Windows Questions

[Supportsneedlove]

I've been told that you can use a Windows 7 licence key for Windows 10. Is it true and will I be able to go back? 

And I've been wondering if there's a way to check if you have an OEM or a regular version of Windows?

 

Thanks!

[Tabs]

5 minutes ago, Supportsneedlove said:

I've been told that you can use a Windows 7 licence key for Windows 10. Is it true and will I be able to go back? 

And I've been wondering if there's a way to check if you have an OEM or a regular version of Windows?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes; if you have a valid Windows 7 license key, you can either use it during or after setup on Windows 10 version 1709+. It doesn't work directly on older versions, they added this later as a quality of life change for people upgrading.

 

Yes; so long as you don't continue using Windows 10 on the machine, you can go back to Windows 7 using your downgrade rights.

 

An easy method to check if you have a retail or OEM product is to check your product ID in System. IF it looks like this: xxxxx-oem-xxxxxxx-xxxxx then it's an OEM product key. That will still work to upgrade to Windows 10, but it's not transferrable between devices. If it looks like xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx then it is either a retail product, or it's an OEM Single Use license, and both of those are basically identical. They can be transferred between machines using the Windows Activation Troubleshooter, but only on one machine at a time, and only if it's already been activated on the original machine.

[GoodBytes]

9 minutes ago, Supportsneedlove said:

I've been told that you can use a Windows 7 licence key for Windows 10. Is it true and will I be able to go back? 

Yes and yes. Microsoft has auto reserved copies of Windows 7 free upgrade to Windows 10. Your Windows 7 key needs to be valid however.

If you upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10, you'll have nothing to do.

 

If you clean install Windows 10, then in the setup of Windows 10, it will ask you for a product key. Your Windows 7 key will not work there, you'll have the option, instead to pick "I don't have one" (the same option you'll get to enjoy to do for future product keys if you setup a Microsoft linked account, as your key will be linked to the account, and auto-sync once you are online and check for updates (it triggers the system to pull the key and activate). Key will sync to the PC and activate for you, you won't notice a thing). Once Windows 10 is installed, are you are logged in, and everything is loaded, you can go to Start > Settings (gear icon) > Update & Security > Activation, and enter your WIndows 7 key in there and activate Windows 10.

[Supportsneedlove]

10 minutes ago, Tabs said:

IF it looks like this: xxxxx-oem-xxxxxxx-xxxxx then it's an OEM product key

Does it actually have OEM in the name?

Because then it looks like I've got myself 2 licences included with my 2 used PC I bought. What are they? Like 170 dollars retail?

[Tabs]

8 minutes ago, Supportsneedlove said:

Does it actually have OEM in the name?

Because then it looks like I've got myself 2 licences included with my 2 used PC I bought. What are they? Like 170 dollars retail?

On Windows 7 yes. You only get rights to use the licenses on one PC, and it needs to be upgraded on that PC first. As @GoodBytes said, you'll want to link your Microsoft account to ensure the digital licenses get saved; that way you can reactivate later using the Activation Troubleshooter if you have any issues.

 

The licenses may still be OEM Single Use copies, which are much cheaper, and can often be found for almost nothing online. These don't get the same level of support from Microsoft, but are less restrictive than OEM SLP (the first type of product), which is limited to the hardware it was shipped on.

Edited August 5, 2018 by Tabs
Typo

[Supportsneedlove]

12 minutes ago, Tabs said:

On Windows 7 yes. You only get rights to use the licenses on one PC, and it needs to be upgraded on that PC first. As @GoodBytes said, you'll want to link your Microsoft account to ensure the digital licenses get saved; that way you can reactivate later using the Activation Troubleshooter if you have any issues.

 

The licenses may still be OEM Single Use copies, which are much cheaper, and can often be found for almost nothing online. These don't get the same level of support from Microsoft, but are less restrictive than OEM SLP (the first type of product), which is limited to the hardware it was shipped on.

Oh so they're just for one PC? and it's just what you usually get when you buy a PC?

[Tabs]

5 minutes ago, Supportsneedlove said:

Oh so they're just for one PC? and it's just what you usually get when you buy a PC?

Yes; OEM SLP can only be used on the machine it ships with. OEM Single Use licenses work like Retail ones, in that they can be transferred to new hardware (in limited situations), but you get limited support from Microsoft.

 

Retail licenses are very expensive, and are able to be transferred to new hardware. 

 

In all cases of transference, the license is only valid on one machine at a time. If you try to use the same license on multiple machines at the same time, activation will fail.