Would that Windows 7 key be de-activated or would I be able to switch between OSes and activate using the new Win 10 key for Win 10 and the old Win 7 key for Win 7?
I apologize if I didn't understand the OP, but if you have an OEM (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) computer with a Windows 7 COA and key, you can reinstall Windows 7 at any time. (My approach is a disk imaging program like Acronis or Paragon. I have one laptop where I have flip-flopped between 7 and 10 a dozen times. Activation has never been lost.)
The op is talking about retail key. Windows 8/8.1 keys will be "consumed" once you upgrade to Win10. Meaning it's gone, it can not be re-used anymore. For Windows 7 your keys are still valid if you decide to go back from Windows 10.
That does not seem to be what the license says for Windows 10....It seems to say that the retail key for Windows 7 gets the option to upgrade to Windows 10, not that the Windows 7 license is lost. You can not use it to install Windows 10 and Windows 7 but you can go back to Windows 7. The key would not be consumed. You could not use it for a Windows 7 install and use Windows 10 at the same time... Sounds more reasonable but of course to be sure you will need to wait until after July 29th
cant use the key for 7 and 10 simultaneously but you can revert back to 7 at any time and the key will be fine.
that would mean you can still have a 7/10 dualboot enviroment as long as they won't remove support for windows 7 in bootmgfw.efi
The upgrade license stipulates that the new license replaces completely the old license, but I heard that in the case of win7->win8 upgrade, the win7 remains activated, seems MS just doesn't give a sh*t about it. But I don't know if you could use the win7 key in case of a re-install. I guess the best bet is to install win7 on a 2nd drive, activate with the same key, and upgrade this win7 to win10....but it's only a suggestion before we know the actual details about the win10 upgrade. Btw, I think MS provides a 30 day "cool-down", you could revert back to your win7 license if you don't like the win10.
Another scenario: Retail license Win 7 Ultimate. I upgrade to Windows 10 and lost my W7 license. I don't have any MS account. Later, my HDD / SSD failed .. I can not revert to Windows 7. The only option is to install a new HDD / SSD and what ? Will my W7 retail key will be refused ? How can I reinstall Windows 10 ?
I hope that is not true, because "Microsoft Australia" told me on the 11.June that the previous License / Key will be retained (should have made a Screenshot back then).
Your old key is NOT consumed in the process. I've done this on multiple computers now - both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. If your computer is GENUINE and ACTIVATED during the Windows 10 upgrade, you will be given a GENUINE and ACTIVATED copy of Windows 10. It'll remain activated between clean installs and everything - they store your hardware hashes in their database. You can continue to use the product key you had previously if you ever want to go back to Windows 7 or Windows 8, or you can even go ahead and use that key on a different computer and do the Windows 10 upgrade on that one too. You only need one retail key to get pretty much unlimited Windows 10 activation on the multiple systems you may own. (Note: You will be using Phone Activation a lot if you plan on doing that method as your retail key will get upset) YOUR KEY DOES NOT GET CONSUMED. They're literally just checking if its a legit key and hand you a free Windows 10 license for that hardware. They really don't care - they just want you on Windows 10 and to be happy.
Interesting, the goal is not to install a new Windows 7, just know how MS can allow to re-install Windows 10 after upgrade from win7 if a failure occurs. I understand they have the hashes of your hardware, and think the HDD or SSD is part of this Hash. (Brand, Serial or signature etc). You can also add hardware to your computer (like me), replacing Graphic card.. etc.. Hope there will a will be a phone number to activate again. I have a large SSD (500 To), with dual boot with Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 8.1 , hope I can upgrade win7 or win8.1 to Windows 10 without loosing the legacy dual boot as I do now.
From XP to win8.1 Windows check on 10 devices(graphic card is not included), if 4 or more had changed, Windows decides that it's not on the same device and would ask the user to activate, no idea if it would change for win10. AFAIK, the only way(that's what I am doing now) to have the legacy(black/white) boot menu is to set win7 as default, also, disable fast-boot, otherwise you get legacy menu for reboot, but win8-type boot menu if shut-down.
ok so I have my legit 8.1 iso all backed up, its custom made with auto activation built in, I don't need to connect to the net to activate it, so many believe that if I upgrade from this 8.1 to 10, ms will somehow deactivate my 8.1 key?@?@ I don't think so.....not a chance, what are they going to do? sneak some windows update file into my machine to check my status...lol
At least on 8.1, you could restore the legacy menu by issuing: bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy This has worked for me for a few years now with just 8.1 installed to restore its functionality.