I downloaded the iso on a work machine with a fast connection as my home adls sucks balls. Stuck it on a usb stick, but can't seem to get past the requirement for a product key, and my 7 key doesn't do it. What have I done wrong here, this was supposed to be a free upgrade wasn't it?
Have tried running both from within 7 (x64 pro) and booting from installation media.
Cheers.
Hello 4lex, and welcome to windowssh blog.
Did you do the upgrade to Windows 10 from within your activated Windows 7?
Can I reinstall Windows 10 on my computer after upgrading with free upgrade?
Once you’ve upgraded to Windows 10 using the free upgrade offer or Media Creation Tool on an activated Windows 7 or 8.1 PC, you will be able to reinstall, including a clean install, on the same device. You won’t need a product key for re-activations on the same hardware. If you make a meaningful change to your hardware, you may need to contact customer support to help with activation. You’ll also be able to create your own installation media like a USB drive or DVD, and use that to upgrade your device or reinstall after you’ve upgraded.
Hello Brink. Thanks for the reply. I did launch setup from the USB stick from within activated 7, but no choice was offered to upgrade or otherwise prior to the request for the key, and my win7 isn't accepted there of course
Double check using the tutorial below to see if you may have clean installed instead of upgrade.
Windows 10 - Upgrade Installation
I haven't been able to do an install at all. I run setup, get the option to check for updates, and the next windows demands a key - that's running from within activated 7. If i run booting from install media and choose upgrade it tells me to start windows normally and try again.
Ah. but windows update must be running, which it isn't. Thanks for the link, hopefully that's it
If you haven't already, see if you may be able to use step 3 above in your activated 7.
Windows 10 - Upgrade Installation
Not clear if this is going to fix it, but what is clear is it's not a good idea to turn on windows update on a six year old installation of win7. Haven't needed gigs of updates in all those years, why would I want them now!
Not having those updates could be the issue as well.
Please let us know how it went with using step 3 if you wanted to try.
step3 meaning using MS download tool to get the ISO and apply to a usb stick, is exactly what I did. Get to step ten, then it demands a key. 7 is definitely correctly and legally activated, but it doesn't have any updates, so I guess that *could* be the installer's beef.
