OEM Windows 7 to Windows 10 New PC

prunehairs

Honorable
Sep 21, 2013
80
0
10,630
Hi,

I have an old HP laptop with an OEM Windows 7 Pro key. I would like to take this key and use it on my wife's new Desktop that I am building. I would also like to do the accessibility Windows 10 upgrade. Is there any way to do this with an OEM key? The laptop is an HP ProBook 6550b.

Thanks!
 
Solution


Upgrade the laptop to Win 10. You may not even need to use the Accessibility version.
Link the Win 10 digital entitlement to your MS account. Here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3164428/windows-build-1607-activation.html

Install Win 10 on the new system, and go through the Activation Troubleshooter to activate that linked license to this...


Upgrade the laptop to Win 10. You may not even need to use the Accessibility version.
Link the Win 10 digital entitlement to your MS account. Here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3164428/windows-build-1607-activation.html

Install Win 10 on the new system, and go through the Activation Troubleshooter to activate that linked license to this new system.
 
Solution
Technically you are not supposed to, but you could install windows 10 pro on the new desktop with the media creation tool that you install from microsoft's website and use that windows 7 pro key to activate it. However, if the laptop was upgraded to windows 10 already, it may have tied that product key to that laptops motherboard, in which case there would be no way to use that key to activate another system.
 


A Win 7 that has been Upgraded to Win 10 and activated is now a "digital entitlement". And can be moved to different hardware, OEM or otherwise.
 


1. The free Upgrade window ran out a year ago.
However, tHere have been many reports in the media, and here in Tom's, of people doing it recently, and it still works.
Either a direct upgrade, or a clean install of Win 10 and entering a previous WIn 7 license key. Recently,a s in the last couple of months.

2. Your link to the OEM concept was/is valid for a regular Win 7 OEM license. You can't move that to new hardware.
But, if successfully Upgraded to Win 10, that now becomes a 'digital entitlement', and the OEMness pretty much goes away.
 

Yup, but in the link he is saying at the last that you cannot transfer an upgraded windows 10 license from one PC to another. I didn't try that, but you have a point.:)

Edit:- The first reply in the link.

Peace.
 


well...I have done exactly that, with only the tools and functions provided to me by MS.
I believe the only case this fails is with a preinstalled OEM Win 10.
 

I guess his laptop is having a preinstalled windows 7 OEM.:)

Edit:- And he is transferring from laptop to Desktop.

Peace.

 


Yes,
You can use a windows 7 pro key for a windows 10 pro. I have done it myself and it works.

 


Should I use the Anniversary Edition Media Creation tool to upgrade as well as a clean install?


 

Get windows 10 from here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
Download it onto a flash drive or a CD.
Then boot it from your Bios

 


So I have tried what you said, however, the windows key is not letting me activate it. It is telling me to go to the Windows Store and buy a genuine key...What should I do? Did I do something wrong?
 


Did you install windows 10 on a flash drive or a disk?

 


I did a clean install with a USB drive.
 


Thank you my good sir this worked like a charm. All I had to do was put the old Windows 7 Key in and it activated. You people are geniuses! :)