WIN10 Fresh Instal now asking for Activation

[kiotii]

Hi. Have a headache here with W10. About 4-5 weeks ago I downloaded W10 from Windows Downloads, Used the Media Creation Tool to create an ISO, burned that to DVD and installed 10 to a 2TB HDD. All good for a while. I was using W7x64 Ultimate as main System, having Got W10 to use and become accustomed to. Now since about 5 days ago it has a watermark saying 10 requires Activation. 2 days ago I contacted MS and they connected with me on computer Text Message. This is where it becomes ridiculous. I will try to keep it short:
The person I was connected to wanted to connect to my computer remotely, I said no. She then asked for the Product key and version of W10. I said it is Pro version 1511 I think it is and the product key I gave her was the one that I obtained using ShowKeys Plus. I then gave her the W7 key I have and she then proceeded to tell me that the license key is blocked/ that my computer came with preinstalled Windows and I have to contact the manufacturer of my 'Device'...I then began to lose my rag with the MS Employee. I told her that the License key (Product key she called it) is a stock standard key that is going out to the millions who have upgraded from 7/8/8.1 to W10. She persisted telling me that the key is blocked, so I told her if its blocked why am I elegible for upgrade the W7 I have installed from my W7 DVD to W10? I then told her that MS have a record of everypiece of hardware that is inside my computer, right down to the CPU Serial number. And from where did MS get all that info on my computer? From an upgrade from W7 to W10 that I did almost 3 months ago. And that upgrade completed upgrade to W10 of the W7 OS I had installed that she is telling me is Blocked.
I have to buy a W10 license key she said.
I had told her that the PC I have I built myself, that it isnt a 'Today' Windows Preinstalled Lappy. That it came used to me, with WXP SP3 and I replaced the Mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU, Graphics...HDD's.the lot. But she insisted I have to buy a W10 license key.
I again repeated what I had said about my existing W7 has the 'Go Ahead' for a W10 upgrade...and that W7 of mine is according to her, Blocked.
I said I will instal Fresh W7 x 64 Ultimate to another hard drive and get that upgraded to W10. The existing W7 that I have is playing up so its on the way towards obliteration anyway.
Now the W10 I have that has decided to throw up the Needs Activation watermark, that is just recent happening....in fact I hadn't seen it until a few day ago, and I am just thinking this:
about a week ago I was having problems with BIOS not finding HDD's during POST, and I outed the battery and shorted the CLR CMOS pins.............................having cleared the BIOS, have I wiped out the W10 License key that is stored in BIOS...MS New Protection against Piracy etc.....
So basically: I had W7 installed, upgraded to W10...rolled back to W7....had probs with 7 and fresh installed W7 about 3 months ago..............then download W10 and instal to a HDD of its own.......and now after doing that CLR CMOS, I have the Activation nagging me.
I Know that when I reinstal W7 from my DVD that it will activate and be offered the upgrade to W10.
So when did my W7 license key become blocked'...when I upgraded to W10 3 month ago?
I hope that I can instal W7 again. I will be hacked off if I have lost use of the license key.

 

[Colif]

So Win 7 is still running on main hdd, what licence key did you use in your win 10 install? If none, that explains why it deactivated. its only free as an upgrade, not as a fresh install unless you use a win 7 or 8.1 key to activate it, and then it converts that key after a month. The way you did it doesn't work after a month or so. So I can understand why they want you to buy a new win 10 licence.

Did you buy win 7? where did the key come from? You mentioned a Win xp install but not where Win 7 originated. Its odd its blocked if you getting upgrade options.

 

[smorizio]

ms was plane about windows 10 digital liceance and windows 7 upgrade. you cant have windows 7 key and windows 10 key for the same os running at the same time. if you want windows 7 you have to leave that key alone and buy a windows 10 key. if you want windows 10 for free you have to upgrade your 7 to 10. or see if windows insider program is still running. if it is you have to keep taking beta build to keep a free windows 10 key.

 

[kiotii]

So Win 7 is still running on main hdd, what licence key did you use in your win 10 install? If none, that explains why it deactivated. its only free as an upgrade, not as a fresh install unless you use a win 7 or 8.1 key to activate it, and then it converts that key after a month. The way you did it doesn't work after a month or so. So I can understand why they want you to buy a new win 10 licence.

