i only have a win 8.1 key and an installed 10..... now what?

[1832vin]

I've recently did a clean install of windows 10, and it;s installed on my laptop

 

now, i have a reason to do that, main reason is because no matter how much i update my OS, the "reserve upgrade" icon on tray never came up, and further more, the media creation kit never worked on me, i tried different things on the internet, and it didn't work

 

so i found another computer, ran the software, downloaded the ISO, and then did a clean install on the laptop.

 

now let's talk about the tale of stupid me:

 

i thought all i needed to do was to enter my windows 8.1 OA key, and all shall be fine, now that didn't work, and i don't have a recovery disc.....

 

 

 

what should i do?

 

p.s. and what hell is up with the new account system.....

[Jlryan]

Re-install Windows 8 on the laptop and try and do the upgrade again.

 

And there's nothing wrong with the account system?

[KamiKatze]

I hope you have an external backup with an older version of your laptop's OS. Because otherwise you're stuck with W10 without a license now. You should've used th upgrade function first, which activates the laptop's key. Then you can feel free to reinstall. The key is now bound to your motherboard chipset.

 

So either get a backup or a genuine W10 key.

[Speaker1264]

I hope you have an external backup with an older version of your laptop's OS. Because otherwise you're stuck with W10 without a license now. You should've used th upgrade function first, which activates the laptop's key. Then you can feel free to reinstall. The key is now bound to your motherboard chipset.

 

So either get a backup or a genuine W10 key.

 

It is possible to just do a fresh install of windows 8.1, using his 8.1 key, and then install windows 10 using the upgrade.  It will activate, and he can do a fresh install after doing the upgrade.

[Speedbird]

I've recently did a clean install of windows 10, and it;s installed on my laptop

 

now, i have a reason to do that, main reason is because no matter how much i update my OS, the "reserve upgrade" icon on tray never came up, and further more, the media creation kit never worked on me, i tried different things on the internet, and it didn't work

 

so i found another computer, ran the software, downloaded the ISO, and then did a clean install on the laptop.

 

now let's talk about the tale of stupid me:

 

i thought all i needed to do was to enter my windows 8.1 OA key, and all shall be fine, now that didn't work, and i don't have a recovery disc.....

 

 

 

what should i do?

 

p.s. and what hell is up with the new account system.....

You need to do an in-place upgrade first. Then you can do a clean install and skip the product key.

[Firearm2112]

You gotta go from Win7/8 to Ten for your key to carry over. If you want to prevent having to purchase a Win10 product key your going to need to reinstall windows with your win8 key and then upgrade to 10

[KamiKatze]

It is possible to just do a fresh install of windows 8.1, using his 8.1 key, and then install windows 10 using the upgrade.  It will activate, and he can do a fresh install after doing the upgrade.

 

Keys were already reusable with 8.1? not bad microsoft..

 

In that case just do a reinstall of W8.1 and upgrade as suggested above.

[Jlryan]

Keys were already reusable with 8.1? not bad microsoft..

 

In that case just do a reinstall of W8.1 and upgrade as suggested above.

Windows 8 on laptops, the keys were stored in UEFI, so no matter how many times you install if would always activate.

[NumLock21]

Clean install win8.1 and make sure it's activated. Then run updates and enable optional updates. After the first batch of critical updates are installed, win10 will pop up under option updates. Did that a few days ago with a clean 8.1 install.