Windows 10: How do you check in advance whether an old Windows 7 Product Key is valid for licensing...

Backstory: My 4 year old Intel NUC will no longer boot to Windows 10. Tried everything but OEM's very helpful support team cannot resolve the issue. We now believe its an irreparable hardware fault. The only remaining test is to put my M.2 drive with the Windows 10 OS installed into a different chassis/motherboard to confirm that it boots ok proving that the fault is hardware related.


While I wait for that test I've been looking at a replacement.


The broken machine had an OEM Windows 10 Pro installed, so presumably that license is now also scrap. Frankly it grates that I would now need to spend £100 on a new OEM Windows 10 license.


Historically I've had many PCs and in one case I purchased a retail copy of Windows 7 for a long deceased desktop. I'm thinking that that license should still be valid.


So:


1. BEFORE I place my new PC order, how can I check that that Windows 7 Product Key is valid for a new PC Windows 10 install?


2. If I am able to reuse my existing M.2 drive with the old Windows 10 license installed, what will happen when I boot into Windows? Will it throw an error...or gracefully request a new license key?


Thanks for any assistance

Paul

:)

 

Something Happened ... Failed to Validate Product Key


I'm having the same problem. I'm running Windows 7 64-bit, the Windows 10 pre-check is green, I've tried updating to 10 using Windows Update, the Media Creation Tool and Techbench. I following the instructions very carefully on Techbench, I've verified that my version shows that it is fully licensed for Windows 7 Pro using slmgr /dlv, fully updated 7, disabled my AV, created a new Admin account to run the update, I still get Windows 10 Update Something Happened Setup has failed to validate the product key. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Something Happened ... Failed to Validate Product Key

You might want to reset your PC under Advanced Startup


*From the start menu, choose the power icon

*Hold down shift and choose to restart

*Hold shift until a blue screen pops up with icons. Select Troubleshoot

*Choose Reset this PC and choose to save your files; I did and the reset worked just fine

*Follow prompts and your computer should work again!

 

Product Key not valid for downgrade

The problem is Microsoft never handled it.

Downgrade rights is handled by Lenovo, etc.

This is the information I saved before Microsoft pulled it:

Here is the information about Downgrade rights. It is an old Microsoft link which they removed but the information still apples>

Device Partner Center

Downgrade rights for Windows software
The following OEM versions of Windows software are eligible for downgrade rights.

[table][tr][td]Windows 10 Pro includes downgrade rights to:

• Windows 8.1 Pro
• Windows 7 Professional

[/td][td]Windows 8.1 Pro includes downgrade rights to:

• Windows 7 Professional
• Windows Vista Business

[/td][td]Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate include downgrade rights to:

• Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, or Windows XP x64 Edition

Note Other OEM Windows 7 versions (for example, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium) do not include downgrade rights.[/td][/tr][/table]

Note downgrade rights are only available as long as Microsoft provides support for that earlier version,
as outlined in the
Windows lifecycle fact sheet.

Steps for an end user to downgrade Windows software
To downgrade eligible Windows software, end users must:

• Purchase a PC preinstalled with Windows software.
• Accept the Microsoft Software License Terms.
• Perform the downgrade process to the eligible downgrade product using the media/key from a genuine, previously licensed OEM or retail product.

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That's why I advise you to contact Lenovo.