Did you buy win 7? where did the key come from? You mentioned a Win xp install but not where Win 7 originated. Its odd its blocked if you getting upgrade options.

colif: Win7 I bought in 2009. Retail. I installed it and have installed it many times since to my computer. The XP instal is of no conseqence because I wiped that out. It was XP Home x64 and I upgraded that to XP Pro...then I wanted a quad core so I bought new Gigabyte mobo GA_MA74GM-S2 AM2+, AMD Athlon II X4 630 2,8GHz and 4GB Adata DDR2 800 and a Coolermaster 650W PSU. I used the existing 160GB Sata HDD then I wiped that out and installed W7x64 Ultimate. I wanted the Quad because I was doing Diploma in Animation and wanted the processing power. I have since removed the 160GB HDD and have 4 internal Sata HDDs: 2x1TB and 2x2TB.
So the story I am getting aboutr the key for my W7 is blocked is crapola. If it is blocked why have I now got an activation nag on my W7 system when I use it and that is more than I use W10.
As for saying that W10 is only free as an upgrade and if I do a fresh instal from the Downloaded ISO burned to DVD using the MS Media Creation Tool, well MS have neglected to tell us that we have to buy a license to instal from DVD created in the way that I did. As is here :https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
So, with that MS Employee telling me for 6 times that my computer came with Preinstalled windows...it probably did when the woman I bought it from had first purchased it from a Store here in Auckland but that was in 2004!! and today the only original part of it is the Tower.
I will not buy a W10 license key, I will again instal the 'blocked' W7, get SP1 on it and then upgrade that to W10. I don't like W10....do a Search for something, get a page of finds, click one to open it...its the wrong one...and to go to the next one listed I have to start the Search all over. In 7 just click the back arrow. I only getting 10 because a lot of people have grabbed it for free or bought a new computer that has MS Firmly implanted into it and they ask me for help over internet.So I can't help with a system I know sweet FA about
About the W7 license key that the MS employee told me is blocked, like the coppers she does't answer questions....so I want to know...was my W7 key screwed by MS when I upgraded to W10 3-4 month ago?
I will find out when I reinstal 7 over this weekend. I have a spare HDD I can do it on, in face I could shut down, do the HDD connection and do W7 instal and have it done in 40 minutes....if MS haven't screwed my license key

cheers

 

[Colif]

The reason the ISO is downloadable is to allow the people who have upgraded to Win 10 a way to do a fresh install. Since they let everyone who owned win 7 or 8 upgrade digitally there was no way to do a fresh install unless they did this. Its not there for people to install it without either buying a key or upgrading their already in place win 7 or 8 installs.

you can download win 8 iso & win 7 ISO but they won't work without a valid key either. The installers are free, the licences aren't.

 

[kiotii]

smorizio
thanks...I know you can't have 2xOS running at same time....well you can if you have Windows and Ubuntu and can hop back and forth between the 2. But I have had many Dual Boots of XP/Win 7 and the I also had W10 dual Booted with Win 7 back 3 months ago.....Then I wiped all that and put W7 onto a 2TB HDD and have now a couple weeks back installed W10 to a 1TB HDD from the Media Creation Tool. They, MS, say one computer / one license.......ok I have 1 computer with 1 CPU and MS gave me W10 as an upgrade so therefore I can have it again because MS have all the info om my computer...kinda like the Secret Service of Facebook....know more about me and have it all filed away.......ha ha. W10 is an invasion of privacy.....bloody watching people thru the Webcams on their nice new shiney MS Owned Windows 10 preinstalled computers. And I have had issues with W10, some of my progs and apps will not work properly and resolution is crap. Get W10 and have to buy new monitor/graphics card......I might stick with 7 and V to W10
W10??? ........one massive Global OEM from MS
Thanks

 

[kiotii]

The reason the ISO is downloadable is to allow the people who have upgraded to Win 10 a way to do a fresh install. Since they let everyone who owned win 7 or 8 upgrade digitally there was no way to do a fresh install unless they did this. Its not there for people to install it without either buying a key or upgrading their already in place win 7 or 8 installs.

you can download win 8 iso & win 7 ISO but they won't work without a valid key either. The installers are free, the licences aren't.

