Win 10 Activation via repeated WIM to VHD then Native Boot?

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by crashnburn, Jun 8, 2016.

  1. crashnburn

    crashnburn MDL Addicted

    Mar 18, 2010
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    #21 crashnburn, Jun 25, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2016
    (OP)
  2. murphy78

    murphy78 MDL DISM Enthusiast

    Nov 18, 2012
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    AFAIK you have to follow the upgrade path for the edition:
    pro/ult -> Pro
    home -> Home

    If you try to use the wrong edition on an OEM system it causes problems.
    I don't have an OEM system, so I don't know if you can get around those problems or not.
    This is something you should test right away.

    I'd suggest:
    Create a vhd for the target upgrade you wish to do: (IE win10 pro or home)
    Run gatherosstate on Win7 and grab the xml
    Boot up the VHD and go through the process of trying to enable the activation. (there's a sticky for that)
    If it works, repeat it for the other machines.

    I'm not familiar with booting VHD files, especially on 7, so you'd need to look for help elsewhere on that.
     
  3. T-S

    T-S MDL Guru

    Dec 14, 2012
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    Here the scenarios are many.

    It depends on what the user wants to do: stay with the intended entitlement, or activate W10 Pro no matter the old system.

    But in both cases most of the problems here are coming from the classic setup.

    If the system is already in place (which is our case) what matters is the right ticket for the right system. If they are matched the system will be activated.

    Just use easy bcd and add the VHD to the bootloader

    Win 7 is no different than W10 here. The only thing that must be taken in account is that W7 can't be run over a native VHDX, so a plain VHD must be used for it (possibly a fixed size one, given dynamically expandable ones aren't as crash resilient as the VHDX cousins)
     
  4. crashnburn

    crashnburn MDL Addicted

    Mar 18, 2010
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    Well.. yes.. but largely Legit for free update (i.e. Win 7 + ) and Not legit for free update (Win XP +) Might have to do some of those to make eligible.

    PS: Is it possible to Update Win 7 Pro 's / Ults to an LTSB type of edition? Or use LTSB type of edition Fresh install for an OEM entitlement.

    ..Something that does not get Push Updates from MS? I'd prefer the ones that have least intrusion from MS and download them for doing the Entitlement.

    I've been reading about LTSB & Education editions. Maybe Enterprise? MS is confusing the hell out of me :p