Windows 10: Want to move to another OS but retain license w/ free upgrade to 10

Hate to come here and ask this. Purpose of this thread is not to trash W10.

I'd like to format and install another OS on my desktop's HDD. What is the best way to keep my activated 8.1x64 Pro COA with free 10 upgrade?

Can I shrink my partition way down and just do a dd copy to another drive? W10 is on a pretty nice 480gb ssd right now so I don't really want to just put that on the shelf and let it collect dust. Is there a way to maintain the keys so I can just do a fresh install and reactivate?

Thanks.

EDIT: I have a fully validated "Retail" 8.1 Pro x64 upgraded to 10.

I moved a similar OS (also full activated Retail 8.1 x64 Pro upgraded to 10) between two identical machines (both were Dell T7500 workstations) and it tripped the activation thing and now even when I put the HDD back in the old machine it still needs activation. I want out of MSFT & W10 right now but I don't want to burn the licenses...

:)

 

Transfer an upgraded retail copy of Windows 7 to a new PC Build?

If you format and leave that PC that you did all that on (the motherboard) with NO Windows OS at all and transfer the Windows 7 license to the new computer and then upgrade directly to Windows 10 (if that is your end-desire) - you will have a new license
for Windows 10 tied to that RETAIL license of Windows 7 based off the hardware in that new machine (and that Windows 10 license cannot move if it is the FREE upgrade.)

This does not FREE up the Windows 7 license. As long as Windows 10 (free upgrade) is running on that machine that you upgraded (even eventually) from that Windows 7 retail license - that Windows 7 retail license is tied up. If you build another machine
before July 29, 2016 and want to do it again - you'd remove the Windows OS from the current machine and install it on the new one and then upgrade to Windows 10 for free there and you'd have another license specific to that hardware.

However, the free Windows 10 license tied to the HARDWARE and the original FULL license you had. (The Windows 8/8.1 license is tied to the Windows 7 license alone. You could move it in a similar fashion (with the Windows 7 license),
and it is not 'tied' to the hardware much like the Windows 7 retail license is not.)



So - you would really be transferring the Windows 7 license and getting the free upgrade to Windows 10 - leaving the original system with NO Windows OS at all. You can easily skip the Windows 8/8.1 path to get to Windows 10. You WILL have to perform the
UPGRADE installation however, to make it work.

 

I cannot move my windows license to another PC?

I read something quite disturbing.

" However, that free Windows 10 license you get as part of the upgrade process is tied to an individual PC. Even if you upgraded from a retail copy of Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, you won’t be given a retail copy of Windows 10. You just can’t move
that free Windows 10 license to another PC. After the first year is up and the free Windows 10 upgrade offer is over, you’ll have to buy a new copy of Windows 10 if you want to move it to an entirely different PC."

I hope this is not true, because I asked about the license state after an upgrade, prior to upgrading. This was the deciding factor, because I bought a retail key of Windows 7 so I can use it if I buy a new PC. And I was told by someone from Microsoft(I
can check the thread which one exactly), that after upgrading my windows will retain its retail status.

It will be nice if someone sheds some light on the matter.

 

Once you do the upgrade and activate, a digital entitlement to Windows 10, for that PC is stored on the Microsoft activation server. You can completely wipe the hard drive and it will not be lost. You can clean install that same version of Windows 10 on that same hardware, and just click skip when asked for a key. It will activate with the digital entitlement.

 

Wow that's cool (and a bit scary)... So I can nuke the HDD and I don't even need to make a backup copy? It'll just auto re-authenticate and be good to go? Thanks!

 

Alpha is correct. Once installed and activated on a system, W10 can be clean installed as many times as you need/want.

With regards your Dell T7500s: When moving a retail key, it's best to unregister it first, and then register with the new system.
At an Administrative Command Prompt:
Code: slmgr /upk[/quote] To register, type
Code: slmgr /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx[/quote] That could be your problem, if it is indeed a retail key.

 

Thank you! Tried it. It works... Next reply will be from a Linux OS... :-/

 

That's great! But, which system are you referring to? *Confused

 

Sorry, Have not tried it with the T7500 machine. I have ESXi running on the first one right now so I can't take it offline and swap the HDD's back to see if it'll register/unregister properly. I have another two 7500's an a couple R710's on their way to me now so when they get here and I get everything up and running I'll let you know.

I was talking about formatting W10 from my desktop's HDD and installing Linux --and then going back to W10 and it worked fine (registered/activated fine). Thanks.