Windows 10 upgrade: What happens to retail Windows 8.1?

[Alir]

I have a Windows 8.1 Pro product key.

Anyone know what will happen to my product key if I "upgrade"?

 

I ideally want to be able to go back down to 8.1 even after 1 year if I decide I don't like 10 or if 10 has performance problems.

 

Is this possible? I heard some time back that your 8.1 key would automatically become a Windows 10 OEM key. Meaning I would completely lose my Windows 8.1 retail copy. In which case, chances are I won't "upgrade"

 

EDIT: I heard that after 30 days, your retail copy becomes a Windows 10 OEM OS.

[givingtnt]

key is converted and you haveone month to claim back and revert it.

[Alir]

Just now, givingtnt said:

key is converted and you haveone month to claim back and revert it.

Wow. That sucks.

[Yummychickenblue]

1 minute ago, Alir said:

Wow. That sucks.

How about you just keep converting and reverting at the end of every month?

[Boink]

It is correct that after a month you will not be able to downgrade anymore and your key will be converted. However, according to Microsoft, OEM 8.1/7 keys will retain OEM status in 10 and retail keys will retain retail status. They will not switch.

[FoxxyRin]

Just now, Yummychickenblue said:

How about you just keep converting and reverting at the end of every month?

I believe the free upgrade period ends in six months or so for everyone, though I may be wrong.

[Yummychickenblue]

3 minutes ago, FoxxyRin said:

I believe the free upgrade period ends in six months or so for everyone, though I may be wrong.

Oh right it doesn't it. I don't actually have a registered key apparently.

[Alir]

5 minutes ago, Yummychickenblue said:

How about you just keep converting and reverting at the end of every month?

Talk about wasting time. lol

 

5 minutes ago, Boink said:

It is correct that after a month you will not be able to downgrade anymore and your key will be converted. However, according to Microsoft, OEM 8.1/7 keys will retain OEM status in 10 and retail keys will retain retail status. They will not switch.

Do you have a source for this? I might just upgrade 1 key to 10. And keep one 8.1.

 

4 minutes ago, FoxxyRin said:

I believe the free upgrade period ends in six months or so for everyone, though I may be wrong.

Something like that. Yeah. Time is running out. Hence Microsofts aggressive updates

[Alir]

Though I will only upgrade to 10 if it retains its retail status.

[Alir]

3 minutes ago, Yummychickenblue said:

Oh right it doesn't it. I don't actually have a registered key apparently.

huh?

[K0MP4CT]

10 minutes ago, Alir said:

EDIT: I heard that after 30 days, your retail copy becomes a Windows 10 OEM OS.

Yes, this is true. What I'm doing is simply...

Open CMD as an Administrator. Type "slmgr -rearm" without the speech marks. Restart the PC. Just keep doing this everytime it asks you to activate

[Phillyphries]

2 minutes ago, Alir said:

Though I will only upgrade to 10 if it retains its retail status.

Haven't actually seen much performance issues with Windows 10 after a couple large updates.

Anything you're running into in particular or worried about?

 

[Alir]

1 minute ago, K0MP4CT said:

1 minute ago, K0MP4CT said:

Yes, this is true. What I'm doing is simply...

Open CMD as an Administrator. Type "slmgr -rearm" without the speech marks. Restart the PC. Just keep doing this everytime it asks you to activate

Open CMD as an Administrator. Type "slmgr -rearm" without the speech marks. Restart the PC. Just keep doing this everytime it asks you to activate

 

Is that a bug?

 

They're going to patch that eventually. I don't like finding work arounds that just waste time in the long run... no offence

[Yummychickenblue]

2 minutes ago, Alir said:

huh?

I upgraded to ten before it converted keys so I don't have a W10 key, just a 7 one.

[K0MP4CT]

Just now, Alir said:

 

Is that a bug?

 

They're going to patch that eventually. I don't like finding work arounds that just waste time in the long run... no offence

 

I doubt that. It's still possible to do in Windows 7 and it was put there for a reason, whatever that may be I'm not sure, but from what I've read it isn't to be removed

[Alir]

Just now, Phillyphries said:

Haven't actually seen much performance issues with Windows 10 after a couple large updates.

Anything you're running into in particular or worried about?

 

Everything.

Crashes are the most concerning. 8.1 programs crashed quite often. Windows 7 was actually stable with most or all of my programs.

 

Also privacy is a pretty big concern of mine. I don't trust Microsoft hence why not being able to revert to 8.1 is worrying.

Though a retail key for 8.1 becoming a 10 retail key isn't that bad.

