Windows 10 Upgrade help?

[carolkarine]

Hey there! I run windows 8 (not 8.1... I just never got around to upgrading that. That's why I'm upgrading now, I guess) on a USB enclosure.

I repeat, on a USB enclosure. it is not connected via sata, I boot through USB. It is technically a windows-to-go workspace.

Anyways, I want to upgrade to windows 10. I cannot upgrade through the media creation tool normally, as I'm on a USB drive (trust me, I tried. It tells me to make a flash drive and install from there. I'm not unfamiliar with this process, as I installed the win 10 tech preview on a different enclosure for a while last november, and I had to originally install windows 8 on my enclosure this way.)

The problem stems from the fact that I can't upgrade without a new key. It won't let me upgrade without a key, as I'm forced to install from USB (which has no keyless option) And I don't have a windows 10 key. I refuse to pay for windows 10 because I am running off a USB drive, as I should be able to upgrade my copy of windows 8 OR I should be able to keep using that tech preview version I had (which, if I could reinstall it, I would, but the website points me to the media creation tool now)

Basically, if you guys can't help me upgrade my existing windows 8 key to windows 10 (it's a pro version, so I would like to use that one) or get access back to the tech preview, I'm going to pirate windows 10. because this is ridiculous. I know I'm a niche market, but I refuse to pay for something because of the kind of drive I'm installing it on.