Windows 10: Two questions about activating Windows 10

Good day all,

First of all, sorry if this has been posted countless of times before but I couldn't find an answer that specifically suited my situation.

In 2015, I have upgraded my Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10. After that, I did a clean install of Windows 10 and was able to activate it. However, I found Windows 10 to be a bit unstable at that time and I did a clean install of Windows 8.1 Pro again and have been using it ever since.

I have 2 questions regarding my current situation:

1. IF I want to do a clean install Windows 10 again, do I have to upgrade from Windows 8.1 first to activate it and THEN do a clean install of Windows 10 after that or is that unnecessary now?

2. I have read that upgrading to Windows 10 would be free in the first year from release, which is I assume until July 31 2016. Although I have previously activated Windows 10, I went back to Windows 8.1 Pro (clean install). Does this mean that, also in my case, I'd have to pay for upgrading to Windows 10 if I ever plan to upgrade after a year?

:)

 

I've got two Questions, One about Zune, Second about WP7 Update Using PC

Hi QC

Yeah, my zune recognises it! but nothing happens

 

I've got two Questions, One about Zune, Second about WP7 Update Using PC

Hi AnasRabie,



This is just a guess. When you plug in your phone does Zune recognise it? Sometimes my Zune software doesn't detect my phone if I plug it in before Windows has fully booted up.



QC

 

On both questions the answers would be "NO" on both counts! In fact since the general release of the Threshold 2 update build 10586.73 since updated to 10586.168 version 1511 you can simply enter either a 7 with SP1, 8, or 8.1 product key. But since the MS activation servers still have a record of the existing hardware profile id you should be able to skip past the need to enter any key and find 10 activated once the next clean install finishes up.

Now for dealing with any possible activation problem that might come up you will still want to review the guide for how to go about seeing a clean install of 10 go on without the need to upgrade in the Tutorial section here. Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums

The free upgrade offer for 10 presently is still valid until July so no worry on that. Here however I bought a separate 10 key in order to keep 7 Ultimate x64 running now on the second OS drive swapped first seeing the 10 drive as second originally replacing 7 as the host/boot OS. The guide above covers this to some extent as far as what qualifies.

As for the Windows DVD Player app from the MS online store that arrives as a free update following the upgrade to 10 but lost with any clean install being charged for separately at the MS store itself. MS tosses that in as an incentive to stay with 10! That was something else to make a note of here.

 

Once you had Win 10 installed and activated, you have what MS called Digital Entitlement.
Meaning you can reinstall the same version of Win 10 in the same computer as many times as you want whenever you want, and you will be activated automatically. No need to go through the "upgrade " process. No need to activate with product key.
That one year free upgrade time period does NOT apply to you.

 

Since 10 was activated on that machine you can even download the Threshold 2 newer updated build and still get 10 on free. Having rolled back initially to 8.1 doesn't mean 10 is no longer available but will require a fresh upgrade if not clean install(highly recommended) to see 10 put back on.

As I mentioned before the only thing lost during the clean install is the Windows DVD Player app MS tosses in as one of the initial updates. That's all you lose! Even if you elect to upgrade over 8.1 again first and then see the clean install follow that is lost and has to be bought separately. Upgrade installs can come out buggy at times however and since you are looking to see 10 go on fresh you can skip the product key and pin code screen during the next install.

 

Thanks a lot guys for the clarification! So if I understand correctly, I don't have to upgrade to Windows 10 again before doing a clean install of Windows 10, and I can do this for free even if I install Windows 10 for example 2 years after its release?

Pity I won't get the Windows DVD player for free after a clean install. I assume this is the "substitute" for Windows Media Center?

 

Correct. No need to do upgrade.
Just do a clean install any time you want. No time limit.

AS to DVD player, it's gone.
Install VLC media player.
It is free and widely used. It will play almost all file formats. No more worry about proper codecs.
It will play DVDs.
I have it installed in my 2 laptops.

Download official VLC media player for Windows - VideoLAN

 

Great! Thanks for the help. *Smile

Sorry if this is too off-topic but I'm considering installing Windows 10 soon. Last time I tried it in 2015, several apps such as the News app were crashing a lot. Also, Microsoft Groove was stuttering a lot as soon as I enable subtitles. Are you guys still experience such problems?

 

I cannot give you first hand experience to your last question because I don't use those 2 apps at all.
A lot of improvements were supposed to have implemented since 2015.
I would assume you should have a lot less issues with the Windows 10 apps.

 

I never even bothered with Groove here having tried AIMP3 and DVDFab Player and found the DVD part should have been left out on that one while VLC plays everything but Blu Ray. The AIMP3 app is a compact audio player only there with some visualizations and skin options available. I still mainly use WMP for audio playback however despite the stripping out of video and dvd support MS pulled with 8!

The VLC player is right there in the MS store as well as being found all over at various freeware and shareware sites since it's an open source player that was well written to begin with. And that is why MS grabbed it up for the free option at their own online store after stripping the entertainment portions of Windows out of the OS! Didn't have a chance to check out the Windows DVD Player option as the initial upgrades to 10 came out buggy on both the main and a laptop where a dvd player would have nice to have! The laptop an older HP with 7 model bit the dust in December however and VLC still found it's way onto the new Toshiba with 10 laptop! That may have the MS player while I still went for VLC! *Wink

 

If you are satisfied with the answers and no more questions, please kindly mark this thread as Solved.
Thank you.

 

Done!