Windows 10: Moving Win10 (upgrade Win7 Full Retail Licence) to another PC

Hi
I have on my laptop a win10 pro installation that was a fresh install using the win7 pro (retail) key.

I have just used ShowKeyPlus and it says that a "Windows 7 OEM marker present in firmware". Is this correct? Does it stop me from moving this licence to a new laptop? Should it?

Although it is a year since I used the Win7 Pro key I don't recognise the one that has appeared in ShowKeyPlus - might it be a new one for win10 based on the win7 key? Or should it be the Win7 key?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

:)

 

Upgrading from a retail Windows 7/8.X, what happens if I upgrade my hardware to Skylake (new motherboard / cpu) ?

Hi,

I don't understand how a user who has updated a retail Win7/8 pro with the actual free upgrade can upgrade his workstation hardware without facing activation problems?

If there's no Activation Key with free upgrade (I own a retail Win7 Pro and didn't receive anything from MS), if the PC is upgraded with
Skylake hardware (available in 7 days), when Win10 is installed on new hardware, there's no key to enter and "hardware
id" is different?!

Some people say that the free upgrade transform the old "retail" licence to
OEM licence (linked to one hardware configuration).

1) How the free upgrade can preserve/transfer retail version rights?

2) Is it safe to update a retail version with free win10 upgrade now and change hardware later?

Thanks

 

Windows 10 upgraded from FPP/Retail license - TRANSFER to *completely new hardware* - HOW EXACTLY?

Bro, the first thing I tried when Win10 came out was clean installing it on my old HW (w/o the whole upgrade thing). When I tried to install it via a USB drive it asked me for my key and I obviously didn't have one so I tried my Win8.1 retail
key, but it didn't work. So I bypassed the initial "key request" that comes during Win install, using ImageX and I managed to do a clean Win10 install (keep in mind that at this point my old HW is still not marked as Win10). Then when I got to the Win10 desktop
I tried to activate it again with my Win8.1 retail key (on a PC that is obviously marked as a retail Win8.1 PC) but it still didn't work, it said the key was an invalid Win10 key. So I did a clean Win8.1 install and upgraded it to Win10. AND LATER
ON when I tried to find the Win10 product key on my old HW using the command prompt so I could do a clean install using that key on my new HW, I got nothing on my CMD!! go ahead try it for yourself on your Win10

just type the following command on an elevated CMD prompt

WMIC Path SoftwareLicensingService Get OA3xOriginalProductKey

I have used EVERY Windows since Win95 and I know MICROSOFT, they are NOT generous enough to just give away Win10 like this. My guess is (and it is JUST a guess) They are not giving away Win10 (retail licences anyway). When they see an upgrade request from
a PC that is running genuine Win8.1 or Win7 they just "allow" that PC's hardware signature to use genuine Win10 and that Win10 license is not transferable (even if it was upgraded from a retail Win licence). If you want a transferable Win10, you will have
to buy a retail Win10 for $199.99

But guys this might even work to our advantage. Since Microsoft is just
marking PC HW as Win10 and not actually giving out actual licences, I don't think we have to buy anymore Windows Licences during the free period. I mean if we have a retail Win8.1 or Win7 we could install it on 4 PCs (one at a time) and upgrade
each one of them to Win10 one by one and then we would have 4 PCs running "Genuine" Win10 and still have an "untied" Win 8.1 or Win7 licence to install on a 5th PC

 

So your removing win10 from one of and putting it on another is that correct? Being a new PC you should buy a new copy of Windows

 

It`s most likely the generic W10 key.

Why would you have to move anything, the new laptop will come with W10.

 

Probably doesn't come with Pro.

He could try transferring the Pro installation to another partition on the new machine. It might activate via his MS account.

 

Yes

No.

The product key shown as the Installed Key will be the product key that is currently installed on the installed operating system. So if it is an activated version of Windows, the product key shown there will be for that version of Windows.

When you do an in place upgrade from Windows 7 or 8, the old product key from that Windows 7 or 8 will be shown as the "Original Key".

If you did a clean install of Windows 10, then used the Windows 7 product key to activate it, I do not believe it will show up as the "Original Key". The Original Key will only show up if you did an in place upgrade of Windows 7 or 8.
@Superfly, can you confirm the last statement, please?

 

Affirmative.

The Win 7 key used to activate Win 10 will only be used to create a Genuine Ticket for the activation server to provide a digital licence. It won't be retained.

As you correctly stated - the only time a non-Win 10 key will be stored on a Win 10 installation is if it was an upgrade from a previous version of Windows - it will then display as the "Original key"

 

Thank you all for your replies. Very helpful.

 

Absolutely incorrect. It is totally permissible to reinstall Windows 10 on new pc, if upgraded from a retail licence of Windows 7 (Section 4b - EULA).

OP - all you need to do is ensure you are using version 1607 on old pc, and logged in with an MS account. Then install 1607 on new pc, and use the activation troubleshooter to transfer the digital licence to new PC, and then delete Windows from old PC.

 

My god there is a lot of misinformation out there then....

 

cereberus, I don't have my installation linked to a Microsoft account. Could I link it then cut that link again to revert to local account?

 

No as that cuts the link. But you only need to use account to link, then transfer licence. At that point, you can revert to a local account.

 

The MSA is just to store your original licence.. after that you are free to use local after transfer to the new PC.

 

Thanks. So that EULA doesn't explicitly say the licence can be moved to a new machine but I suppose you are saying that is how it is interpreted.

By "type of device" does the EULA mean PC to PC, laptop to laptop" etc