The offer of a 'free' update or upgrade to W10 has understandably caused quite a stir. I can think of a few questions I would need answers to before committing to the decision.
1/ Unless a "clean install option" from an ISO was available then I almost certainly would not be interested. Its clean install or nothing.
2/ I have a retail version of W8.1 Would accepting the W10 offer render the W8.1 licence invalid. That is to say, if W10 didn't suit, could I revert to my paid for W8.1 copy again.
3/ What is the end of life period for W10 compared to W8.1. Will MS deliberately bring forward W8.1's end date with regard to updates.
For those that have paid for W8.1 or W8 but have an OEM version lurking somewhere of say W7 then it would make sense to revert back to your original OS and 'free up' your 8.1 license to use on another PC as desired. You paid for it... its yours to do with as you wish.
1. I bet that you will be able to get an ISO for Win10. Either by creating one from the ESD file when you upgrade from Win8.1 or you can purchase one. When I did updates for Win10TP I was able to easily create an ISO and I hope I can with the final.
2. From my understanding your key for Win8.1 should be valid even if you upgrade.
Jeff
Hi there
The old keys of your previous OS are STILL valid even after an upgrade. (Tested with a VISTA re-install --activation just fine). They would HAVE to be - if they weren't and for whatever reason your upgrade failed you'd be left without a working computer.
Ms certainly wouldn't want to get into those sorts of problems.
In any case ALWAYS TAKE BACKUPS - especially before doing major things like upgrading an OS.
Cheers
jimbo
Most of the talk has been pointing towards upgrade to replace an prior os via the windows update system downloading a tool box so I've read,
An iso hasn't been discussed much because that would be considered a oem/ retail version not quite a upgrade so those usually come later in the release process and a separate activation key,
Microsoft goal would be to replace a prior os "Upgrade"
Those prior os's could be restored using a system image and recovery disk at the time creating the system image,
But yes it's way too early to upgrade a prior os unless you can create the media or reinstall the prior os,
Best way to test is either using a totally separate ssd or hdd or using 8.1's hyper-v features to test win-10 in
Or use VMware
There's still allot of time to decide a year after 10 has gone full version and not a customer preview.. which is about October 2015,
Cheers.
OEM installs of Windows 7 and earlier use master Product Codes for each OEM. For example every PC from manufacturer X with Windows 7 Home Premium has the same master key. Microsoft can't block that key. If they did hundreds of thousands of PC's would all suddenly show as pirated. If you use a keyfinder you'll see that the key on the sticker doesn't match the one in use on the PC. Not unless you've done a clean install and used the code on the sticker manually. Those OEM PC's don't activate online either, not from the factory anyway. If you clean install with the code on COA sticker they will though. Windows 8 and OA 3.0 changed all that. now each PC has its own code and they all activate online, even OEM installs.Hi there
The old keys of your previous OS are STILL valid even after an upgrade. (Tested with a VISTA re-install --activation just fine). They would HAVE to be - if they weren't and for whatever reason your upgrade failed you'd be left without a working computer.
Ms certainly wouldn't want to get into those sorts of problems.
In any case ALWAYS TAKE BACKUPS - especially before doing major things like upgrading an OS.
Cheers
jimbo
Thanks for your thoughts on all this... I'm reading with interest. The bits about the license keys make sense
I believe this tutorial would be a good read,
Doing it at this early stage is the only question mark = is it worth the trouble doing it with technical or customer previews or not ?
Cheers.
I read somewhere that previews will be upgradable to RTM - unlike previous releases. I do prefer clean installs though.
One thing they could do is code the Windows 10 ISO to accept Windows 8 and 8.1 keys. Right now the 8.1 ISO will install with and activate with 8.0 and 8.1 keys, even OEM embedded keys. I'm running 8.1 Pro on my desktop that I installed using one of my TechNet 8.0 pro keys. On my laptop that came with 8.0 Core, 8.1 Core gets installed automatically using the OEM 8.0 key. Activates online with no issues. These are the 8.1 ISO's that include update 3. That would make life easy for anyone having to do, or wanting to do a clean install of 10.
I agree the clean install is preferred by me as well I don't care what happens to 8.1 it pained me to reload that mess again on a perfectly good ssd
Allowing a prior qualified oem key would be nice to activate 10 with but I doubt it will happen way too straight forward of thinking
