General Discussions

Problem here Neo this system is different, and has tied to hardware in your PC/Laptop.

You can easily phone up and say I just changed my motherboard.... they can easily turn around and say NO. At least with a key (People have been saying they are no unique keys but keys that are shared among everyone... which is kinda stupid if that was true. But also means that the new system is all about hardware IDs.) you have some sort of proof.

So what if you get a new motherboard, GPU and CPU? You think MS is going to believe you when you don't have a key to show for it? Because after all I guarantee you people will grab the ISO install from fresh, leave the key field blank and call up saying they got new hardware installed and need to be activated, but yet never had a legitimate windows 7 or 8 so they are not entitled.

Perhaps this is MS's strategy all along, hope people get hardware changes to the point they are told no about activating their windows 10 and force them to pay for it.

Lets hope not eh.


[Edited by DABhand, 8/6/2015 1:46:00 AM]

Yes I believe it's easy. I've ran through that scenario in the past (motherboard + CPU upgrade). The automated system didn't even reject me to an agent and spat out the confirmation ID without hassle.

If you don't have a key, Windows 10 uses a generic key when installing (you can find it plastered all over the Microsoft forums).

@Neo7
Just to be clear in what passes for my crazy mind. My SSD finally gave up the ghost today. I had installed the free upgrade to Windows 10 two days ago. I not only downloaded but burned the Windows 10 ISO that matched my upgrade, and I found my Windows 10 key. Using these Items, I should be able to do a fresh install when my new SSD gets here on Saturday? With the proviso that I may have to call them to activate it.

You can use Speccy to get your Windows keys, including Win10.
Its a good idea to backup All Windows keys just incase.

As long as you have your Win10 key, which is NOT the Win7/8 key mind you, you can do a clean install.

The only way to get your Win10 key is by upgrading to Win10 first from a previous OS, otherwise you wont get a key unless you buy it from Microsoft.

So upgrade to Win10, once Win10 is installed you can use Speccy or a similar program to get your Win10 key afterwhich you can do a clean install and use that key. You shouldn't have to do a phone activation as ive done this on a few systems already.

As long as you have that Key you wont have any problems.

[Edited by DigitalIP, 8/12/2015 5:26:22 PM]

From the FAQ, Microsoft provides a tool that downloads an ISO of Windows 10. You will need to provide your Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 (if you bought 10 brand new digitally) key into that program before it will start downloading it. After that's done, you should be able to load up that ISO and begin installing.

[Edited by Neo7, 8/12/2015 8:49:02 PM]

Everyone will get the same key depending on Windows edition (Home or Pro etc.) However it's only use is when you install Windows - and even then useless because you can just skip the serial key part.

Link
The page (in Microsoft's website) above answers to pretty much every possible question about Windows 10 and it's activation.

If your Windows is not activated after connected to the internet, you're doing it wrong. 'nuff said.

It's not useless when you change hardware, or else your PC won't be recognized due to the change.

They are useless if Windows 10 was installed through Free Upgrade.

Windows 10 Home build 10240 - TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99
Windows 10 Pro build 10240 - VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
Windows 10 Enterprise build 10240 - NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43

Link
Those keys always remain the same. Windows 10 handle keys differently as the MS site says.

[Edited by Dwnld, 8/13/2015 2:46:18 PM]