Doesn't say that here: Taken from the page about Media Creation tool
"If you need to install or reinstall Windows 10 using a USB or DVD, you can use the media creation tool below to create your own installation media with either a USB flash drive or a DVD. The tool provides file formats optimized for download speed and can be used to create ISO files."
I had already upgraded my W7 to W10 and because I had uninstalled it, my interpretation of what MS and you say.."Its not there for people to install it without either buying a key or upgrading their already in place win 7 or 8 installs."
Pardon me , but what you are saying contradicts what MS say......or is the writing so small I can't see it?...is it written in code and hidden in the pictures?

I have talked to a few people/friends about the issue and their first reply is "Sounds like typical MS"
Now I will consider this thread closed.
Thanks guys

edit: One can't download a 7 or 8 ISO unless having entered a valid license key in the supplied box.

 

[kiotii]

I think the main salient points of my thread have been overlooked
1/ I have a genuine W7 X64 Ultimate License key and Instal DVD
2 Since I installed W10 Pro via Media Creation Tool, MS have thrown my instal of W10 into Not Acticated and want me to buy a W10 license key because they now say my W7 license is blocked. They won't tell me since when.
3/ I have previously Upgrade my W7 to W10...and right now as I run this W7 I can upgrade to W10. It is sitting there waiting for me to give it the Click -go go: how can that be possible if the W7 License key is blocked?
I have in past 2 days installed close on 5GB of Windows Updates for MS Office Pro Plus 2013 I installed a week ago
and have just about every update I can get.
Now I am going to Fresh Instal W7 and upgrade it. I have done it once so I don't have to supply a license ley...os isn't that what MS said about W10? once it has been installed and you do a fresh install then the W10 license given forthe Upgrade from W7 to W10 will be found automatically because its imbedded in BIOS...or UEFI?
But,,,I cleared CMOS and it has been since that day the Activation notice has arrived and entering my W7 License does nothing.
Bye and thanks

 

[SkyNetRising]

This is interesting problem.
Keep us posted, how it goes @kiotii.

 

[kiotii]

This is interesting problem.
Keep us posted, how it goes @kiotii.

SkyNetRising
Will do, thanks.

 

[kiotii]

The reason the ISO is downloadable is to allow the people who have upgraded to Win 10 a way to do a fresh install. Since they let everyone who owned win 7 or 8 upgrade digitally there was no way to do a fresh install unless they did this. Its not there for people to install it without either buying a key or upgrading their already in place win 7 or 8 installs.

you can download win 8 iso & win 7 ISO but they won't work without a valid key either. The installers are free, the licences aren't.

colif, i said before that a .iso of windows cannot be downloaded from MS unless a valid license key is entered first.
As for the W10 thread:
I did upgrade my legit W7 to W10, I rolled back to W7
I then downloaded the W10 with media creation tool and burned to a dvd. I then installed that W10 to a different HDD than it had originally been installed to when upgraded from W7 to W10.
Therefore its the same damn computer only a new HDD has been used so MS are seeing my computer as a New Device. Forget the crap about if the computer has the same mobo and CPU then its all ok. It isnt at all. MS are seeing the Fresh instal of W10 I did to a different HDD than the HDD I had upgrade W7 to W10 as it being a new device..Device meaning computer in their speak.
I had this same problem about 8 year ago....mate had WXP home on his computer. Legit. It had been installed in FAT32 format. Wanted it changed to NTFS. I got the run-down from techs on Press F1 forum about how to do the change. All done no problem....until the mate come telling me that there is a notice saying Activation required and gave 3 days to do it. So I got on the blower to MS and was told that it is a New instal of WXP to a new computer and needs a license. I then told the woman that its the same computer as it was with WXP and all I had done was change the OS installed from FAT32 to NTFS..she said 'thank you for telling me that, then proceeded to rattleoff a sting of numbers etc to me and for me to enter them,,,(NOT TO WRITE THE NUMBERS DOWN TO USE LATER!!)......all done and mates new NTFS WXP was activated. That was well before MS getting into someones computer and getting a record of Modo/CPU etc. Now that is what MS are doing and it is to stop piracy...forget the sugar coated words of it being safer for WE, the users.
Now about the FAT32 -> NTFS change.....not one of the techs who told me what to do to make the change said that it would not activate after making the change to NTFS. But I got it sorted.
FAT32 and NTFS are considered 'different operating systems' even though the OS instal has been done from the one legit MS Windows disc.
I haven't done the Fresh instal of W7 yet. I have been backing up data I want to keep and too damn busy online fixing peoples/FB Friends computers...viruses/Bluestacks Fups/ bla-de-bla......I will do the fresh instal of 7 before the weekend..and if my 7 key is blocked then all hell is going to cut loose between me and MS

