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Windows 10 Digital Key Question

Zerxal
By Zerxal
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Go to solution Solved by Gikero,

The free upgrade still works, they don't publically advertise it. I just finished doing a Lenovo X1 a few moments ago. Download Windows 10 ISO and put on a flash drive. Connect flash drive to system you want to upgrade and follow the prompts. I recommend backing up data beforehand, just in case.

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I’m currently using Windows 7 on my main computer, and I’m planning to upgrade it to Windows 10 now. I just thought that would my computer still have a digital key to upgrade to Windows 10 for free even though it’s past the free upgrade. Probably won’t work, but just curious.

 

Thanks.

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Probably won't work but go ahead and try it. If you can't get it to work, you can get windows 10 keys pretty cheap on ebay anyway.

There are 10 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary and those that don't.

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The free upgrade still works, they don't publically advertise it. I just finished doing a Lenovo X1 a few moments ago. Download Windows 10 ISO and put on a flash drive. Connect flash drive to system you want to upgrade and follow the prompts. I recommend backing up data beforehand, just in case.

CPU: Core i7 4970K | MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro | RAM: 32GBs of G.Skill Ares 1866 | GPU: MSI GAMING X GTX 1070 | STOR: 2 X Crucial BX100 250GB, 2 x WD Blk 1TB (mirror),WD Blk 500GB | CASE: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced | PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA G2 750W | COOL: Cooler Master Hyper T4 | DISP: 21" 1080P POS | KB: MS Keyboard | MAU5: Redragon NEMEANLION | MIC: Snowball Blue | OS: Win 8.1 Pro x64, (Working on Arch for dual boot) |

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1 minute ago, Gikero said:

The free upgrade still works, they don't publically advertise it. I just finished doing a Lenovo X1 a few moments ago. Download Windows 10 ISO and put on a flash drive. Connect flash drive to system you want to upgrade and follow the prompts. I recommend backing up data beforehand, just in case.

Do I select to download for a flash drive, or do I actually download a .iso file and run it?

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11 minutes ago, spark_ said:

Do I select to download for a flash drive, or do I actually download a .iso file and run it?

You can select the flash drive option. I personally always download the .ISO file because sometimes I use a DVD and other times I use Rufus portable to make a bootable flash drive. MS's bootable flash drive utility works just fine.

CPU: Core i7 4970K | MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro | RAM: 32GBs of G.Skill Ares 1866 | GPU: MSI GAMING X GTX 1070 | STOR: 2 X Crucial BX100 250GB, 2 x WD Blk 1TB (mirror),WD Blk 500GB | CASE: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced | PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA G2 750W | COOL: Cooler Master Hyper T4 | DISP: 21" 1080P POS | KB: MS Keyboard | MAU5: Redragon NEMEANLION | MIC: Snowball Blue | OS: Win 8.1 Pro x64, (Working on Arch for dual boot) |

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3 hours ago, Gikero said:

You can select the flash drive option. I personally always download the .ISO file because sometimes I use a DVD and other times I use Rufus portable to make a bootable flash drive. MS's bootable flash drive utility works just fine.

Ok. Thanks. :)

 

3 hours ago, Gikero said:

You can select the flash drive option. I personally always download the .ISO file because sometimes I use a DVD and other times I use Rufus portable to make a bootable flash drive. MS's bootable flash drive utility works just fine.

Oh, one more question, sorry. Once I complete the USB installation, do I need to change the boot menu so I boot from my hard drive once again?

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1 minute ago, spark_ said:

Oh, one more question, sorry. Once I complete the USB installation, do I need to change the boot menu so I boot from my hard drive once again?

That is correct. Good catch.

CPU: Core i7 4970K | MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro | RAM: 32GBs of G.Skill Ares 1866 | GPU: MSI GAMING X GTX 1070 | STOR: 2 X Crucial BX100 250GB, 2 x WD Blk 1TB (mirror),WD Blk 500GB | CASE: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced | PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA G2 750W | COOL: Cooler Master Hyper T4 | DISP: 21" 1080P POS | KB: MS Keyboard | MAU5: Redragon NEMEANLION | MIC: Snowball Blue | OS: Win 8.1 Pro x64, (Working on Arch for dual boot) |

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3 hours ago, Gikero said:

That is correct. Good catch.

Ok. 

Sorry to bug you again, but I booted up the USB and after selecting that I want to keep all my files it says windows doesn’t support this, something along those lines. I’m Windows 7 SP1 but I installed the convenience update, so it should be fine.. right? Do you know what’s going on?

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22 hours ago, spark_ said:

Ok. 

Sorry to bug you again, but I booted up the USB and after selecting that I want to keep all my files it says windows doesn’t support this, something along those lines. I’m Windows 7 SP1 but I installed the convenience update, so it should be fine.. right? Do you know what’s going on?

Hey Spark, sorry I didn't see a notification that you quoted me.

I can't say why the install process isn't letting you select to save your info. One thing you could try is boot into Windows SP1 and run the setup.exe that is on the flash drive. That is the exact process I did yesterday with the previously mentioned Lenovo laptop. That allowed me to migrate the user's data during the upgrade process.

Again, I highly recommend backing up your data beforehand.

CPU: Core i7 4970K | MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro | RAM: 32GBs of G.Skill Ares 1866 | GPU: MSI GAMING X GTX 1070 | STOR: 2 X Crucial BX100 250GB, 2 x WD Blk 1TB (mirror),WD Blk 500GB | CASE: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced | PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA G2 750W | COOL: Cooler Master Hyper T4 | DISP: 21" 1080P POS | KB: MS Keyboard | MAU5: Redragon NEMEANLION | MIC: Snowball Blue | OS: Win 8.1 Pro x64, (Working on Arch for dual boot) |

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55 minutes ago, Gikero said:

Hey Spark, sorry I didn't see a notification that you quoted me.

