Windows 10: Installation question - moving from 7 to 10 under the free upgrade

My current system is dying a death now and so I've taken the plunge and I'm building my next one this week. My current system is Win7 Home with an unused Win10 upgrade. I am weighing up the upgrade and wanted to go for it.

The problem is, I am unable to actually undertake the Windows 10 upgrade on my current PC despite it passing all of the tests associated with it - see this thread if you were interested in why.

I'm "retiring" my old hardware (actually re-purposing it in a SFF box as a media centre running non-Windows OS) and my plan was to move the Windows licence over to my new PC.

It's going to be fundamentally different - the only hardware remaining constant is the graphics card.

So based on the above, am I "stuck" with Windows 7 now (no bad thing to be honest) or is there a method by which I can transfer the free upgrade over to my new PC?

Thanks!

:)

 

Transfer Win 10 license to new computer when: OEM 7 - upgraded to RETAIL UPGRADE 8 - to Windows 10 free offer

I'm about to try and transfer my netbook's Windows 10 free upgrade license to new computer.

I haven't seen this answered elsewhere:

Originally the netbook had Windows 7 OEM installed.

Then I purchased a retail upgrade to Windows 8.

Since then have utilised Windows 10 free upgrade offer.

So my question is, is the license folded in to the retail upgrade of 8? And falls under retail license rules (even though it was only an upgrade and not a full purchase) Or does it fall under the OEM rules?

Can I move my current Win 10 to new PC?

 

how can I keep the windows 10 after upgrade from windows 7 or 8.

Hi. my question is microsoft give us 1 year free upgrade from windows 7 or 8.

what if free upgrade is expired. and if I format the computer so need install new OS. how can I install windows 10?

install windows 7 and upgrade to windows 10 again? or what else?

 

If the Windows 7 that was on the old computer was an OEM Windows 7 then it dies with that computer and cannot be legally installed on the new computer. If the Windows 7 on the old computer was a retail version, then install it and activate it on the new computer. Then you can do an in place upgrade to Windows 10, or capture the genuineticket.xml file to activate a first time clean install of Windows 10 without doing an in place upgrade.

Windows 7 does not have to be updated in any way to upgrade to Windows 10. What I do with my retail Windows 7 is leave the computer disconnected from the internet, install Windows 7, activate it over the phone, capture the genuineticket.xml file, then go right to a clean install of Windows 10 using the genuineticket.xml file to activate it.

You can activate a first time clean install of Windows 10 by manually entering the Windows 7 product key, but many times Microsoft will come back with an error message that the Windows 7 product key is in use on another computer, then you are stuck having to go back and activate a Windows 7 on that computer anyway.

 

Oh - that's interesting / disappointing!

Sounds like moving it to my new PC is out.... but will I also lose the Win7 licence on my current PC? I will be changing motherboard and GPU... does this mean the computer has died?

It is an OEM licence by the way.

 

An OEM license is good for installation only on the first "computer" it is installed on. A new motherboard, other than an exact same replacement due to hardware failure, is considered a new computer. That is one reason OEM licenses are less expensive, you cannot legally transfer them to a new "computer".

 

Oh dear *Smile

Ok thanks!