[Not working anymore] How to upgrade from W7/8.1 without going through the complete upgrade process

So, for fun I created a cracked win 7 under ESXi... generated a genuine ticket, and am spinning up a win 10 vm now. I am not 100% how this works as far as hardware goes, but theoretically this should validate my win 10 VM if I understand correct. It is a different VM all together, so the "initial conditions" of the VM are different which is where I am not sure if it matters. We shall see!

Happy to report; it worked!

Thanks a bunch Enthousiast!

 

The problem with Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade (either from direct upgrade or genuine ticket + clean install) is that with newer machines, Windows 7 won't even detect the media, or will install but won't have drivers for most (if not all) of the hardware, sometimes you don't even get keyboard/mouse support.

For now the solution for those situations (until Windows 8.1 becomes also obsolete in driver support) is Windows 8.1 KMS to Windows 10 v1511 upgrade then a clean install with the latest Windows 10 build. You need Windows 10 v1511 because newer builds don't support upgrade from Windows 8.1 activated with KMS.

 

On VMs, the ticket should have only worked on the original VM it was created on, but for over 2 years all my fresh VMWare VM's get HWID activated by default.

 

Yea. I ran into this issue. I tried it on my test bench, but couldn’t get mouse or keyboard working to instal win7. That’s what drove me to spin up a vm and try it there. Honestly, probably faster and easier anyways lol.

Thanks for the win 8.1 advice tho! I’ll have to find myself a 1511 iso just to have in hand.

Yea, very interesting! But can’t really complain, I’m happy this worked lol.

 

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From what I have found/seen as it relates to VMware Guest VMs HWID, the HWID activation is tied to the "uuid.bios" value stored in the .vmx config file for a given vmware guest. I have recycled the same uuid for several win10 vms without any activation issues. However I have not tested this in the last 6 months or so. But have about 5 guest vms running using the same uuid. Might also be worth noting that only one of these guests are running a time. Im not sure if the HWID includes anything from or about the MAC of the NIC on the machine as that is prone to change more than once over time (usb nic,wifi etc..).

Just my .02 cents!

~MC

 

Yeah i know.

In the past i had to copy the uuid and, iirc, another line from the vmx file.

But for 2 years now i can create any new VM and as long as i apply the correct key (non home/pro (N)), it switches to hwid activation.

For me this was not handy, when testing stuff in the past

 

Same issue can anyone help?

 

Same issue as what?

 

Thank you for sharing this information, it works!

I tried it with build 1511. The first time I copied the GenuineTicket.xml that file was deleted at re-starting the computer. But, I copied it again, re-started, made sure it was still there and then connected to the internet and Windows was activated.

 

Is it mandatory to be online on this step?

 

Iirc, no need for being online when generating the ticket.

 

Hi, i read some comments at neowin.net that one can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free by using the legit Windows 7 product key during fresh install.
Can someone confirm this? i have a legit Windows 7 product key and don't want to waste the time if the activation failed after the Windows 10 fresh install. thanks.

 

Yes, the free HWID/DL by upgrade/gatherosstate or key still works.

 

Dear Enthousiast,
I had been doing the guide to upgrade from 8.1 (VL By KMS) as follow :
1. Create the genuineticket.xml
2. Clean install WIN 10 (boot from USB) using Windows 8.1 KMS to Windows 10 v1511
3. Copy GenuineTicket.xml to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\ClipSVC\GenuineTicket\ and then reboot
4. Activation is failed (no digital activation written in setting section)
5. Repeat step 1-3, still activation still failed
6. Using KMS VL ALL to activated = success
7. Trying to update Windows , but it is said NO UPDATE FOUND

Am I missing something for those above step for HWID activation ?
Appreciate for your kindly help.

Thanks

 

KMS activated upgrades needed an old gatherosstate and a key not to be mentioned here. Can you link me to that post? Since we have hwid tools for a few years now, i forgot (and i thought that all my posts would have been cleaned up after our ban from this thread in the past).

 

Do you mean the link for the above guide ? I just combine the step I've found here and there (Including step described from depodepodepo in this page. After doing the above step, win 10 cannot get the update , the error 0x80240fff)
Can you help to solve this ? Thanks in advance

I also follow your kind instruction in your post # 2105

Update : this morning I was be able to update using MCT tools 1909. Thanks Enthousiast. Really appreciated your hardwork.

 

Enthousiast, is this the post you need?

 

So i found this thread and thought great, just follow the instructions in the very 1st post and im good to go. Now that ive read further into this very long thread, it appears the original instructions no longer work and my best bet is to do a clean install of Windows 8.1, then upgrade to Win 10. I attempted to do a direct upgrade to Win 10 from Win 7 on an OEM install on a Dell laptop and got the following message "The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during PREPARE_FIRST_BOOT operation" that was following instructions from a different site.
Id rather not do a clean install but if it has to be, then ill start preparing for it.

 

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