Windows 10: Reupgrading after the free period ends.

I have just been asked an interesting question, and I could not answer for sure.

Suppose you are running 8.1, then upgrade, and rollback in the free period.

We all know that establishes a digital licence.

We also know we can clean install at any time in the future.

Also, we know we can upgrade aa second time in the free period.

BUT can we upgrade again (keeping all files - forget wisdom of doing this) after the free period ends?

My gut feel is we must be able to do so, as you can already upgrade an unactivated version of windows 8.1 but the upgraded version would remain unactivated assuming no prior digital licence.

I assume the upgrade would check for a digital licence anyway. In worst case, you might need to use tbe Redstone Activation Troubleshooter.

Agreed?

:)

 

Upgrading, downgrading, and reupgrading.

So, let's say (hypothetically) that i upgraded from windows 8 to windows 10 during the free upgrade period. Then after the free upgrade period I downgraded back down to windows 8, but then decided to re-upgrade to windows 10 after the free upgrade period.
Could I reupgrade to Windows 10 after the free upgrade period because I already did the upgrade during the free upgrade period?

 

Windows 10 - After the "FREE UPGRADE" period ends....

 

I suspect an upgrade after the free period will require an upgrade license, and so, a clean install to grab the digital entitlement will be necessary. But if you upgrade, why not make an image before falling back?

 

My gut feeling is, it will work. The PC will just activate with the existing digital entitlement. My laptop has Home and Pro digital entitlements. Due to the Windows 8.0 OEM key, Windows 10 Home got installed by default when I did a clean install. I just entered the generic key to upgrade to Pro and activate with the (Pro) digital entitlement it got when I did my free upgrade from 8.1 Pro. That upgrade from Home to Pro had nothing to do with the free upgrade offer. 10 Home is not a qualifying OS. I'm going to have to try and remember to actually give this a try after the 29th. Reinstall 8.0 or 8.1 and do an upgrade and see what happens.

 

Yes, will be good to see what happens. *Smile

 

Logic says it should work. The genuine ticket (that will be created when using a Win 7/8 key) has the hardware-id that is required to be activated... so sending a hardware-id that is already on MS servers (same edition and wot-not), it should recognise it and send back the digital licence for activation.

 

I was asking out of curiousity.

Re image backup - that partly helps, but if person makes subsequent changes after reverting, image becomes outdated.

 

I'm agreeing with Superfly on this one.

 

M, these are are some of the things that I'm quite keen on seeing pan out
Like equating digital entitlement (ie. hardware-id) = Product key - it's not as simple as we thought, given various scenarios. Interesting times ahead... phone activation is out as an escape route for one.

 

Everybody having the same product code (digital entitlement) would make phone activation tricky, lol. Having it tied to your Microsoft ID could make it easier though.

 

I can also throw another monkey wrench into the activation issue doing a re-upgrading using a windows 7 system that has a legit oem-slp key. I am referring to oem computers that come pre-activated with windows 7 sp1. This might even effect clean installs after the 29th but I am not sure.

 

That would mean restoring the factory Windows 7 install, then upgrading again. There will likely be some that think they have to do it from scratch all over again if they need to reinstall. Hopefully, if no digital entitlement no activation, digital entitlement = activation. On a clean install there will be no key to detect. So they should get the key prompt, and then the select Home or Pro menu when they click skip. Select the wrong one and it won't activate.

I can see I'm going to be doing some test installs after the 29th. Probably several.

 

Microsoft Account - Link to Digital License on Windows 10 PC - Windows 10 Forums

 

Yes, and here's why I don't want to do this:

7. Your local account has now been switched to your Microsoft account, and your Microsoft account is now linked to the digital license of this Windows 10 PC. (see screenshot below)