Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro

[shopper150]

Is the above free upgrade route still available, if so, is there an easy how to I can follow?

Also, once upgraded to Win 10 Pro, if I want to install a replacement main SSD, how do I get the license key for a fresh install?

[stevoknevo]

Still works according to the article below - I had planned to do it for my FiL recently but he had to shoot off, planning to do W10/ram/SSD upgrade over the holidays. You download the media creation tool and ISO from Microsoft on to a USB drive and install. Activation key is tied to BIOS now, I fitted an SSD on our PC in August with no issues.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-st...

[buggalugs]

It just works, and once you’ve done the upgrade once you can do a clean install later with no key and it will just magically activate its self.

[anonymous-user]

I upgraded my win7 laptop to win10 for free last week using the windows tools on the Microsoft website, as listed in your article.

I did update this pc option, but also downloaded the iso file and burned that to dvd so i can clean install if i need to.

I also started a chat with MS support and asked for the link to the Win7 ISO file, should i wish to reinstall win7 if i had a problem. Got that straight away.

The win7 ISO file is too big for a standard dvd, so i had to buy a 8gb dual level dvd to burn that.

Had a couple of issues, first the sound didnt work, that was because my HP laptop used beats audio. To fix that i just downloaded the win10 beats audio drivers after removing the generic sound drivers and it worked a treat.

Second issue was the realtec bluetooth device in my laptop isnt supported in win10, so i bought a usb bluetooth dongle for £5 and that fixed that issue.

If you want to find your windows licence number, there are applications you can use that will trawl your system and retrieve it. The label on my laptop had worn away so i couldnt read it. I didnt need it during update, but i thought its worth noting just in case.

[shopper150]

Wow, thanks. How things have changed. I remember the pain of not being able to reinstall OEM versions of windows and license key stickers that had worn away etc.

[Penelope Stopit]

jsf said:

I upgraded my win7 laptop to win10 for free last week using the windows tools on the Microsoft website, as listed in your article.

I did update this pc option, but also downloaded the iso file and burned that to dvd so i can clean install if i need to.

I also started a chat with MS support and asked for the link to the Win7 ISO file, should i wish to reinstall win7 if i had a problem. Got that straight away.

The win7 ISO file is too big for a standard dvd, so i had to buy a 8gb dual level dvd to burn that.

Had a couple of issues, first the sound didnt work, that was because my HP laptop used beats audio. To fix that i just downloaded the win10 beats audio drivers after removing the generic sound drivers and it worked a treat.

Second issue was the realtec bluetooth device in my laptop isnt supported in win10, so i bought a usb bluetooth dongle for £5 and that fixed that issue.

If you want to find your windows licence number, there are applications you can use that will trawl your system and retrieve it. The label on my laptop had worn away so i couldnt read it. I didnt need it during update, but i thought its worth noting just in case.

The ISO image can be written to a bootable USB

Used to often install OS's from DVD's, not anymore, USB installs are good

[Penelope Stopit]

shopper150 said:

Is the above free upgrade route still available, if so, is there an easy how to I can follow?

Also, once upgraded to Win 10 Pro, if I want to install a replacement main SSD, how do I get the license key for a fresh install?

Check that all the drivers for Windows 10 are at the manufacturers website before going any further

[anonymous-user]

shopper150 said:

Wow, thanks. How things have changed. I remember the pain of not being able to reinstall OEM versions of windows and license key stickers that had worn away etc.

Great wasn't it!

I use this to get the info on my laptop, it's very detailed. https://www.belarc.com/products_belarc_advisor

[anonymous-user]

Penelope Stopit said:

The ISO image can be written to a bootable USB

Used to often install OS's from DVD's, not anymore, USB installs are good

I am old school, will probably buy a USB and have that on standby too, thanks.

[Penelope Stopit]

jsf said:

I am old school, will probably buy a USB and have that on standby too, thanks.

Should you decide to have a play this https://www.balena.io/etcher/ creates the bootable usb and writes the ISO to it, all good, nice and simple

[anonymous-user]

Penelope Stopit said:

Should you decide to have a play this https://www.balena.io/etcher/ creates the bootable usb and writes the ISO to it, all good, nice and simple

Thanks.

[_Hoppers]

I was about to drop £100 or so quid on a Windows 10 licence but found this thread! Upgrade seems to have worked ok

[OlonMusky]

I tried upgrading one of my full Win7 Pro licences to Win10 Pro in a VM to see if it works and it did. It is just a shame that unlike Win7 the Win10 licence is tied to "hardware", meaning, if I wanted to install/use this licence in a different scenario it won't see it as Win10 Pro, unless I go through Win7 -> upgrade to Win10 again (not even sure if this would be possible).

[shopper150]

OlonMusky said:

I tried upgrading one of my full Win7 Pro licences to Win10 Pro in a VM to see if it works and it did. It is just a shame that unlike Win7 the Win10 licence is tied to "hardware", meaning, if I wanted to install/use this licence in a different scenario it won't see it as Win10 Pro, unless I go through Win7 -> upgrade to Win10 again (not even sure if this would be possible).

You can use the license key from Win7 Pro and when installing Win10 Pro on another machine I think you can activate it using the Win7 Pro key.

[FourWheelDrift]

shopper150 said:

You can use the license key from Win7 Pro and when installing Win10 Pro on another machine I think you can activate it using the Win7 Pro key.

Yes, I upgraded from 7 to 10 and despite it being "digitally licensed to my account" when I upgraded my motherboard and CPU just before Christmas it refused to reactivate despite doing the usual troubleshooting route, so having made a note of my Win7 key some time ago I dug it out and used it to reactivate my windows 10.

[OlonMusky]

shopper150 said:

You can use the license key from Win7 Pro and when installing Win10 Pro on another machine I think you can activate it using the Win7 Pro key.

Hmmm, I might give it a try then. I remember back in 2015 when they run the Win10 launch with free upgrade, I upgraded one Win7 Pro licence to Win10 Pro just to see how it looks and then nuked it. When I tried installing Win10 Pro (fresh install) using that key 2 years later it didn't recognise it.

[Bibbs]

I did this on an old Macbook, but the graphics drivers were in Win7 but not compatable with Win10, and no Win10 drivers.

Had to roll back to Win7 to stop YouTube screen tearing, and random green boxes.

(and strangely, the SD card slot had similar issues).

Solved it all by buying a Surface Book.