Win10 Licencing Conundrum

[tecwhizz]

I am looking to upgrade my CPU from an ancient i5-3330 to a more swanky i7-6700K. Now, this entails both changing the CPU and the motherboard.

I am currently running Win7 using a licence acquired through a complex pathway. I purchased a laptop in 2007 which had an OEM version of Vista Home on it. I used this OEM licence to obtain a student version of the Win7 Ultimate upgrade around about 2011. A couple of years later I built a new PC and using a activation quirk (Shoosh! Don't tell Microsoft...) I managed to use my old licence on the new machine. Fast forward to now and I want to move up to the whizzy heights of Win10 using that free upgrade offer.

The information surrounding that offer is decidedly sketchy vis-á-vis my rights when changing the MoBo or other integral components. My question is this, would I be able to take up the Win10 offer now and then simply swap out my MoBo later and reactivate. The information of the web is conflicting, but most sources suggest that if I upgraded from a retail licence then I would be able to use the Win10 upgrade similarly.

My understanding is different, in that I believe all that MS give you is a version of Win10 which can be used on that computer only and is not perpetual, and hence it would not be utilisable on a new PC. It appears that the licence is single use only and does not affect the previous licence, contrary to popular opinion.

Now, I know that I can just upgrade the MoBo and get Win10 later and hence this could be construed as purely academical, however I want to know in the long run how this situation will pan out. Is an upgrade licence considered retail or OEM, and hence what are my rights considering moving machines. This has been poorly explained as there are many people who think that this affects their licence, and so this leads to a lot of completely useless articles on the net which do not help to explain how this whole system works!

Thanks for reading this far, I appreciate I am a repeat offender when it comes to laboriously long posts and I think it is just getting worse!

TL;DR
I want to change my CPU and MoBo, and was wanting to know what terms I would be held under when using the free upgrade offer with an Upgrade licence for Win7.

Thanks.
Tom

 

[digitaldoc]

At this point, you will need a new copy of Windows. To Microsoft, new motherboard = new computer.

 

[USAFRet]

My question is this, would I be able to take up the Win10 offer now and then simply swap out my MoBo later and reactivate.

Maybe, and this would probably involve a call to MS. Either the phone robot or to a human.

Technically, the Win 10 Upgrade is 'for the life of that device'
Device = the motherboard, in MicrosoftLand.

TL-DR - Maybe.


Best way forward? Change the hardware, get the OS activated, run the existing updates for the existing OS and then Upgrade to Win 10.

 

[USAFRet]

A couple of years later I built a new PC and using a activation quirk (Shoosh! Don't tell Microsoft...)

This dictates purchasing an actual new OS.

 

[COLGeek]

Did you use an activator (activation quirk) to move Win 7 to your new machine or did you perform a manual activation (called MS and activated over the phone)?

If an activator, you won't be able to upgrade to Win 10.

If you upgrade now and then swap your mobo, be prepared for pain with MS. You'll have to deal with MS on the phone as the free upgrade is tied to the motherboard of the system it is installed to (like an OEM license of sorts).

Please clarify your activation quirk.

 

[tecwhizz]

Hi COLGeek,

I actually installed Win7 once, then installed it again using the upgrade option and then dropped my key into the box and it worked like a charm.

To everyone else, thanks for the advice and USAFRet, I am obviously going to do that, but the information is a bit unclear and so I am info gathering right now.