Windows 10: Upgrading to release version from preview?

Almost same here.

I am curious about one thing mainly, what will happen to a retail license. Will it become a per device license or will it keep the transferability.

 

I suspect it will remain transferable. .. The upgrade may not be but you get a separate license then you should be able to transfer that from one PC to another one.

 

*Ditto

At this point..... backup everything, print all your product keys (ALL), make sure you have any rescue disks/thumbs you may need, anything else that seems important to you. May sound like "Hurricane Preparedness", but much better off to be prepared than to find out after 7/29 you're up-the-creek!

This will all work itself out. Too many variables right now.

 

Other than the frustration of trying to answer peoples questions without putting my foot in my mouth because I quoted something that's just not true, its not a big deal for me. Being a Microsoft MVP, I get a free MSDN subscription. I'll get keys and ISO's anyway when 10 gets released. I can easily bail out and install whatever I want with no worries. The real fun will start when peoples upgrade goes south and they come asking "What do I do know". Then when you ask them did they make recovery media or an image and they say, Well, um? And do a *Doh

 

I think, given that release date is just under eight weeks away, that MS should come out with some clear and definitive guidelines on how the installation of 10 can be performed. This is what I know so far, which probably isn't much.

• We know about in-place upgrades for qualifying systems.
• Gabe Aul has said Insider Preview users can upgrade straight to RTM. Do you need to have upgraded to Preview from a pre-installed 7/8/8.1 or can you just enter a valid product key?
• The Upgrade Matrix shows ISO images available for all systems, yet Gabe Aul says the free upgrade must be performed from a previously installed OS. No clean installs using a 7/8/8.1 product key (so it sounds).
• OEM licenses used to upgrade will remain tied to that device, Retail licenses will carry over the retail priveleges.
• You can re-install W10 OEM licenses on the same system whenever you need to.

Things seem to change every week unless I'm just behind the times.

 

@Boozad, Good info here. It would answer 99.9% of my issues if you could clarify the part I hightlighted in red. I have 8.1 pre-installed dual-booting 10 preview. I have used an 8.1 MS supplied ISO, burned to DVD, to re-install because I wanted to de-crapify it. It worked fine. After upgrade to 10 on 7/29, should I be able to repeat that process? Re-install 8.1 from the same DVD as dual-boot with the real 10?

 

All depends on where you get the info from. People interpret it differently and then repeat their version of what they read and so on. I agree, Microsoft needs to post details that are easy to understand so we know what's what when the time comes.

 

@f14tomcat, here's the clarification straight from Gabe's mouth (well, fingers). The Free Windows 10 Will Support Unlimited Clean Installs - Windows 10 Forums

 

So, the answer is no.

 

Oh you meant re-use the 8.1 license you upgraded?

 

I think I've got myself going in circles, now. If dual-booting, I can only run 1 OS at a time. I meant can I re-install 8.1 to same​ hardware as 10? Key is in UEFI. Boot to 10, run 10. Boot to 8.1, run 8.1. Am I making any sense???

 

Yeah I get you. I don't see any reason why that wouldn't be possible, are you using separate drives for each OS? I'm booting W7 on one SSD and W10 on another in a dual boot, I'd just remove all of my drives except the drive I was installing on then perform a clean install, plug all the other drives back in and you're good to go. That will work for 7, 8 or 10.

Unless you'd be using the same 8.1 OS you used to upgrade to 10, that wouldn't work as the 8.1 license would be now void I'd have thought.

 

No, same 1TB Seagate. Been working fine. Any occasional burps (usually self-inflicted) I fix with my handy-dandy Macrium Rescue DVD.

 

I placed an edit in my last post mate.

 

I saw it.... It's all really "curiosity hunger". If I lose 8.1, and for some goofy reason I want it, I can always buy one! Same for 7. Thanks for your indulgence! *Wink