How to clean install Windows 10 from a USB drive

[DanceswithUnix]

"In order to take advantage of the free upgrade offer and clean install Windows 10, you first need to carry out an in-place upgrade to Windows 10 from a genuine copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1."

I don't think this is valid. I used the tool right away for upgrading and got an activated Windows 10 version running. I DID NOT use the in-place upgrade method. I used the tool.

But you used the tool to do an in place upgrade I presume?

That is what I am doing, but on an E350 netbook it takes a long time

[3dcandy]

Use the tool to do an upgrade and you get an activated Windows....when the activation server can cope

[azrael-]

So far, everyone that's reported doing an in-place upgrade, vs a clean install, has said that it's activated automatically. So the answer would seem to be, you need to do nothing.

If I'm not mistaken he's asking something like this: PC A has a retail Windows 7. PC A is upgraded to Windows 10. PC A is replaced by PC B and Windows 10 is installed on it. Will it too be activated? Or has the retail Windows 7 license now been downgraded to an OEM Windows 10 license in that it will only activate on PC A? AFAIK noone has really answered that question yet.

[mjgr33n]

So far, everyone that's reported doing an in-place upgrade, vs a clean install, has said that it's activated automatically. So the answer would seem to be, you need to do nothing.

If I'm not mistaken he's asking something like this: PC A has a retail Windows 7. PC A is upgraded to Windows 10. PC A is replaced by PC B and Windows 10 is installed on it. Will it too be activated? Or has the retail Windows 7 license now been downgraded to an OEM Windows 10 license in that it will only activate on PC A? AFAIK noone has really answered that question yet.

The only thing the upgrade process does is detect if you have a valid activated win 7 or win 8 OS and if you do it records your hardware details against the generic win 10 key, there is no key to transfer.

If you reinstall then it activates against the hardware recorded and the generic key again.

If you swap any hardware it is fine other than the motherboard, if you swap the board and it is within the year free upgrade period then theoretically you can re-install your old OS with your old key, transfer your key over that way and then upgrade with win 10 afterwards.

But after that year is up, your win 10 license will only activate on the motherboard you upgraded with, you could still install your old OS though on a new board if anything went wrong but not upgrade any more.

The scenario where you can easily transfer a license between pc's after that period would only be if you bought a Windows 10 retail license.

Microsoft have published most of this information in there Win 10 FAQ's and Gabriel Aul mentioned the rest about the hardware swaps and what will and won't require re-activation in his blogs etc.

[GuidoLS]

If I'm not mistaken he's asking something like this: PC A has a retail Windows 7. PC A is upgraded to Windows 10. PC A is replaced by PC B and Windows 10 is installed on it. Will it too be activated? Or has the retail Windows 7 license now been downgraded to an OEM Windows 10 license in that it will only activate on PC A? AFAIK noone has really answered that question yet.

Of course it's been answered - multiple times. You can move the retail key around as much as you want, as long as you only use it on one machine at a time. It doesn't matter if it's OEM or retail - a key can only be active on one machine at a time. There is no de-activation. If you move a retail key to another machine, you either replace the key that was on the original machine, or you shut it down until you do. There's no in between there.

As for the question of will it activate on 2 (or more) machines at the same time? Supposedly, the activation servers are very good at catching that now, and have been since Win8 was introduced. My guess would be no. I've run in to issues doing it in a shop, decommissioning the first machine and moving it to a new machine, using Windows 7, simply because it was initially installed on the first machine less than 90 days earlier, and had to do the phone activation route. You'll excuse me if I don't experiment on my personal machine(s).

[DDY]

So far, everyone that's reported doing an in-place upgrade, vs a clean install, has said that it's activated automatically. So the answer would seem to be, you need to do nothing.

I'm not sure you've understood my question. Surely I can't just install Win 10 on a completely different machine from the one I've done an in-place upgrade, and expect it to just activate? Surely I'd need to enter a product key somewhere?

[DanceswithUnix]

I'm not sure you've understood my question. Surely I can't just install Win 10 on a completely different machine from the one I've done an in-place upgrade, and expect it to just activate? Surely I'd need to enter a product key somewhere?

I assume you would have to do a Windows 7 install on that other machine, and upgrade it to get the hardware identified on the Microsoft servers. That is a guess, but I can't see how it would work otherwise.

