Replacing a motherboard prior to upgrade to Windows 10

[LauRoman]

I have not yet downloaded any Windows 10 setup files but i do have the "Get WIndows 10" prompt. I was gonna move all machines to 10 mid-late April, but one of my motherboards broke so i have to replace it and probably i'm gonna move the upgrade up.

 

I have a question, if i have yet to download/install W10 on that machine. I know i have to reactivate Windows 7 after i replace the motherboard. I have a retail copy of Windows 7, so that's not going to be a problem. But what about Windows 10? Was it pre-activated for the old motherboard before the installation, or tied in any way to the previous hardware id?

 

Please do not come here to comment about the license being tied to your Laptop or PC that you bought. Do not comment if you don't have any real insight into the issue.

[.bin]

G'day,

 

My thought is that as long as you're firing the Windows 10 update from a Windows PC irrespective of whether the originating Windows is licensed, the upgrade will work. So when you load back into Win7, go to the Windows 10 Website and run the update software and you won't have an issue.

 

Good luck,

[binaryzero]

You haven't even started the upgrade process, so you're fine.

[BinaryData]

As long as you have not installed 10, you'll be fine. I just swapped my HDD on my desktop, though everything @Jared- gave me didn't work, I'm doing a fresh install because I'm going through withdrawls

 

Also, if you don't like 10, you CAN go back to 7. My educational key from Dreamspark worked with Win7 64bit SP1, after upgrading to 10.

[binaryzero]

Keys just don't stop working lol, they'll work forever. 

 

It didn't work because you didn't follow the instructions, or even click the "Clone" option? lol

[The Evil Overlord]

2 hours ago, LauRoman said:

 

Please do not come here to comment about the license being tied to your Laptop or PC that you bought. Do not comment if you don't have any real insight into the issue.

Well, on this rule alone, I should not post, but going by the theory of having an activated windows 7 on the newly replaced motherboard, the upgrade to windows 10 should be automatically become activated, as smart as the activation process is, it doesn't 'know' you've had a hardware change, as it'll configure to the motherboard/hardware that is present. 

[LauRoman]

12 hours ago, Jared- said:

You haven't even started the upgrade process, so you're fine.

Any sane person would think so, and that was my first thought, but with all the Windows 10 woes, i hope you're not wrong.

[binaryzero]

....There's no woes, it's people who clearly don't read. It isn't rocket science...

[adrynalyne]

4 hours ago, LauRoman said:

Any sane person would think so, and that was my first thought, but with all the Windows 10 woes, i hope you're not wrong.

Any sane person should know that you cannot be locked into a license with your current hardware if it's not even installed. How does something not installed activate?

[Ve7878]

Just make sure your existing OS is activated before running the upgrade. It might want reactivating after changing components so just check that before running the upgrade.

[LauRoman]

19 hours ago, adrynalyne said:

Any sane person should know that you cannot be locked into a license with your current hardware if it's not even installed. How does something not installed activate?

What about OEM licenses? When i first heard about the free Windows 10 upgrade i extrapolated from Microsoft's "supported for the lifetime of the device" dogma that the free upgrade would walk, talk, smell and act very similar to OEM licenses, by being tied to hardware. While i do understand that normal software doesn't really get activated before being installed, i know that Microsoft is doing a lot about preloading W10 before you install the upgrade. I'm not sure i can with certainty say that they aren't also preloading some activation. The sane thought would be that they aren't, but one should asked to be sure.

3 hours ago, Vince800 said:

Just make sure your existing OS is activated before running the upgrade. It might want reactivating after changing components so just check that before running the upgrade.

I do have about 6 retail Windows licenses, and i did move this particular one to about 4-5 iteration of my main desktop, so i do know about reactivating.

Edited January 18, 2016 by LauRoman

[adrynalyne]

9 minutes ago, LauRoman said:

What about OEM licenses? When i first heard about the free Windows 10 upgrade i extrapolated from Microsoft's "supported for the lifetime of the device" dogma that the free upgrade would walk, talk, smell and act very similar to OEM licenses, by being tied to hardware. While i do understand that normal software doesn't really get activated before being installed, i know that Microsoft is doing a lot about preloading W10 before you install the upgrade. I'm not sure i can with certainty say that they aren't also preloading some activation. The sane thought would be that they aren't, but one should asked to be sure.

I do have about 6 retail Windows licenses, and i did move this particular one to about 4-5 iteration of my main desktop, so i do know about reactivating.

OEM licenses that are tied to the hardware read from a key in the UEFI. 

 

The upgrade licenses are definitely tied to hardware, but not until they are keyed to certain hardware. That doesn't happen until after install. 

[Ve7878]

 

Quote

I do have about 6 retail Windows licenses, and i did move this particular one to about 4-5 iteration of my main desktop, so i do know about reactivating.

 

 

So why are you asking since you already know. The point is, if your Windows 7 is activated fine, Windows 10 will do so also whether you've had it before or not. If you're coming from an activated Windows 7 as an upgrade with the new hardware ID produced with the new components in Windows 7, Windows 10 should activate as it should create a new digital entitlement.

 

Also since you say you have a retail license you could just enter that into the installation of Windows 10. Since 1511 it is possible to do this.

