Question about digital entitlement

[Grand Delta]

My current PC has Windows 10 Pro, which is a free upgrade (known as digital entitlement) from a Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) version. Now, the thing is, I've been thinking on doing a downgrade back to w7 because of certain compatibility issues, but my hardware doesn't have the sticker that shows the OEM license. I have a Samsung laptop, so I have a recovery CD with the default OS. I'm not sure on formatting because of any possible loose of the license key. Once I tried formatting on another Samsung laptop with his respective disk and it not only installed the OS, but also, made pre-validated with the OEM license. Back then I downgraded from w8.

Now I'm not sure if it will work, so I've decided to come here and ask about it, because I don't want to buy a new license key. Please, I want to know if the digital entitlement holds or inherits the same key from the previous OS installed in the computer. Does it inherits?

 

[Colif]

how long ago did you upgrade? If you only upgraded to win 7 in last few weeks then you can reinstall win 7 and use that licence.

If you upgraded over a month ago that win 7 licence became a Win 10 licence at the one month anniversary, at the same time as Windows.old was deleted. If you want win 7 now you have to buy a new licence.

 

[Grand Delta]

how long ago did you upgrade? If you only upgraded to win 7 in last few weeks then you can reinstall win 7 and use that licence.

If you upgraded over a month ago that win 7 licence became a Win 10 licence at the one month anniversary, at the same time as Windows.old was deleted. If you want win 7 now you have to buy a new licence.

Certainly the windows.old was deleted. So, you say that the license that I found in my pc (through .vbs) is not a windows 7 LK anymore because it was replaced with a windows 10's instead? Hmmm... That's surely a problem.

And what about trying to reinstall using the backup disk? Long ago I had another Samsung laptop that someone upgraded to w8 Pro and patched it (no license), then I tried using that disk and after the OS was replaced, the PC got his default system pre-activated with license, which was a Windows 7 Home Basic (x64).

I read somewhere that the OEM key is embedded to the BIOS, so the recovery disk will recognize it. when installing the default OS. I don't know, may it be?

 

[Colif]

There are 2 differences between the Win 10 upgrade and upgrading from 7 to 8.

The main one is how you pay. Every other upgrade to a new version of Windows before now cost you money up front. To go from win 7 to 8 cost a certain amount of cash, whereas with Win 10, the cost was your previous licence is converted into a win 10 licence. Virtually free.

Windows 10 isn't free to all, but its a much less painless upgrade for most people, who don't want to go back to previous version. So 99% of users

The other difference is tied into first, its your licence. In previous upgrades you get to keep old licence as you had to buy a new one to get a new version of windows. Windows 10 probably only applies that to enterprise versions, and retail copies of the other varieties of Windows (Home/Pro/Educational). Everyone else using Win 10 doesn't really have a licence on their PC anymore if, their right to have windows 10 is based on their machine id and some recording of their previous win 7/8 licence that proves they are legit owners of a licence. Its all on a Microsoft database now so you don't need to know what it is anymore.

With the way the win 10 free upgrade worked, your win 7 key automatically became a win 10 key as soon as you had it for a month. If you try to use the win 7 key now on a fresh install of Windows 7, it will not work. Your licence changing was part of the deal of getting win 10 free.