Windows 10: Upgraded PC win7 to win10 tried to install image activation not valid?

Hi I followed the sysprep tutorial and managed to download a windows 10 pro image before microsoft changed the link back to the image creation tool so I would have an install.wim file as apposed to the install.esd which normally comes with the image tool.

I upgraded the PC from Win7 Pro to Windows 10 using the get windows 10 free upgrade I logged in and checked the activation - Win10 Pro activated with digital entitlement all good.

I then followed the tutorial to sysprep a new image via hyper-v installed all the software I wanted removed most of the windows apps etc.

I rebooted after setting up the answer file everything was fine it restarted in sysprep mode I clicked ok to the sysprep rebooted and created a user Admin, I created a new normal user changed the user policies set the startmenu and exported the xml file used policy edit to set same for all users everything was as it should be I used a tool to create the default user based on the one I had just setup.

to test everything I added another user but had to do this via the admin tools computer management as the add user in control panel would not load. The new user had all the same settings everything worked just fine so I deleted the two normal user accounts and created an image ready to deploy.

I loaded relect and deleted the PC's current partitions and then loaded the image I had created the system restarted I logged in as admin wentto check activation and it said it had failed and the PC did not have a digital entitlement ?

So what or where did I go wrong ?

I am about to try a new image using the iamge creation tool but not sure how I can use the install.esd file I tried this previously and windows failed to load ?

any help appretiated

Mike

:)

 

Activate Windows 10 after failed upgrade

I attempted to upgrade Win7 x64 Home to Win10 x64 Home. The upgrade failed (or the PC crashed anyway).

When I tried to restart there was no OS.

I tried to reinstall win 7 from the recovery partition but this wouldn't start.

I tried installing Win7 from my disk but the product key is incorrect (My disk is Win7 x64 pro full & PC license is Win7 x64 Home OEM).

I installed Win10 clean and it now wont activate (for obvious reasons).

What options do I have??

Hope fully MS offer a key conversion based on Hotmail account?

 

Can upgrade VMWare guest? And some supplementary questions

My question was less concerned with the technical issues (though your answer does kind of implicitly answer my 1 and 2); I expect to be able to do it as long as activation issues don't get in the way.

My biggest question really is about activation: Would accepting the upgrade and installing it also deactivate my existing win7 so I couldn't use that any more? And the point about it all being VMs run non-concurrently on the same host, is whether that makes
a difference to the answer. It's more a licensing/activation rather than a technical issue, and I'm not planning to end up with two physical PCs running Windows (or in fact even one, natively).

ie: Whether to do this process:

1: Make a backup of my win7-32 vm

2: Reinstall win7-64 over it (because it's an upgrade media may be simpler wrt activation than creating a new one, but do it in that VM even though probably to new virtual disk)

3: When available, upgrade that to win10-64 bit by usual method

4: But also still be able to restore my backed-up win7-32 and carry on using it.

Or:

1: Make a backup of my win7-32 vm

2: When available upgrade that to win10-32 by usual method.

3: Possible then to download win10-64 install image? and

4: Use that to install new win10-64 VM & discard win10-32 VM.

5: But also still be able to restore my backed-up win7-32 and carry on using it.

Or possibly a more streamlined version of the second where it's not actually necessary to install an unwanted win10-32? ie:

1: When available accept win10 upgrade, but just download win10-64 install image, don't run in-situ upgrade.

2: Install that to new VM, carry on using my existing win7-32 VM. No need for them to ever run concurrently.

 

First, are you using build 10586 of Windows 10? Second, did you try changing the product key to your Windows 7 product key on the activation screen under Settings, Updates & Security?

 

Hi thanks for the reply I downloaded iso Win10_1511_1_English_x64 no I did not have the original licence key to the machine it was already installed I presumed after running the upgrade and checking the activation was ok thet it would be fine. On another machine I ran a fresh install of windows 10 after upgrading from 7 - 10 and that worked fine the only thing that is different is the win10 image the upgrade version only comes with the install.esd for a short while you could download a full iso from the microsoft website which includes the install.wim file

which is the one I used to build the image from?

 

1. You can get the Windows 10 ISO file with install.wim from here:
Tech Bench

2. Open a Command Prompt (Admin) and run:
slmgr /dlv

Post the results window here and we might be able to see if there is something wrong with your current activation attempts. There is no unique identifying information in the results, you don't need to blank anything out.

3. Without the original Windows 7 product key or knowing how it was activated, if everything looks good in step #2, you might be in the position of having to purchase a license (product key) for Windows or calling Microsoft and hoping they will activate it for you.

 

Hi I think that is where I got my image from, I ran that command to check prior to rolling back

if I run a windows 10 fresh install it shows the same - must be somthing I did wrong when I created my image the main reason to create an image was to go from 32bit to 64bit OS and the ability to customise the system prior to adding users so they can't make changes etc.

I will have a look next week see if I can figure it out.

 

This is what I have after upgrading from Win7 to Win10







and this is a fresh install windows 10




Just not sure where I went wrong with the image I made

Strange the first image I posted is from my laptop yet it has the same partial serial number?

