I'm testing allot with the RTM .iso. I have upgraded a Win8.1 VM, after Win10 was activated. I had not reserved me for a free upgrade, just used the RTM .iso file, and activated Win8.1 with a old Win8 retail key from MSDN. Next test was to use the same key on a different server with different hardware, and again after a upgrade started from Windows, but still, a clean install of Windows 10, Windows 10 was activated. So you can activate Windows 10 on several computers with the same win8.x key when you upgrade. The next test was to complete wipe the disk on the VM (all partitions). Then only use the Windows 10 RTM .iso file to install. And Windows 10 was automaticly activated after the installation. So this time, it had to fetch the hardware ID and/or IP, for I did use a Windows Server 2012 R2 .iso file to delete and format the disk, so nothing was spared on the disk that the new clean Windows 10 installation could use. I do not use Microsoft account on thees test either, so it had to fetch the HW ID, so that is what they said it would do, and it doing it. My last test is now to export the complete VM, with a activated Windows 10 installation on it, to a new server, then start it up. Is it a OEM win10 key I have got, it will become unactivated. If it still is activated or let me activated it, then it's a retail key. If that is the case, I want to extract the key, so I can try installing a complete fresh clean install on a different computer with the RTM .iso. but then I need a Win10 key, for it will not take Win8.x keys, I have tried that. So, how to extract the key, what keyfinder software do you think will work on Windows 10?
They don't use a key for upgrades. (well, it's just a dummy key) They use your hardware info. After successful upgrade, you can re-install at any time and it will automatically activate when you go online.
I think everyone doing the upgrade is getting the same generic key. You don't get a key...Just online HWID activation
Ok, I see that the key I have on all VMs ends with 3V66T yes. So no point extracting the key. Then my best find in my tests was that I can use the same Win8.x Retail key on several different computers, on different hardware, and still get a activated Win10 installation. But I have to install Win8.1 first. But luckily you don't need to install any updates on a new Win8.1 installation. Just install it, then insert Windows 10, then start the upgrade process, say now to download updates, then upgrade with a clean install. It will maybe take 20-30 minutes extra tops with a fast USB stick and a decent computer.
use RWeverything as it looks into the BIOS itself and not memory to retrieve it..."they" say that is more accurate. You might have too look for it though as their site appears to be down with a "bandwidth exceeded" error..haha.
And since I'm not using OEM Win 8.x computers, but retail MSDN keys, I would not find any Win8.x key in BIOS at all. And on my VM's I use Gen1 on Hyper-V so just normal BIOS, not UEFI, so the Win8.x keys can't be stored there. I know, keeping tab on how many activation I do. But I can play as much as I want, have over 100 Win 8 Pro and Win 8.1 Pro retail licenses from MSDN to play with.
Just wonder how a offline pc to active win 10, after update from win7/8.1, when do a clean install of win 10
Yes, you can, you could phone activate with a upgrade key assigned to you after upgrading from a legit win7/8/8.1 after 7/29. You couldn't phone activate a generic key, and they are not just place-holders.
FaiKee, phone activation uses IDs generated from HWIDs already in older Windows. THERE IS NO KEY NEEDED!!!!