Windows 10: What are my chances of Windows 10 Activating

It's free as an upgrade (and even that is not for ever, just till July) but to have it without upgrading from W7 or 8, you pays your moneys for it. Simple as that.

 

How to Upgrade to Windows 10 - Microsoft

This is what Microsoft offered to do for free:

Microsoft never offered to upgrade your Windows 8 license to Windows 10. They offered to upgrade a DEVICE running Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10. You changed devices. Microsoft did not convert your Windows 8 Retail to OEM. You are free to transfer you Windows 8 to other computers (removing Windows from old computers first). But all Microsoft every offered to do for free was to upgrade DEVICES running Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10.

 

Like I said, they turned it into an OEM version. Fair enough, that will teach me to read the fine print. I hope everyone else understands this and keep their previous Windows licenses in a safe place. Luckily I've got a couple of spares for emergencies.

 

No, you can have it without upgrading from Windows 7 or 8 it just won't activate, it's basically a demo OS until you activate it. I just didn't realise it was tied to a single machine.

 

We were talking full use forever not some demo.

 

When I say demo, I don't mean a real demo, just like MS doesn't mean free. I mean it doesn't do quite everything the full version does, but I don't think it's that much less, I don't know I've never delved into it that deeply.

 

I was going to do some over clocking on my new motherboard, but I'll have to give that a miss just in case I cook the darn thing and I have to buy a new board AND a new Windows 10 license, it's becoming a costly business this gaming.

 

Well what a "Demo" is than ? It's either limited use for some time or full use for limited time. You can have W10 Enterprise with full capabilities for 90 days, after that goes into limited mode with constant nagging to buy legitimate copy. After some time it will loose functions and eventually quit altogether.

 

Don't ask me what demo means, I don't even know what free upgrade means, ask Microsoft. I've always admired MS but lately they're starting to confuse me. I would have been happy to stay with Windows 8.1 but the rest of the world just didn't want to know. I've got nothing against Windows 10 either, but I guess I should have taken a bit of time to read the fine print, I thought if you had an OEM version of Windows 8 you'd get an OEM version of 10, if you had a retail version you'd get a retail version.
Anyway I know now, so I'll just have to be a bit more carefull with my equipment.

 

Welcome to the club, MS has not explained things like that very good, whether by purpose or omission. But experience showed thru state of things.
In nutshell, upgrading free to W10 on any device, with any kind of license, activates and licenses that on that device only.
If you buy retail version of W10, you will be able to transfer it to any new device. OEM version, just like always before, stays licensed on that device only. In some countries, like Germany for instance, because of local laws, MS has to let you transfer OEM license to new device.

 

Well everything worked out well in the end, after updating Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 and activating on the spare drive, I just inserted the old drive with all the games on it and it activated immediately, so no reinstalling or anything.
This worked out better than I expected.

 

See, even color black has it's shades.

 

The darkest hour is just before dawn.

 

Much less so than Google !!! There's many parts you can stop in W10 but not in Google.