[GuidoLS]

I'm not sure you've understood my question. Surely I can't just install Win 10 on a completely different machine from the one I've done an in-place upgrade, and expect it to just activate? Surely I'd need to enter a product key somewhere?

I understood your question just fine. The people I've seen on Hexus who said that s/he entered a key also stated it didn't work - those being Jonj1611 & Lil-Diabo. Those that did an in-place upgrade had an activated Win10 at the end of the process. I'm not sure what happened with Stevie Lee's system, as he is the first person I've seen doing an update from an extracted ISO to HD.

For those that tried using the clean install from the start, and got "Error code: 0xC004C003. Activation server determined that the key has been blocked", pull up an administrator command line (OMG DOS) and type the following command:

slmgr.vbs /ato

You may have to do this a few times, as the activation servers got slammed hard today (over 14 million upgrades went through on day 1. That's roughly 162 per second for those doing the math - Source).

As an FYI to everyone, neither Speccy nor Magic Jellybean are returning the actual license key that's generated. They're posting a generic code that everyone seems to be getting (VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T). This is NOT your Win10 key. I'll post a VBS script that returns the actual key in its own thread so more people can find it. Can you use this key to activate another machine? I don't know, and I'm not apt to test it. I'm not going to say your usage is unique, but it does seem a bit unusual...

[Corky34]

over 14 million upgrades went through on day 1

Only 986 million to go before they reach their goal.

[Lil-Diabo]

I'm just thinking, wouldn't it be a bit easier to just use the reset feature in Windows 10?

[KeyboardDemon]

Thanks guys, that's a nice little project for me this weekend.

[Jonj1611]

I'm just thinking, wouldn't it be a bit easier to just use the reset feature in Windows 10?

I did that and lost my entire boot partition! Had to reinstall Win 8 then Win 10 again, but it was a pretty clean install as when I installed Win 8 I had to format the drive etc anyway

[leejay_1145]

I had a chat conversation on one of the Microsoft help desk. and he said that the windows 10 validates the license on the base o.s of the machine so you can't do a clean installation of windows 10.. if you do the clean installation it will remove everything in your drive so windows 10 has nothing to validate instead it will ask a product key.. I told him the procedure of upgrading first until windows 10 recognize the device as license then do the clean installation. he said the it won't works.
what can you say about that?

[MrFawlty]

Just do what I said. Use the tool to create a USB drive, then run it from within windows. When it asks what you want to keep, just choose 'nothing' - you will then have a clean, fresh activated install. Simple

[DDY]

I understood your question just fine. The people I've seen on Hexus who said that s/he entered a key also stated it didn't work - those being Jonj1611 & Lil-Diabo. Those that did an in-place upgrade had an activated Win10 at the end of the process. I'm not sure what happened with Stevie Lee's system, as he is the first person I've seen doing an update from an extracted ISO to HD.

For those that tried using the clean install from the start, and got "Error code: 0xC004C003. Activation server determined that the key has been blocked", pull up an administrator command line (OMG DOS) and type the following command:

slmgr.vbs /ato

You may have to do this a few times, as the activation servers got slammed hard today (over 14 million upgrades went through on day 1. That's roughly 162 per second for those doing the math - Source).

As an FYI to everyone, neither Speccy nor Magic Jellybean are returning the actual license key that's generated. They're posting a generic code that everyone seems to be getting (VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T). This is NOT your Win10 key. I'll post a VBS script that returns the actual key in its own thread so more people can find it. Can you use this key to activate another machine? I don't know, and I'm not apt to test it. I'm not going to say your usage is unique, but it does seem a bit unusual...

I wouldn't say my usage is unusual, in fact I'd say on a forum like this, where re-installing Windows after a major system upgrade which in licencing terms would constitute a different machine, is fairly frequent.

So back to my original question, which to be fair you first answered "do nothing" which is what lead me to believe you've misunderstood my question.

I've got a number of Win 7 and 8 retail licences which I transfer between machines, how would I go about transferring the activation after doing an in-place upgrade?

[Gunbuster]

Am I right in saying that if I upgrade from a retail Windows 7 install, my replacement Windows 10 install is now single system? ie if I upgrade later I need a new license?