[Yongtjunkit]

12 minutes ago, FoxxyRin said:

I believe the free upgrade period ends in six months or so for everyone, though I may be wrong.

Yes, it ends at the end of July 

[Alir]

{Ignore - LinusTT is buggy - quoted wrong post}

Edited February 2, 2016 by Alir

[Alir]

5 minutes ago, Yummychickenblue said:

I upgraded to ten before it converted keys so I don't have a W10 key, just a 7 one.

I'm jelly

[FoxxyRin]

2 minutes ago, Alir said:

Everything.

Crashes are the most concerning. 8.1 programs crashed quite often. Windows 7 was actually stable with most or all of my programs.

 

Also privacy is a pretty big concern of mine. I don't trust Microsoft hence why not being able to revert to 8.1 is worrying.

Though a retail key for 8.1 becoming a 10 retail key isn't that bad.

Did you try a fresh install of Win10? I had issues the first time around, but re-installed it and everything worked wonderfully. I love it so much more than 8/8.1, and about on par with 7.

As for security, they pushed the exact updates to 7/8, so you're SOL with that.

[Phillyphries]

1 minute ago, Alir said:

Everything.

Crashes are the most concerning. 8.1 programs crashed quite often. Windows 7 was actually stable with most or all of my programs.

 

Also privacy is a pretty big concern of mine. I don't trust Microsoft hence why not being able to revert to 8.1 is worrying.

Though a retail key for 8.1 becoming a 10 retail key isn't that bad.

Speaking on my own behalf, I haven't actually run into stability issues with Windows 10. All of my components are overclocked, and I was worried that it might affect system stability in that sense, but thankfully it doesn't. In actuality, program compatibility is more or less the same as Windows 8.1 with some weird programs here and there not working right.

I think you should be fine with privacy as long as you make sure to read over the advanced features during initial setup and actually choosing which feature to turn on. AFAIK there actually isn't anything else really sending stuff to Microsoft.

Which programs do you run?

 

[Boink]

12 minutes ago, Alir said:

 

Do you have a source for this? I might just upgrade 1 key to 10. And keep one 8.1.

http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/what-happens-my-free-windows-10-upgrade-after-29-july-2016-if-i-need-change-hardware

This does a good job of explaining it. There was an official microsoft article (other than the one linked in this one) that explained things well but I can't seen to find it.

[Alir]

4 minutes ago, FoxxyRin said:

Did you try a fresh install of Win10? I had issues the first time around, but re-installed it and everything worked wonderfully. I love it so much more than 8/8.1, and about on par with 7.

As for security, they pushed the exact updates to 7/8, so you're SOL with that.

Haven't installed 10 yet. Though I am hesitant. As for privacy, Win10 has features 8.1 and 7 didn't have. One of those being backing up your personal files onto MS servers to help provide a more "personalized experience". I use Linux mostly now. though I will continue using Windows for some things, one of those being gaming. I actually trust 8.1 a bit more than 10.

2 minutes ago, Phillyphries said:

Speaking on my own behalf, I haven't actually run into stability issues with Windows 10. All of my components are overclocked, and I was worried that it might affect system stability in that sense, but thankfully it doesn't. In actuality, program compatibility is more or less the same as Windows 8.1 with some weird programs here and there not working right.

I think you should be fine with privacy as long as you make sure to read over the advanced features during initial setup and actually choosing which feature to turn on. AFAIK there actually isn't anything else really sending stuff to Microsoft.

Which programs do you run?

 

Be careful. Even at the beginning, not all privacy settings are displayed.

 

 

[Alir]

Firefox, IDEs for software development, Steam for gaming, Microsoft Office, Libre Office. And 'some others'. Notepad++

 

The list is kind of really long. I install a lot of software for varying purposes.

[Phillyphries]

1 minute ago, Alir said:

Haven't installed 10 yet. Though I am hesitant. As for privacy, Win10 has features 8.1 and 7 didn't have. One of those being backing up your personal files onto MS servers to help provide a more "personalized experience". I use Linux mostly now. though I will continue using Windows for some things, one of those being gaming. I actually trust 8.1 a bit more than 10.

Be careful. Even at the beginning, not all privacy settings are displayed.

 

 

I guess this has more to do with principle than anything, but yeah I definitely do agree that privacy is definitely an issue, but technically agreeing to the terms and conditions... you know.

So much things collect personal info these days... Your smart phone, the apps you use, hell even google does the same. In my opinion, if your PC does it, it shouldn't make much of a difference. If a big agency really wanted to know things about you, they probably wouldn't need you to use Windows 10 to figure you out. Just saying.