 

[u2desire420]

I did a clean install to a new hard drive and Windows 10 activated without any problems.
Anyways to the OP I think the problem is you are using either the OEM key or you got the key illegitimately. So anyways you could try the following... Copied and pasted from another site.

"
I summarize what others have found out. Also credits go to Daz who has mentioned that and Blinky who has tested it and sezz for his test on a VM.
This can also circumvent the issue: "Something happened, Windows 10 installation has failed" while upgrading.

Preconditions:
A. You have w7SP1/8.1 activated successfully. This actually doesn't apply to VL Volume_licenses no KMS (loader yes, pre-installations yes, OEM_DM for w8.1 yes, OEM system builder yes, retail yes), since they are officially not upgradeable.

B. Download your original w10 ISO which is suitable for the upgrade path. I.E. W7(SP1) Ultimate upgrades to w10 pro.


Follow these steps closely:

1. Validate your w7 SP1 (W8.1) online, best using IE.

2. Generate a genuine ticket of your installation by:

2.1 Copy gatherosstate.exe from your downloaded Windows 10 10240 ISO to your installation which should be upgraded.

2.2 Run it on your activated and validated Windows. It'll output GenuineTicket.xml. Save this on a USB thumb drive or something.

2.3 Then do a fresh install with your suitable w10 ISO, skip to enter key at setup procedure.

2.4 Once it's installed make sure your internet connection is DISABLED/do not enable the internet connection! Reboot w10.

2.5. Copy GenuineTicket.xml to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\ClipSVC\GenuineTicket\ of your w10 installation and reboot again.

2.6. Connect online, it should activate.

I just summarized this.
This method does NOT require the annoying upgrade process itself and avoids issues!

When doing another clean install in the future just install w10 again while being ONLINE. It activates again. Thanks to Blinky for testing it.

 

[GreyCatz]

Hi. Have a headache here with W10. About 4-5 weeks ago I downloaded W10 from Windows Downloads, Used the Media Creation Tool to create an ISO, burned that to DVD and installed 10 to a 2TB HDD. All good for a while. I was using W7x64 Ultimate as main System, having Got W10 to use and become accustomed to. Now since about 5 days ago it has a watermark saying 10 requires Activation. 2 days ago I contacted MS and they connected with me on computer Text Message. This is where it becomes ridiculous. I will try to keep it short:
The person I was connected to wanted to connect to my computer remotely, I said no. She then asked for the Product key and version of W10. I said it is Pro version 1511 I think it is and the product key I gave her was the one that I obtained using ShowKeys Plus. I then gave her the W7 key I have and she then proceeded to tell me that the license key is blocked/ that my computer came with preinstalled Windows and I have to contact the manufacturer of my 'Device'...I then began to lose my rag with the MS Employee. I told her that the License key (Product key she called it) is a stock standard key that is going out to the millions who have upgraded from 7/8/8.1 to W10. She persisted telling me that the key is blocked, so I told her if its blocked why am I elegible for upgrade the W7 I have installed from my W7 DVD to W10? I then told her that MS have a record of everypiece of hardware that is inside my computer, right down to the CPU Serial number. And from where did MS get all that info on my computer? From an upgrade from W7 to W10 that I did almost 3 months ago. And that upgrade completed upgrade to W10 of the W7 OS I had installed that she is telling me is Blocked.
I have to buy a W10 license key she said.
I had told her that the PC I have I built myself, that it isnt a 'Today' Windows Preinstalled Lappy. That it came used to me, with WXP SP3 and I replaced the Mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU, Graphics...HDD's.the lot. But she insisted I have to buy a W10 license key.
I again repeated what I had said about my existing W7 has the 'Go Ahead' for a W10 upgrade...and that W7 of mine is according to her, Blocked.
I said I will instal Fresh W7 x 64 Ultimate to another hard drive and get that upgraded to W10. The existing W7 that I have is playing up so its on the way towards obliteration anyway.
Now the W10 I have that has decided to throw up the Needs Activation watermark, that is just recent happening....in fact I hadn't seen it until a few day ago, and I am just thinking this:
about a week ago I was having problems with BIOS not finding HDD's during POST, and I outed the battery and shorted the CLR CMOS pins.............................having cleared the BIOS, have I wiped out the W10 License key that is stored in BIOS...MS New Protection against Piracy etc.....
So basically: I had W7 installed, upgraded to W10...rolled back to W7....had probs with 7 and fresh installed W7 about 3 months ago..............then download W10 and instal to a HDD of its own.......and now after doing that CLR CMOS, I have the Activation nagging me.
I Know that when I reinstal W7 from my DVD that it will activate and be offered the upgrade to W10.
So when did my W7 license key become blocked'...when I upgraded to W10 3 month ago?
I hope that I can instal W7 again. I will be hacked off if I have lost use of the license key.