 

I think it might have somthing to do with UEFI I will try creating the image I want on the machine instead of VM see if that will work

 

All of your screenshots show normal licensing/activation. The Product Keys are the same because all of the Windows 10 product keys resulting from upgrades are the same for the same version of Windows - all upgrades to Home get the same product key, all upgrades to Pro get the same product key, etc. The difference between the computers that uniquely identifies them to Microsoft is the Hardware ID.

 

I see ok, so at what point does Windows try to activate - when I first install windows on the VM I have internet disabled after I enter sysprep I enable internet access so I can dl and install the software I want to use. should I image before I create a new user or just make sure the internet is off before creating the new Admin and standard user which I customise and copy to the default profile?

I am asuming while in sysprep mode windows will not try and activate?

thanks

Mike

 

I really can't help with questions in post #9. I've never used Sysprep. @Kari is the expert in that area!

 

Which tutorial you followed? I assume we are speaking about this one: Windows 10 Image - Customize in Audit Mode with Sysprep - Windows 10 Forums

I am not rewriting the complete tutorial here but to summarize how the process should be done, check this list and see if you did something differently. List is based on scenario you told, a Windows 10 PC upgraded from Windows 7, before starting the process PC is activated with digital entitlement, and Hyper-V vm is used to create the image.

• Create the vm, Generation 1 if the image will be deployed to BIOS / MBR systems, Generation 2 if the image will be deployed to UEFI / GPT systems
• Make sure that virtual hard disks on it are a bit smaller than smallest physical hard disks on any of the computers the image will be deployed to
  • Example 1: If the physical computer(s) only have one HDD or SSD, and the smallest of them is 512 GB, use a max. 500 GB virtual hard disk on vm
  • Example 2: If the physical computer(s) have two hard disks and your answer file customizations also relocate some system elements like Users folder to another disk, create vm adding two virtual hard disks. Both virtual disks must be a bit smaller than the smallest primary disk and smallest secondary disk on computers the image will be deployed to. If the smallest physical HDD is 512 GB and smallest secondary HDD 1 TB, make the vm with max 500 GB primary VHD and max 900 GB secondary VHD
  • If no system elements will be relocated to another drive than system drive C: then you only need one VHD, regardless how many disks the physical computers have
• Clean install Windows 10 to your new vm, boot it to Audit Mode from first settings dialog after the installation
• Install your software, customize default user profile, update Windows
• Create the answer file
• Run sysprep with your answer file, Windows will shut down automatically
• Capture the image. In the tutorial I use the easiest possible method, booting the vm with Macrium Reflect Free boot disk / USB and creating a system image
• Boot the physical computer(s) with Macrium boot disk / USB, restore the image
• Boot the physical computer(s) normally to OOBE mode, set up the initial user
• When on desktop, let the PC be on and connected to Internet, it might take, based on my own experience, anything up to a few hours for Windows to pick up the digital entitlement and activate

That's it. On above list, steps 1 to 6 are shown in first video included in the tutorial, covering tutorial parts 1 through 6, steps 7 through 10 on above list are shown in the second video, covering tutorial parts 7 through 9.

 

Hi sorry yes you sysprep tutorial, after I Run sysprep with your answer file, Windows will shut down automatically on reboot I am back in as the Administrator and greeted with




is this normal ? I should image at this point and then setup the users once I have imaged the disk, I guess thats where I went wrong the first time

thanks for your help

 

Short answer
NO and YES.

No, that is not normal and does never happen when a user follows the instructions given in tutorial.

Yes, that is normal and happens often when user does not follow the instructions given in tutorial.


Long answer
Windows starting back to Audit Mode and showing the Sysprep dialog means that you have not followed the instructions, not told Sysprep to exit Audit Mode and next time when started start in Windows OOBE Mode.

I suggest you start from scratch, this time following the instructions in the tutorial. Especially if a certain procedure is not familiar to you, it is important to follow the instructions given in order they are given. Read every step carefully, if watching the videos pause it often to think what you have seen, go back and play again if something was not clear.

There are no unnecessary steps or instructions in the tutorial, the procedure will fail if you decide something like "Oh that step / command must not be important, I'll skip it / do it differently".

Install Windows, boot to Audit Mode with CTRL + SHIFT + F3 from first setup dialog (Custom settings / Express settings). When in Audit Mode desktop, close the Sysprep dialog as told in tutorial step 2.2:

Customize Windows (tutorial parts 3 through 5). Open an admin command prompt as told in step 6.1, jump to Sysprep folder as told in step 6.2, then run sysprep as told with this command:

Code: sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:E:\customize.xml[/quote]
The first highlight in above command (/oobe) tells system to start in normal mode, Windows setup mode OOBE when Windows will be started next time.

The latter highlight in above command shows where you enter the path and name of your answer file.

Now boot with Macrium boot disk and capture / create the image for deployment as told in tutorial (Part 7 if the image will never be deployed / restored to any other PC than the one you have been working with, Part 8 if your intention is to deploy & restore the image to other computers, too).