Correct me if I am wrong. I think the 30days is for those not liking W10 to revert back with their programs intact. After that, you have to clean install.
after the 30 days, the WINDOWS.OLD files are deleted, and you cannot do a revert by rollback within windows.
In my (short) experience with Win 8 retail 1-machine-only keys: - Install in machine 1, key A, it activates online. - Install in machine 2, with key A, does not activate online, you can call and activate on the phone. I assume in this case key A is tied to machine 1, and then to machine 2. Is this correct? That is what happens in my experience at least. Imagine this situation then: - Install Win 8 in machine 3, with key B, it activates online. - Upgrade machine 3 from win8 to win10, Windows 10 activated online with generic key tied to machine 3. - Format and clean install Win10 in machine 3, it activates online with generic key, tied to machine 3. - Install Win8 to machine 4, using key B. Will it auto activate online? If the key B is really consumed with Windows 10, this last installation would count as a second machine using the same key and Win8 online activation will not succeed. Anyone tried this scenario?
The question does not make sense. If you say that your experiences is that you already can't activate a Win 8 key online on a second computer, even without upgrading to Windows 10, then how does Windows 10 upgrade figure into this at all?
It does not look like a legit copy to me, particularly if you keep the originally licensed one around but assuming this is not an issue: Define "does not work" If the original system is OEM or VL licensed, I doubt anything will be even noticed. If it is retail, and if the system now shows as not activated, I guess you will be required to phone MS but I fail to see why they would deny to reactivate your Win 7/8; they might be forced to revoke the induced Windows 10 activation in order to keep the balance in their systems, but you cannot complain since you are supposed to have ditched that Windows 10 offer...
Please notice I was editing the post while you were answering, it's not the same key. My understanding is that if a retail 8 key upgraded to 10 is really consumed with it, installing 8 on a second machine with the same key will not allow automatic online activation, as it will count as two machines with the same key.
my plan is: to install windows 7 on different hard disk, upgrade to windows 10, make a clean install of windows 10 and activate it. make an image of the new fresh install windows 10 after activation completed successfully. put back my windows 7 drive. my question is will I lose activation on my windows 7? or windows 10? from what I read it isn't possible. I have 3 computers to do it for and all with legit keys no loaders. any thoughts to share? cheers
Done1, It should be possible, if you load that image (I assume you mean VHD) back onto the same computer that it was created from. I know that you cannot use the Win 10 keys on different machines. I upgraded 8.1 Pro to 10 Pro and pulled the key and attempted to activate a different machine with 10 Pro and it would not accept the key manually, via cmd or slui...
This is what's unclear. Good Question.. Similar plans .. except I will put Win 7/8 on VMs or VHDs to get Win 10 and keep it for possible FUTURE use.
It will not be possible on VM. I tried even with original Dell CD that is automatically activate windows but it didn't work. you will need the physical machine. No. not VHD which is a good idea but I don't know if it'll work. I will physically remove the hard drive that come with the computer OEM with built in recovery partition, put another clean drive, clean install win 7 home, activate, upgrade to 10 and activate, delete everything clean install windows 10, activate and image it with aoemi or reflect, remove the spare hard disk and put back the original with windows 7 (after playing with win 10 for a week or so). thats a lot of work I'll have to do it at least on 3 computers the big question will it deactivate either one of them? I like windows 7 and dont think of using 10 for now coz I have no need of all the crap there and it is not stable. it seems to be windows 8.2 chapter 2.
That is an interesting process... why would not just partition out your current hdd and test this? And as far as I know, it does not deactivate either one. If you have the 10 upgrade and 7 activated simultaneously, it should (99%) work as normal for each. *IF you do want to use 2 hdd... why not clone your current with macrium/aomei, then upgrade it instead of reinstalling everything?.. just a thought..
Dell have said if you want to downgrade back to windows 8 or 8.1 with the upgrade, you simply use restore and backup to reinstall to 8 or 8.1 with the upgrade, so all this talk about winds 8 keys not working after you upgrade is nonsense !
Yes. They will still activate. I just reverted a computer (literally before typing this) and it reactivated no issue. 10 back to 8 Retail.
Reverting back is not a good test of this, specially if you upgraded, and not clean installed. I think what people with retail keys are worried about is about losing their freedom to transfer the license across different hardware, which is something dubious with free 10 licenses.
I upgraded from Win 8.1, then clean installed Win 10. No problem, then installed Win 8.1 on another ssd in same machine that has Win 10 on it and Win 8.1 activated without a hiccup!
If your computer had an SLP key, they can't deactivate your previous windows 7, because those are shared keys that activate offline. You can always clean re-install it and activate offline, and swap the hard drive first to change your hash. Otherwise, they can and will invalidate your key one month after the free upgrade if you don't roll back soon enough.