Greetings, kiotii:

I don't mean to add to your problems, but here are a few thoughts:

a) If you have an official Win7 installation CD, the PK should be printed somewhere on the package or PC. In that case, clean-install Win7 and use this PK to (re)activate Win7. This may take some time and you may be asked to try again, but eventually the activation server will recognize the PK as a 'Genuine Windows 7 Product Key'. Now go to Microsoft Download Center and get Service Packs 1 and 2. SP2 contains the 'Upgrade to Windows 10' pop-up that indicates that Win7 is now ready for upgrade.

b) During Windows 10 Setup make sure to select 'Upgrade' and NOT clean/new install. When prompted for a product key, enter the PK from the Win7 installation CD package. This is Microsoft's way of making sure you are in fact eligible for a free Windows 10 upgrade. Once entered, the Win7 PK is then converted to a Win10 PK, which is different from the Win7 PK. Microsoft's activation server then blocks the Win7 PK because, technically, your Win7 doesn't exist anymore.

c) You can't use your Win10 ISO file to create multiple instances of Win10 - for obvious reasons. Unless, of course, you buy matching Win10 PKs. If you want to go back from Win10 to Win7, you need to do this within a month. After that, this option disappears from the Recovery feature in Win10. From then on, you can only roll back to previous versions/builds of Win10.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

Edit: Ignore the comment about SP2. That's nonsense, of course.

 

[kiotii]

Hi. Have a headache here with W10. About 4-5 weeks ago I downloaded W10 from Windows Downloads, Used the Media Creation Tool to create an ISO, burned that to DVD and installed 10 to a 2TB HDD. All good for a while. I was using W7x64 Ultimate as main System, having Got W10 to use and become accustomed to. Now since about 5 days ago it has a watermark saying 10 requires Activation. 2 days ago I contacted MS and they connected with me on computer Text Message. This is where it becomes ridiculous. I will try to keep it short:
The person I was connected to wanted to connect to my computer remotely, I said no. She then asked for the Product key and version of W10. I said it is Pro version 1511 I think it is and the product key I gave her was the one that I obtained using ShowKeys Plus. I then gave her the W7 key I have and she then proceeded to tell me that the license key is blocked/ that my computer came with preinstalled Windows and I have to contact the manufacturer of my 'Device'...I then began to lose my rag with the MS Employee. I told her that the License key (Product key she called it) is a stock standard key that is going out to the millions who have upgraded from 7/8/8.1 to W10. She persisted telling me that the key is blocked, so I told her if its blocked why am I elegible for upgrade the W7 I have installed from my W7 DVD to W10? I then told her that MS have a record of everypiece of hardware that is inside my computer, right down to the CPU Serial number. And from where did MS get all that info on my computer? From an upgrade from W7 to W10 that I did almost 3 months ago. And that upgrade completed upgrade to W10 of the W7 OS I had installed that she is telling me is Blocked.
I have to buy a W10 license key she said.
I had told her that the PC I have I built myself, that it isnt a 'Today' Windows Preinstalled Lappy. That it came used to me, with WXP SP3 and I replaced the Mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU, Graphics...HDD's.the lot. But she insisted I have to buy a W10 license key.
I again repeated what I had said about my existing W7 has the 'Go Ahead' for a W10 upgrade...and that W7 of mine is according to her, Blocked.
I said I will instal Fresh W7 x 64 Ultimate to another hard drive and get that upgraded to W10. The existing W7 that I have is playing up so its on the way towards obliteration anyway.
Now the W10 I have that has decided to throw up the Needs Activation watermark, that is just recent happening....in fact I hadn't seen it until a few day ago, and I am just thinking this:
about a week ago I was having problems with BIOS not finding HDD's during POST, and I outed the battery and shorted the CLR CMOS pins.............................having cleared the BIOS, have I wiped out the W10 License key that is stored in BIOS...MS New Protection against Piracy etc.....
So basically: I had W7 installed, upgraded to W10...rolled back to W7....had probs with 7 and fresh installed W7 about 3 months ago..............then download W10 and instal to a HDD of its own.......and now after doing that CLR CMOS, I have the Activation nagging me.
I Know that when I reinstal W7 from my DVD that it will activate and be offered the upgrade to W10.
So when did my W7 license key become blocked'...when I upgraded to W10 3 month ago?
I hope that I can instal W7 again. I will be hacked off if I have lost use of the license key.

