You will not have the downgrade/revert option to Windows 7/8.1 if you have clean installed Windows 10 on your machine. Not really sure what will essentially happen to the said key. Only time would tell.
So, if I was to create a dummy Win 7/ 8.1 on a VM or spare HDD and upgrade to Win 10 (within the free year) and then revert back to my MAIN Win 7/ 8 system (as I do not wish to upgrade this as yet).. that system will not work anymore?
You'll probably have to wait until Sept for an answer. I still have my Win7 partition, I upgraded around 2nd August so if it's going to happen it will be after the 2nd Sept for me.
My understanding of it is, If you currently have a 7/8.x license that allows you to move from one system to another (uninstall from one device, reinstall to another), you will not be able to do that with Win10 free upgrade since you can not transfer from one device to another under Win10's free upgrade EULA. "Consumed". After 10 is no longer installed, it no longer consumes the previous rights and reinstalling the 7 or 8.x OS to a system would again follow their original license.
I ever ask this question in win 10 build 10240 discussion. And i have the answer of ur question : many mdl member said win 7/8 key will remain active. But if you want absolute answer, maybe u can ask in ms forum and share the answer here so other member can know too.
only thing they will tell you is to do a "Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth". they are f****** clueless in every aspect. you will never receive any real help from there. save yourself some time
Afaik any legitimate retail key can be downgraded from w10 to w8.1/7 by contacting microsoft directly. You can only do that once though, and I'm not sure if you can upgrade back to W10 for free if you change your mind again.
for this first year, you can clean install 10 as often as you want on the same device. Would be an interesting test to take the legit retail key and OS and install to another device and see how the upgrade goes. I would assume it wouldn't be a problem. With the HWID being the main thing, Im not entirely sure MS even looks at the previous OS key for anything other than eligibility for the free upgrade.
I have been thinking of upgrading my Windows 8.1 machine with Media Center to Windows 10 using a spare HD so that it registers my HWID in case I ever want to upgrade in the future. However, I don't want my 8.1 Pro Media Center key to become deactivated. I do suspect though that even if that is the case I could probably still do a phone activation.
It doesn't deactivate your keys... I had issues with my 10 install, wiped my computer back to 8.1 (so that I could get my Sony apps back) and reactivated 8.1 no issues. Then upgraded back to 10 no issues. However, I don't know about the 30 day policy.. I will find out Sept 5 for sure..
There is way too much FUD in this thread. Absolutely wrong. People really should actually read the so-called EULA (whose full name is actually Microsoft Software License Terms, and no longer abbreviates to EULA) before discussing what it does or not say/allow. It says, emphasis mine: It's very clear. If you had transfer rights before the upgrade, you have transfer rights after the upgrade. How to exercise this transfer right in practice is a question currently, but that's a discussion separate from the License Terms. As for the issue of whether the Windows 7 or 8.1 product key gets blocked eventually: it is only my personal opinion not substantiated by facts, but I don't believe that Microsoft would be doing that in practice. There are several upgrade scenarios under which trying to do a key block would lead to problems. PS: I suspect people may be confusing the issue by talking about the "Revert to Windows X" option. That option may well disappear after 30 days, but that is merely a practical matter. The files required for reverting are deleted from the harddrive to make space. This has nothing to do with product keys or licensing.
Is it confirmed that you can actually use a retail 8 key that was upgraded to 10 to install and activate a different device than the upgraded one? I assumed that if you have a retail 8 key that's valid for 1 device at a time only, that key is already consumed with the device upgraded to 10, and that you cannot use it with second device and pass activation.
You might be able to do so physically but the license prevents using it for upgrade on one device and then using on another device. Would be a violation of your license.
cannot use any system key twice at the same time without a license that allows it Retail keys have always followed the OS install from device to device. To keep legal, and activated, the first device must have the OS and key uninstalled before installing to a different device. So no, if I am reading what you are saying correctly.
^^ You can use the same key as many times as you'd like. You can always (unethically) activate it via phone and when asked how many computers it is installed on, simply press 1. It will verify every time.