Windows 10: Old unused Technet Keys You MUST activate product first before upgrade

Hi there

(@Mods -- wrong Section - please move to Windows activation)


If you have a load of old unused TechNet keys then doing a Clean install and entering any of these keys WON'T WORK.

You need unfortunately to install the product (W7/W8/W8.1), activate (those keys work) then DO THE UPGRADE and finally THEN do a clean install.

A bit of a bugbear -- howver tested this with a VM -- have a load of unused TechNet keys so it took a few "Goes" to get it to work.

Note - If you install W7/W8/W8.1 you need to ensure you get the latest updates (of THOSE OS'S) before attempting the update (to W10) process.

I think the Ms servers record the activation of those keys - If they haven't been used then the servers won't activate them on W10. Once activated then the keys are registered on the servers and W10 clean install works.

Cheers
jimbo

:)

 

License Carried Over from Windows OEM to Windows Upgrade Retail

You would need to install the previous version of Windows on both systems, then upgrade again to Windows 10. Unfortunately, this is because the product key
must have been registered to the hardware before the upgrade.

Background Information:

It's true that you can now use a Windows 7 or 8.1 product key to activate Windows 10. However, you must have had that old product key registered to the hardware before. Since you performed a major hardware upgrade
after upgrading to Windows 10, you must re-register the old Windows product key to your new hardware.

 

Windows 7 key not valid for Windows 10 upgrade

Did you ensure Windows 7 was first activated before attempting to use the free upgrade? You must do that first, then you will not be prompted to enter a product key.

 

If you are using the downloaded media ISO, you do not need to apply any updates before upgrading. You only have to apply updates if you want to use Windows Update to upgrade.

 

Yup, Windows 10 has no Win 8 key backward compatibility. A pity, as I was hoping to use the spares or at least get Win 10 ones in return.

 

Probably good to put in both sections- people are more likely to see this section before the other.

Correct on doing any kind of clean install first with any kind of key. The free upgrade path is just that an upgrade. As such they require you to already have an OS properly installed an activated before starting the free upgrade path.

How much of the "original" OS needs to be current is a subject of some debate. There are reports of people upgrading from free from Windows 8.0- after doing a base reinstall of that OS then proceeding down the upgrade path.

To word activation more accurately, the free upgrade path for Windows 10 will only re-tag your existing database entry for your activation key to the new OS from the original one. It will not create new entries.