Windows 10: win10 not free for oem machines

Hi, I have lost many hours trying to get out of a mess that quite frankly I blame Microsoft for. If they have said the Win10 will not be free for oem version of a previous os, I didn't find that.
My ACER laptop was slowing down, I do a reinstall of win7 every year or so, which revitalises it. So I thought this was an opportunity to test drive win10 and did a fresh install using the ISO file that microsoft provide for that purpose.

To my surprise it rejected my win 7 licence key. ACER told me that OEM version were not included for free Win10, oh well, back to win 7. BUT when I try to use the win7 iso provided by microsoft, they reject the licence key even before letting me download! So I have tried to reinstall win 7 from an image backup I had done, and also with a dvd version I have - but Win10 has done something to the laptop that prevents ANY win7 setup from running.

This is cynical, even for micro$oft! I feel I have been tricked into trying Win10 on my oem machine, now microsoft have arranged things so that it appears the only solution is to pay for Win10 - I wondered how they could afford to give it away, it seems they will be funding it through people like me.

Rant over - anyone know any ways to do a fresh install of win7 without win10 interfering, and so that it recognises my oem product key?

:)

 

Win7 Pro (OEM) to Win10

Just tried to use the MS 'Media Creation Tool' to download an .iso of Win10 Pro 64-bit - the only OS offered in the dropdown box is Win10 Home!

Currently running Win7 Pro (OEM) on my last machine to be upgraded. I haven't yet done the automatic 'upgrade' to Win10. Of course, I know I need to do this before doing a clean install with a downloaded .iso. Is this the reason for no choice of the Pro
version?

If first I do the free upgrade from Win7 Pro (OEM) to Win10...

a) Will the upgraded OS show as Win10 Pro (OEM)?
and;

b) If I then run the 'Media Creation Tool', will I then be offered a choice of Win10 Home or Win10 Pro in the drop-down?

It was always my understanding that Win7 Pro (OEM) was entitled to a free upgrade to Win10 Pro (OEM)...

Am I missing something?

Thanks,

Henry

 

Claiming Windows 10 Free Upgrade if using Volume Licence

Thanks for your reply. But when we come to resell (after july 29) and reimage back to OEM, will the machine be entitled to Win 10 OEM free? Does Microsoft record that the computer is entitled to Win10, if we only did a VL upgrade, not an OEM one?

 

Hello Ognik, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

That's not true.

You can get the free Windows 10 offer by upgrading to Windows 10 on any activated Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 PC. It doesn't matter if it's OEM or retail.

The key here is that you must do this from your activated W7, or Windows 10 will not be activated.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...tallation.html

OR

Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First

 

As Brink alluded to, you have to upgrade to Win 10 first and then you can do a clean install (skip the two prompts for a key). If done correctly Win 10 will activate automatically without user input of a key.

 

Thanks for the welcome.
That's interesting, it was ACER support who identified the oem issue - they said that the fresh install would have accepted a non-oem licence key.
My problem is that I assumed that because MS were providing a Win10 ISO, there would be no problem using it; I didn't see any warning that if I didn't upgrade 1st, I couldn't input my win7 key. I have been trying to revert to win7 so that I can upgrade from there, but as I say win10 seems to either intercept and bypass and win7 install, or say it can't run the setup.exe. Any ideas how I can get back to win7 please, to try the upgrade?

 

Do you have factory recovery media from ACER to restore Windows 7 with?

 

Hi will this work??Is the hidden partition still available???
Using Recovery Management outside of Windows
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...nload/windows7

 

download win 98 form torrent, burn the image into CD and then try to format your c drive in DOS mode. Afterwards try to install win 7 from your installation disk.

 

ognik,

If you created a System Image of 7, then see if you may be able to boot from a either a Windows 7 or Windows 10 installation USB to do a system image recovery from at boot with the image you created.

System Image Recovery - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

Brink

He did a clean install of Win 10 on Win 7 OEM version, without upgrading to Win 7 SP1 first. Now his windows won't activated, if he trying to install win 7 again from win 7 installation dvd, his win 7 oem key is not recognized. Also he does not have any System Image of 7. So basically he is asking can he install win 7 again on his laptop/desktop

 

From first post. I was wanting to verify, and if he may be able to restore the image at boot instead. *Smile

 

Disappointingly it seems to have been overwritten by the install, I did hope that a hidden partition would have been left alone, but sadly not.
MS won't let me download the ISO 'cos it verifies the key before downloading - and mine is rejected. I always thought have a genuine windows sticker + key on the pc meant you owned that windows....

I did find a win7 ISO and tried using USB (setup as bootable) and a DVD - but win10 somehow bypasses those - is there a way to install win7 that win10 won't bypass?

 

See if this may help to boot from the USB. *Smile

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

 

I don't see what Win 10 has to do with this. You boot the flash drive and do a Clean install of Windows 7. You must backup your data first or you will lose it. Restore data when Win 7 is installed.

Windows 10 shouldn't even come into it at all.

May be that I'm missing something though.