Windows 10: Microsoft Explains When You Need a Windows 10 Product Key and When You

It all depends on how the Windows 10 key is generated from an upgrade to the OS you were previously running.
No one has actually stated yet whether upgrading a retail version of Windows 7 or 8 is different from upgrading an OEM version.
It'll be interesting to try it out.

 

The resulting license is different. The upgrade inherits the rights of the qualifying OS. Here are the Windows licenses from an upgraded retail license and an upgraded OEM license (viewed with "winver". I blotted out the first grantee because it contains my email addy. If the user is the grantee he has the right to move the Windows 10 license to a new computer. If the grantee is the OEM the license can only be transferred with the device. Both are digital entitlements.

 

Actually, no. The owner shown on winver is simply the first user to go through the OOBE. If you run sysprep on either of the above, create a new user called "Fred" you will see on winver that the owner is now "Fred".

winver (and slmgr) show no (known) difference between upgrades from earlier versions and Win 10 keys.

Most likely the hash lodged with MS is a combination of the hardware (motherboard, NIC etc) and the underlying license (whether it was OEM, retail or insider) and perhaps the original key.

As no-one has decoded it though, no-one outside MS knows - and they certainly aren't saying.

 

I did an upgrade from 7 OEM to 10, then did a clean install. Licensed to on that PC shows

Microsoft
Microsoft

 

It doesn't matter. The Windows 10 license inherits the rights of the qualifying license at the time of the upgrade.

 

What are you basing this assertion on? It isn't how it works for me.

If you upgrade Windows 7 or 8 to ten you can NOT transfer to another PC without talking to MS techs as the PID is not recognized by the phone activation robot.. The PIDs generated by upgrades are never accepted by the phone activation system irrespective of what you upgraded from (OEM or retail).

However a retail 10 Pro with a key you CAN transfer to another PC using only the phone activation robot as the PID is accepted.

 

There's an article on the Winows Club site on this subject.

Windows 10 licensing: Acceptable changes in harware parts

 

Well that's not necessarily true. Sometime activation fails when non-significant changes are made and the way to correct the activaion error is to call MS.

 

Hi there

there is ONE LEGAL way of getting a W10 activation on a new computer if you change the Mobo etc.

Do the following --it worked for me (I changed from a computer with AMD CPU that was dying to a brand new Intel Mobo with HD graphics and INTEL CPU).

1) Re-install my old W7 Ultimate (retail) on the new computer, upgrade all the fixes and then activate. Activation by phone was OK -the Robot actually worked OK -- made me enter a set of numbers but no probs.

2) Backup the newly installed W7 system (always do that in case of problems / or to recover a working OS).

3) do the W10 upgrade using the upgrade tool. Skip the serial number prompt

4) The W10 system will now be activated.

5) Now Backup again - just in case activation is lost. (Backup the w10 system).

6) Clean install --Hey presto it's activated.

On RETAIL W7 you CAN move to a new computer -- and from there you can get the W10 upgrade FREE.

Cheers
jimbo

 

"Once the upgrade is complete, the system automatically activates (assuming you were running a genuine version of Windows 7 or 8.1), with Microsoft then allowing you to clean-install without asking for a product key anymore."

This statement in the article is un-true for me...it didn't work as they printed it. I have screen shots of an activated Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 after I did the upgrade; but the clean install would not activate and Microsoft Support didn't help me. I even asked to get my case escalated to an engineer and that was refused.

What a headache this has been for me.

 

When you did the clean install, did you install the correct version? For example, if you got 10 Home with the free upgrade, but install Pro, or the N version, that will happen.

 

I had that problem before, luckily phone activation did it through for me (thru Robot call). If it didn't, I would have insulted Microsoft's real CS lol.