Greetings, kiotii:

I don't mean to add to your problems, but here are a few thoughts:

a) If you have an official Win7 installation CD, the PK should be printed somewhere on the package or PC. In that case, clean-install Win7 and use this PK to (re)activate Win7. This may take some time and you may be asked to try again, but eventually the activation server will recognize the PK as a 'Genuine Windows 7 Product Key'. Now go to Microsoft Download Center and get Service Packs 1 and 2. SP2 contains the 'Upgrade to Windows 10' pop-up that indicates that Win7 is now ready for upgrade.

b) During Windows 10 Setup make sure to select 'Upgrade' and NOT clean/new install. When prompted for a product key, enter the PK from the Win7 installation CD package. This is Microsoft's way of making sure you are in fact eligible for a free Windows 10 upgrade. Once entered, the Win7 PK is then converted to a Win10 PK, which is different from the Win7 PK. Microsoft's activation server then blocks the Win7 PK because, technically, your Win7 doesn't exist anymore.

c) You can't use your Win10 ISO file to create multiple instances of Win10 - for obvious reasons. Unless, of course, you buy matching Win10 PKs. If you want to go back from Win10 to Win7, you need to do this within a month. After that, this option disappears from the Recovery feature in Win10. From then on, you can only roll back to previous versions/builds of Win10.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

GreyCatz
"Once entered, the Win7 PK is then converted to a Win10 PK, which is different from the Win7 PK. Microsoft's activation server then blocks the Win7 PK because, technically, your Win7 doesn't exist anymore."
Is that right!! If my Retail W7 doesn't instal and activate because MS have blocked my License Key (Product Key you call it) then the fecal matter is going to hit the fan. I bought that W7 and I have the right to use it and instal it as and when I like into my computer and if MS think they can walk over my consumer rights in their World Domination of the OS systems available then they are a a fucking Dictatorship.
Giving people 'Free W10' as an upgrade is a pile of bollox if they then wipe out my W7 Product Key. That's not a free upgrade, its cost me the price of my W7 OS DVD. And 10 sux.....the one I have instaklled is as slow as a wet week and riddled with problems....whenever I start my computer I get Chkdsk screen telling me "One of your disks needs to be checked" and it checks drive F which is the drive 10 is installed to and finds hundreds reparse errors... "deleting extended attribute set due to presence of reparse point in file xxx,xxx"
Anyway, I am about to instal W7 in a few hours when I have finised cloning C Drive as a backup from which I can send back to the fresh instal of 7. Nothing other than docs/music/pics/video/ etc

 

[kiotii]

