Windows 10: Win7 to Win10 on new hardware and a lost Win10 key

Hey folks.

Sorry if this has been answered before but I've been scrounging around online on and off for the last week and not found the answer to my specific question so here goes:

I have a retail license for Windows 7 Home Premium which was installed on a old PC where I took up the offer of a free upgrade to Windows 10. That PC died but I retained the HDD. I don't seem to have my Win10 license key written down anywhere but I do still have the Win7 key.

I'm building a new rig this weekend, 13 years after my last build and probably 4-5 years after my last PC died. I therefore want to install Win10 on a brand new SSD.

From what I've read I should have a digital license key for Windows 10 somewhere.

I've logged in to my Microsoft account and I cannot see a key associated with it (no devices seem to be attached at all), so I'm assuming just logging in to my Windows account won't help activate Win10 on my new build.

I've read conflicting stories of people who have just pumped their Win7 key into a Win10 install and have been successful. Is there any definitive answer to whether this works in 2021.

The only alternative I can come up with is to boot from my old HDD (and cross my fingers that it still lives) to try and recover my Win10 key that way. Can you point me in the direction of how to extract my key this way? And if I do this will the key still work on all new hardware? Or is it linked to my old mobo?

Are there any alternatives to using my upgraded Win10 license on my new build without forking out for a new license which I have missed?

Thanks in advance

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:)

 

A question for Win10 users.

It doesn't. It simply adds you to a hardware activated whitelist with a generic key. Your Windows 7 key will still work.

EDIT: That poll... I'm not beautiful. I'm a fat guy. Seriously people. I sit in an armchair all day and play videogames. I am the anti-beauty.

 

Built new computer, running unactivated Win10 Home, have Win7 Pro key

I was initially thinking of buying a Win10 Home key, but I realized I still have a Win7 Pro key I purchased that I have never upgraded to Win10 and is not currently in use.

Two questions

• Can I use the Win7 key to activate Win10 (or is that no longer an option)
• Will Win10 Home turn into Win10 Pro (assuming I can still use key)

 

Win10: windows update stuck at never ending loop ?

When in win10:

• Update&security -> Windows update -> Finding update... .... .... ....

Planning to download the latest Win10.ISO (vers.1803) and manually update:
- Then wait that my ordered new SSD arrives and clone the old HDD to it.