I can't say why the install process isn't letting you select to save your info. One thing you could try is boot into Windows SP1 and run the setup.exe that is on the flash drive. That is the exact process I did yesterday with the previously mentioned Lenovo laptop. That allowed me to migrate the user's data during the upgrade process.

Again, I highly recommend backing up your data beforehand.

No problem about replying back quick. I’ve literally tried everything since yesterday to get it to work. I’ve tried making it boot from the flash drive while in Windows, no success. I always get stuck on making sure you’re ready to install if I boot while in Windows, no matter which way. I’ve literally left it on that for 10 hours and nothing changed. Only other way is when I boot from a USB and get stuck on Windows doesn’t support this type of installation. I’m currently burning a .iso to a dvd to see if it’l work. l don’t know if you know any other things I can try, but it would help.

 

 

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On 4/18/2018 at 4:19 PM, spark_ said:

No problem about replying back quick. I’ve literally tried everything since yesterday to get it to work. I’ve tried making it boot from the flash drive while in Windows, no success. I always get stuck on making sure you’re ready to install if I boot while in Windows, no matter which way. I’ve literally left it on that for 10 hours and nothing changed. Only other way is when I boot from a USB and get stuck on Windows doesn’t support this type of installation. I’m currently burning a .iso to a dvd to see if it’l work. l don’t know if you know any other things I can try, but it would help.

 

 

Does the PC your doing this on have a OEM sticker, or do you have the actual key for Windows 7? If so, you could always try a fresh install. Going this route, you  are absolutely required to put your Windows 7 key in during the install. Doing so after Windows 10 results in the inability to activate the license. I am not sure why Microsoft requires this, but I have tried multiple times only to have it fail. If doing a fresh install, key must be entered during installation for upgrade to work.

If you can't/don't want to do a clean install, the upgrade paths we previously talked about are the only other scenarios I have tried. I have not personally run into the issue you are experiencing. If I were in your shoes, I would do a fresh install of 10 with your key during install. Note that this suggested method does not save any of your data and it is up to you to make sure that it is safely backed up. If that isn't feasible, try opening a command prompt with admin privileges and running scf /scannow.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system

 

I will keep checking back manually, as I don't seem to be getting updates when you reply. =/

CPU: Core i7 4970K | MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro | RAM: 32GBs of G.Skill Ares 1866 | GPU: MSI GAMING X GTX 1070 | STOR: 2 X Crucial BX100 250GB, 2 x WD Blk 1TB (mirror),WD Blk 500GB | CASE: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced | PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA G2 750W | COOL: Cooler Master Hyper T4 | DISP: 21" 1080P POS | KB: MS Keyboard | MAU5: Redragon NEMEANLION | MIC: Snowball Blue | OS: Win 8.1 Pro x64, (Working on Arch for dual boot) |

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8 hours ago, Gikero said:

Does the PC your doing this on have a OEM sticker, or do you have the actual key for Windows 7? If so, you could always try a fresh install. Going this route, you  are absolutely required to put your Windows 7 key in during the install. Doing so after Windows 10 results in the inability to activate the license. I am not sure why Microsoft requires this, but I have tried multiple times only to have it fail. If doing a fresh install, key must be entered during installation for upgrade to work.

If you can't/don't want to do a clean install, the upgrade paths we previously talked about are the only other scenarios I have tried. I have not personally run into the issue you are experiencing. If I were in your shoes, I would do a fresh install of 10 with your key during install. Note that this suggested method does not save any of your data and it is up to you to make sure that it is safely backed up. If that isn't feasible, try opening a command prompt with admin privileges and running scf /scannow.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system

 

I will keep checking back manually, as I don't seem to be getting updates when you reply. =/

I don’t have my Windows 7 key as this was a prebuilt system, but I heard that you can download a program that will tell you what your product key is. I’ll probably also check for corrupted files using that file checker.

 

I think this weekend I’ll go out and buy an external SSD and copy my 150 GB of my Steam games. Everything else I can reinstall. Hopefully it goes well. 

 

Thanks for all the help you’ve given. If I encounter another problem, (hopefully not) I’ll post it here.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, spark_ said:

I don’t have my Windows 7 key as this was a prebuilt system, but I heard that you can download a program that will tell you what your product key is. I’ll probably also check for corrupted files using that file checker.

 

I think this weekend I’ll go out and buy an external SSD and copy my 150 GB of my Steam games. Everything else I can reinstall. Hopefully it goes well. 

 

Thanks for all the help you’ve given. If I encounter another problem, (hopefully not) I’ll post it here.

 

 

 

The application I have used to pull the key off the motherboard is R/W Everything. If you need help just PM or respond. Good luck!

CPU: Core i7 4970K | MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro | RAM: 32GBs of G.Skill Ares 1866 | GPU: MSI GAMING X GTX 1070 | STOR: 2 X Crucial BX100 250GB, 2 x WD Blk 1TB (mirror),WD Blk 500GB | CASE: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced | PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA G2 750W | COOL: Cooler Master Hyper T4 | DISP: 21" 1080P POS | KB: MS Keyboard | MAU5: Redragon NEMEANLION | MIC: Snowball Blue | OS: Win 8.1 Pro x64, (Working on Arch for dual boot) |

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