Hi. Have a headache here with W10. About 4-5 weeks ago I downloaded W10 from Windows Downloads, Used the Media Creation Tool to create an ISO, burned that to DVD and installed 10 to a 2TB HDD. All good for a while. I was using W7x64 Ultimate as main System, having Got W10 to use and become accustomed to. Now since about 5 days ago it has a watermark saying 10 requires Activation. 2 days ago I contacted MS and they connected with me on computer Text Message. This is where it becomes ridiculous. I will try to keep it short:
The person I was connected to wanted to connect to my computer remotely, I said no. She then asked for the Product key and version of W10. I said it is Pro version 1511 I think it is and the product key I gave her was the one that I obtained using ShowKeys Plus. I then gave her the W7 key I have and she then proceeded to tell me that the license key is blocked/ that my computer came with preinstalled Windows and I have to contact the manufacturer of my 'Device'...I then began to lose my rag with the MS Employee. I told her that the License key (Product key she called it) is a stock standard key that is going out to the millions who have upgraded from 7/8/8.1 to W10. She persisted telling me that the key is blocked, so I told her if its blocked why am I elegible for upgrade the W7 I have installed from my W7 DVD to W10? I then told her that MS have a record of everypiece of hardware that is inside my computer, right down to the CPU Serial number. And from where did MS get all that info on my computer? From an upgrade from W7 to W10 that I did almost 3 months ago. And that upgrade completed upgrade to W10 of the W7 OS I had installed that she is telling me is Blocked.
I have to buy a W10 license key she said.
I had told her that the PC I have I built myself, that it isnt a 'Today' Windows Preinstalled Lappy. That it came used to me, with WXP SP3 and I replaced the Mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU, Graphics...HDD's.the lot. But she insisted I have to buy a W10 license key.
I again repeated what I had said about my existing W7 has the 'Go Ahead' for a W10 upgrade...and that W7 of mine is according to her, Blocked.
I said I will instal Fresh W7 x 64 Ultimate to another hard drive and get that upgraded to W10. The existing W7 that I have is playing up so its on the way towards obliteration anyway.
Now the W10 I have that has decided to throw up the Needs Activation watermark, that is just recent happening....in fact I hadn't seen it until a few day ago, and I am just thinking this:
about a week ago I was having problems with BIOS not finding HDD's during POST, and I outed the battery and shorted the CLR CMOS pins.............................having cleared the BIOS, have I wiped out the W10 License key that is stored in BIOS...MS New Protection against Piracy etc.....
So basically: I had W7 installed, upgraded to W10...rolled back to W7....had probs with 7 and fresh installed W7 about 3 months ago..............then download W10 and instal to a HDD of its own.......and now after doing that CLR CMOS, I have the Activation nagging me.
I Know that when I reinstal W7 from my DVD that it will activate and be offered the upgrade to W10.
So when did my W7 license key become blocked'...when I upgraded to W10 3 month ago?
I hope that I can instal W7 again. I will be hacked off if I have lost use of the license key.

Greetings, kiotii:

I don't mean to add to your problems, but here are a few thoughts:

a) If you have an official Win7 installation CD, the PK should be printed somewhere on the package or PC. In that case, clean-install Win7 and use this PK to (re)activate Win7. This may take some time and you may be asked to try again, but eventually the activation server will recognize the PK as a 'Genuine Windows 7 Product Key'. Now go to Microsoft Download Center and get Service Packs 1 and 2. SP2 contains the 'Upgrade to Windows 10' pop-up that indicates that Win7 is now ready for upgrade.

b) During Windows 10 Setup make sure to select 'Upgrade' and NOT clean/new install. When prompted for a product key, enter the PK from the Win7 installation CD package. This is Microsoft's way of making sure you are in fact eligible for a free Windows 10 upgrade. Once entered, the Win7 PK is then converted to a Win10 PK, which is different from the Win7 PK. Microsoft's activation server then blocks the Win7 PK because, technically, your Win7 doesn't exist anymore.

c) You can't use your Win10 ISO file to create multiple instances of Win10 - for obvious reasons. Unless, of course, you buy matching Win10 PKs. If you want to go back from Win10 to Win7, you need to do this within a month. After that, this option disappears from the Recovery feature in Win10. From then on, you can only roll back to previous versions/builds of Win10.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

