Windows 10: win10 not free for oem machines

derekimo: That's the "old" upgrade matrix, and it's the same one I've been showing to folks.

But recently, there's been some newer articles about Win10 upgrade paths, and they have a much reduced upgrade matrix -- one that now excludes Windows 8. An example of this is in the linked article: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft...for-windows-10

And ... this newer article also shows Windows 8 as "excluded" now: https://www.thurrott.com/windows/win...u-get-for-free

So, if these are correct, MS is no longer offering the free Win10 Upgrade for Win8 folks.

 

Mark,

Both those articles that you linked to in your post are dated 1 Jun 2015 - two full months BEFORE the July 29th release of Windows 10. Windows 7 SP1, and Windows 8.1 updated versions were always since July 29, and still are only required to receive the Windows 10 upgrade via native Windows Update built into those operating systems. Media Creation Tool and the associated ISO download still upgrade non-SP1 Windows 7 and Windows 8.0 just fine.

 

Maybe going back to school for some is needed. The process is not that hard to understand.

 

Agreed.

 

Hi - so win7 seems fine, and I did check for updates, got lots of those OK. Between my install being from the only win7 ISO MS offers at the moment, plus the updates, it must be ok to be upgraded now. But I am very cautious after this experience though, so no more ISO for this laptop!

I was hoping to see that annoying 'get win 10' that pops up bottom right, so I could follow the 'normal' upgrade path, but so far nothing. Is there a way to indicate to MS that I would now find that popup most acceptable? Or get the win10 licence key I should obviously have before upgrading?

 

You don't use a license key for the upgrade - by any method of upgrading.

Here's an article how to get the "Get Windows 10 Icon":
How to get the Windows 10 upgrade icon if it's missing - CNET

Even after you get the icon in your taskbar, nobody has gotten the upgrade that way in a while that I am aware of. Most people now are complaining, "I've had this stupid icon on my taskbar for a month now, when will I get Windows 10?"

 

Thanks, but tried all 3 methods, rebooted, waited .... and still no win10 icon.
I gather the 'key' gets stored in the hardware somewhere, so once win10 is reserved you have that 'key permanently in the pc ... so then I might use the win10 ISO with more confidence ...

 

No. There is no key.

The free Win 10 upgrade must be installed as an upgrade over the qualifying OS (7 or 8.x). That will activate. The information about the hardware is retained on the Microsoft activation servers. You may then re-install (including a clean install, and including switching architectures between 32 and 64 bit), and Win 10 will activate again online on the same hardware.

Don't worry about using the ISO. That is the only means I've used on my 3 devices. One of them was a laptop from 2008 with an AMD processor and nVidia motherboard chipset. Other than a small struggle with drivers for that relic, all went smoothly.

 

A clean install of Win 10 on any machine having an earlier version will not activate. You have to do the upgrade first and then do a clean install if you want. It doesn't matter if it's OEM or not. Acer was wrong.

Also, .iso's of any Windows version will not accept an OEM product key. You have to reinstall from the manufacturer's recovery media. The OP would have to do that, then upgrade to 10, then clean install if desired.

 

Gotcha. Still no win10 icon on the laptop, not looking promising ....

 

That is incorrect. Windows 8.1 will install from the ISO and use the Windows 8 product key stored in bios or entered manually.
Download Windows 8.1 Retail and OEM .iso | The Unofficial Windows 10 Reinstallation Guide

I've got a vanilla Windows 8.1 DVD burned from the downloaded ISO and it installs just fine with OEM product keys.

The Get Windows 10 icon has proven, historically, to be the least reliable method of upgrading to Windows 10.

 

It takes ages to appear. If the Windows 7 is activated, just use the Windows 10 ISO.

 

Hi all, my 'new' win7 has activated - which leaves me in a similar position to when this long, time waste of a saga started. To recap, I initially did a fresh load of win10 using the MS provided ISO (not knowing I should have upgraded first and then used the ISO if wanted); during the installation it asked for a licence key and rejected my win7 oem key. I hope you understand my reluctance to do the same thing again (win10 iso) and hope for a different result .....

Does anyone know of a link where I can 'reserve' win10 for this laptop?

 

If you're installing to the same drive and partition it might work. I have an HP laptop with a pre-installed version of Windows 7. I got a downloaded Win 7 ISO and thought I could use that to do a clean install without all the HP stuff. I tried it in a separate partition as a dual boot. It installed fine but would not accept the OEM product key on the bottom of the computer. I then tried it as a clean install in the primary partition and the same thing happened. It would not accept the key. The only way I could reinstall was by using the HP recovery disks. Also, now, if you try to download a Windows 7 ISO from Microsoft, it asks for a product key. An OEM key will not allow the download. You get the message that it is an OEM key and you will have to get installation media from the manufacturer. I haven't tried it on this computer that came with 8.1 preinstalled as OEM but I'm sure 8.1 would do the same thing. I upgraded this machine to 10 by using the Media Creation tool without any problems but it says Windows 10 is also OEM.

I do have two 8.1 disks. One from the manufacturer (who don't exist any more), and one from a downloaded ISO. I may play around with them and see if it works.

Another thing, the key only gets stored in the BIOS if you have a UEFI BIOS. None of my machines do.

 

You did it wrong. Do it right, it will work.