[LauRoman]

9 hours ago, Vince800 said:

 

 

Also since you say you have a retail license you could just enter that into the installation of Windows 10. Since 1511 it is possible to do this.

Will putting in the W7 key on Windows 10 work even if WIndows 10 was never installed on that machine or any other machine?

Or is that just a feature of clean installing later?

[T3X4S]

On 1/17/2016 at 3:07 PM, LauRoman said:

Any sane person would think so, and that was my first thought, but with all the Windows 10 woes, i hope you're not wrong.

As far as "all the Windows 10 woes" - take them with a grain of salt.  Some people just like to knock MS products, some like to knock anything new/different, and some people run into issues.

A couple of ProTips for you:

Let Windows handle the download & installation of drivers (if you can)
In the past, a skilled user would manually install particular drivers, or create custom windows installers with drivers built in.  WIndows 10's driver installation is a lot better, so give it a chance, then if there are some stragglers - kick it old school.
Avoid the Windows Store apps unless it is a matter of life or death.
Pay attention to the options when installing - that is where you can disable much of the stupid privacy settings (automatically joining open wifi networks ?  WTF ?)

These are just a couple suggestions.  The one about driver installation was after a crappy, failed Win10 install, and manual installation of drivers (dumping the driver libraries and pointing the Device Mgr to the dump folder) I had a few installation issues.  So I wiped it and started over, this time letting Windows do everything and just sitting back - havent had a single issue since.

[T3X4S]

12 minutes ago, LauRoman said:

Will putting in the W7 key on Windows 10 work even if WIndows 10 was never installed on that machine or any other machine?

Or is that just a feature of clean installing later?

Depends on the type of key honestly - my WIndows 7 keys are VLK/MAK - so i had to install 7, update, then upgrade to Win10.  Once Win10 was activated I downloaded the recovery media tool, created a USB installer & wiped the HDD and installed a fresh Win10 image.

A pain in the butt - fortunately its a 1 time per license process & the end result is cleaner.

[binaryzero]

VLK/MAK FTW!! Gotta love those keys... I've still got 2498 activations left on my key  

[JakeB]

You don't even have to install Windows 7 first. After 1511 MS made so if  enter a valid key for Windows 7 and Windows 10 will install and activate. Plus you having the retail license for Windows 7 allows you to change motherboards. 

 

 

[JakeB]

12 hours ago, LauRoman said:

Will putting in the W7 key on Windows 10 work even if WIndows 10 was never installed on that machine or any other machine?

Or is that just a feature of clean installing later?

Yes. After 1511 MS made it so you didn't have to install WIndows 7 to activate. Now you can just enter your Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 key and Windows 10 will activate if the key is valid. 

[LauRoman]

On 19.01.2016 at 9:55 PM, JakeB said:

Yes. After 1511 MS made it so you didn't have to install WIndows 7 to activate. Now you can just enter your Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 key and Windows 10 will activate if the key is valid. 

Sorry, i was asking if after getting the upgrade prompt and not ever upgrading in place on a machine (not even once) if i could separately download/create the iso and install it with the Windows 7 key.

[binaryzero]

Your answer is probably answered, I dunno, 10 times on the first page of threads?

 

The upgrade prompt is literally, a prompt, nothing more. Just like the KNOCK OUT 50 MONKEYS TO EARN $100!!!!

[JakeB]

Yes and I answered you question. You go to the Media creation site that MS has set up and you download the ISO. That ISO is used to do a clean install. Before Windows 10 1511 you were forced to an upgrade from the previous OS. After 1511 you can use the ISO you will be prompted to enter the Key for the the WIndows 7. 

 

You can use a USB flash drive or a DVD with the ISO on it. It will do a clean install after it checks if the code you enter is a activated copy of Windows  7.

 

[LauRoman]

On 11.02.2016 at 5:55 PM, JakeB said:

Yes and I answered you question. You go to the Media creation site that MS has set up and you download the ISO. That ISO is used to do a clean install. Before Windows 10 1511 you were forced to an upgrade from the previous OS. After 1511 you can use the ISO you will be prompted to enter the Key for the the WIndows 7.

You probably have been more helpful than any other person that replied on this thread. And just to be clear this will work even if i never before had windows 10 installed on that machine with that key?

On 11.02.2016 at 5:55 PM, JakeB said:

You can use a USB flash drive or a DVD with the ISO on it. It will do a clean install after it checks if the code you enter is a activated copy of Windows  7.

 

So it will only work with Windows keys already activated? Because i think i have at least two Windows 7 keys that have never been used. Probably not gonna work to use those directly, right?

[binaryzero]

Dude, you haven't even started the install process. What's the issue?

 

Download the iso and away you go.

[Circaflex]

6 hours ago, LauRoman said:

You probably have been more helpful than any other person that replied on this thread. And just to be clear this will work even if i never before had windows 10 installed on that machine with that key?

So it will only work with Windows keys already activated? Because i think i have at least two Windows 7 keys that have never been used. Probably not gonna work to use those directly, right?

Man, you really did drag this out. The process is simple, no need to over complicate things. The process has become even easier, downloaded the latest Windows 10 ISO from microsoft, use your Windows 7 Key when it asks for one, boom that is it.

 

The ISOs have now been updated to accept Windows 7 or Windows 8 keys.