GreyCatz
"Once entered, the Win7 PK is then converted to a Win10 PK, which is different from the Win7 PK. Microsoft's activation server then blocks the Win7 PK because, technically, your Win7 doesn't exist anymore."
Is that right!! If my Retail W7 doesn't instal and activate because MS have blocked my License Key (Product Key you call it) then the fecal matter is going to hit the fan. I bought that W7 and I have the right to use it and instal it as and when I like into my computer and if MS think they can walk over my consumer rights in their World Domination of the OS systems available then they are a a fucking Dictatorship.
Giving people 'Free W10' as an upgrade is a pile of bollox if they then wipe out my W7 Product Key. That's not a free upgrade, its cost me the price of my W7 OS DVD. And 10 sux.....the one I have instaklled is as slow as a wet week and riddled with problems....whenever I start my computer I get Chkdsk screen telling me "One of your disks needs to be checked" and it checks drive F which is the drive 10 is installed to and finds hundreds reparse errors... "deleting extended attribute set due to presence of reparse point in file xxx,xxx"
Anyway, I am about to instal W7 in a few hours when I have finised cloning C Drive as a backup from which I can send back to the fresh instal of 7. Nothing other than docs/music/pics/video/ etc
Free upgrade my butzis...W10 is going to start charging 'Subscriptions' for the use of these new apps that are for our benefit...bollox....it's the bill ya get for being silly enough to accept an invite to a free dinner. No such thing as a free dinner.
And I mean to say for laudy miss claudy's ache...Option in !0 to be a part of the new way to get Windows updates....Agree to be in the Community feed of updates to all and sundry who has W10 installed....frikkin hell...thats as good as P2P sharing and look at the gaping hole for trojans and other things like some unknown hacker sending code disguised in the 'update' and wham bam thank you sucker ya Amex and Diners have now been transferred to a number bank account in Switzerland.
Ha, community feeding each other updates.....ringing bowels of FickleBurgers FleeceBook proper gander goose egg... Anthropological brouhaha

 

[u2desire420]

kiotii
Those errors chkdsk is finding don't sound good! I think your hard drive is failing.

 

[GreyCatz]

Hello, kiotii:

I'm afraid I must maintain that upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 7 will block your Win7 PK, effectively making it non-existent. If you think about, it's not really that unreasonable. You've bought 1 OS, i.e. Windows 7 - a perfectly legitimate OS with a fully genuine PK. Then you decide to use your Win7 to convert to a different, and perhaps better, OS: in this case, Windows 10. You are still the legitimate owner of 1 Windows OS. You can't expect to end up with 2 OSs for the price of 1.

About the 'free upgrade': Usually, upgrading any software, indeed anything in life, entails some fee. Microsoft is no different, except when it comes to Windows 10. Microsoft has decided to dispense with the traditional upgrade fee when converting any Win7 or Win8/8.1 machine to Windows 10. It doesn't mean that 'Windows 10 is free' - because it isn't! You can buy a Windows 10 license for $120, if you want to. It only means that, for example, you don't have to pay for the Media Creation Tool and they don't charge you for removing the watermark.

About your HDD, or CHKDSK issues: This may result from installing/uninstalling Win7 and Win10 repeatedly. I've done this numerous times, and I get CHKDSK messages all the time. I'm not too worried, though - I usually let the system 'do its thing' and after 10-15 minutes, Windows will load as it should. I've been on the Insider Program for a year now, and I still consider Windows 10 'a work in progress', so I'm not using it for anything important - I'm still running Win7 on my main machine, at least untill July 29th.

If you are like me, i.e. someone who likes to mess with hardware, then be advised that uninstalling Win10 and re-installing Win 7 will cause some disruption with the activation server, simply because it has to double-check your credentials. As I mentioned in an earlier post, if you clean-install Win7, the activation server will eventually accept your Win7 PK, but it may take some time. And if you do it several times, like me, the server may need as much as 5 minutes to establish that your Win10 PK is no longer registered on your device, and that your Win7 PK can therefore be reactivated or unblocked.

I hope this made some sense,
GreyCatz.

 

[u2desire420]

I don't know I think it depends on whether his Windows 7 is an OEM install. I upgraded to Windows 10 but had a problem with one of my drives and thinking it was a driver problem did a clean install using my OEM disc (since I used Disk Cleanup and deleted the old Windows installation). Windows 7 was fully activated. It turns out the external Toshiba I had bought no more than 5 months ago had bad sectors on it so I still had the problem in W7. I decided to reinstall W10 so I did a clean install with the DVD I made with the Media Creation tool and Windows 10 activated without needing the key.
So if the W7 you are using is what came with your computer (OEM activated using a SLIC 2.1 key) than what I originally posted should work but you will probably have to do a clean install of W10 and follow the instructions I posted.
I would ask at My Digital Life forums as the people over there know more about this topic.