Windows 10: Does activation remain valid in case of revert to Win7?

If I revert to the previous Win version before the 30 day trial period of Win 10 is over: Will I be able to install Win10 any time after 29 of July 2016?

Reason: I started the upgrade, but some unforeseen circumstances will detain me from finishing the upgrade and configuring our 10 PCs before 29 of July 2016. So my idea: I upgrade all PC now and immediately revert to Win7.

As I understood, the activation is stored centrally at MS with a fingerprint of the hardware and it should be possible to install Win10 using this activation any time later...

:)

 

Can Windows 10 be rolled back?

What remains an open question is whether your previous OS will remain valid and activated if you RESTORE it from an IMAGE made prior to the upgrade to Windows 10. The important question that I have not seen answered ANYWHERE is whether the license for the
original OS will remain valid or if it can be re-validated if you decide to abandon Windows 10. MS has so far that I know been totally silent on that one. Which makes me VERY reluctant to destroy my Windows 7 installation with all its tweeks, programs and
most importantly, customizations within those programs that wold be very tedious to do over.

I DO NOT want to have to reinstall Windows 7 if I abandon Windows 10 and to that end, I will save an image of my Windows 7 installation prior to any upgrade. The question remains whether that restored installation will be activated (or able to be activated).


Paul

 

Reinstalling Windows in another language...

Hi, guys...

I bought a laptop that came with Windows 10 Single Language Edition in Portuguese. I'm wondering if I can use the Media Creation Tools to generate a new Windows installation image in English to reinstall it. Does my Windows activation remains valid ??

Thanks !!

 

Yes.

Windows built-in reversion has proven to not be all that reliable. Making a backup image of Windows 7 with Macrium Reflect would be a much better guarantee of a successful restore back to Windows 7.

That is correct.

If it were my project, this is how I would do it on 10 computers. It would require a spare hard drive/SSD and assuming all computers would upgrade to the same version (Home or Pro of Windows 10).

1. Obtain the genuineticket.xml file by doing steps 1 - 6 here:
Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums

2. Disconnect Windows 7 hard drive, temporarily connect spare hard drive/SSD.

3. Install Windows 10 to spare hard drive/SSD. Activate it with genuineticket.xml file.

4. Disconnect spare hard drive/SSD. Reconnect Windows 7 hard drive.

5. On the next computer, obtain the genuineticket.xml file. Disconnect Windows 7 hard drive.

6. Temporarily connect the hard drive/SSD with Windows 10 on it. Replace the genuineticket.xml file on it to activate it on the new computer. (no need to reinstall Windows 10). After replacing genuineticket.xml file a restart should activate Windows 10.

7. After Windows 10 activates, disconnect Windows 10 hard drive, reconnect Windows 7 hard drive. Move to next computer, repeat steps 5-7.

Using a WindowsToGo external hard drive with Windows 10 on it should also work (by replacing the genuineticket.xml file):
Best Windows To Go Creator to create bootable Windows 10/8.1/8/7 USB drive!

 

The solution with the genuineticket.xml sounds pretty interesting. If I understand it correct, it will save me:
- installing Win10 and revert to previous Win7, as the activation is done by one single copy of Win10 on a spare HD/SSD or USB-Stick.
- I can directly start with clean installs
The solution with WindowsToGo sounds even more interesting, as I would not need to open the PCs/Notebooks. Is there any way I can check if the activation was really entered into Microsofts database?

In my case it seems I'll still need two installations, as some machines use an English Win7 x64 while others use a (Swiss-)German Win7 x64. Anyway - this will save time. I'm very happy that Win10 for the future allows to install and switch both languages on all machines.

Your explanation brought up one more idea: If I use the spare drive/SSD (-> step 2 in your instruction) to install common Apps/Utilities and customize (at least) my Win account (Classic Shell, Options....) and use Macrium Reflect to make a backup of this, I should be able to install this backup as a 'custom'-Win10 to all PCs and have them preconfigured. This will save me a lot of work.
I suppose the genuineticket.xml must not be distributed once Win10 has been activated for a machine. And I hope, that this 'custom'-Win10 will run with on both machine types (English Win7 x64 & (Swiss-)German Win7 x64), as activation has been done before.

It might even be advantageous to replace most of the disks at the same time against up-to-date SSD...

 

In Windows 10 go to settings, updates & security, and the activation window. You are looking for the words digital entitlement or digital license. If you see that Windows is activated with a digital entitlement or digital license, that means the activation is stored on Microsoft activation servers.

 

Thank you for this quick answer!

 

Just for your information: Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums states in Step 2 & 3, that you need to use "...the same type (32-bit or 64-bit), edition, and language as your current Windows 7/8.1..." and copy GatherOSState.exe from this copy of Win10. I tested this and found that the GatherOSState.exe were identical (MD5) for German and English copies of Win10.

This implies you can save GatherOSState.exe just once somewhere on your file storage.

Further you do not need to copy the file to your desktop. Just executed it from the directory I stored it. GenuineTicket.xml could be found right in this folder. I suppose any folder where you are allowed to write will do. Even further it was enough to execute the code without Run as administrator.

GenuineTicket.xml will be different for each execution of GatherOSState.exe. this is due to a timestamp in the .XML-file.

Please note:
If you want to do the clean install of Win 10 from the same installation copy the language might well matter (I did not test this yet. My personal assumption is: It does not!) Thesis: Using the same language to install Win10 does not matter for a clean install. If you intend to keep your Apps you mandatory need the same language: If you use a different language for Win10, all Apps will be deleted during the upgrade. But if you do clean install of Win10 you never keep the apps...

I can positively confirm that changing the OS language is possible for the standard upgrade. All Apps will be deleted.

 

You could also create a Win 10 VHD - boot from that and activate it with genuine ticket to get digital entitlement - then delete the vhd and still have the original OS.

 

Hi there

If you created a Windows to Go using Wintogousb you can actually clone this to your internal HDD.

You need to use Macrium reflect and it can install a Windows to Go to your main HDD -retaining activation

1) Select CLONE HDD
2) only copy Windows partition (on a Windows to go it will be a single partition)
3) check that Intelligent sector copy is on.


Works fine !!!!! and activated.

Cheers
jimbo