contracts is never a good idea.