Upgrade to Win10 using VM possible?

[Flanky]

Hi guys,
as the deadline comes nearer, I am forced to "do something".

I have a few Windows 7 & 8 at home.

2x Win 7 desktop
1x Win 8 laptop
1x New sealed unused retail box Win7 (I will keep and install in any future PCs that I may build)

I am not ready to upgrade all to Win10 today, but I do not want to miss the Free Win10 upgrade...

Thus I'm thinking can I run a copy of VM, use ALL my product keys for Win7 & 8 machines to activate the same copy of VM again and again, and upgrade all to Win10?
In this way, MS will record those Win 7 and 8 OS keys that I have upgraded to Win10 and thus those Win 7/8 keys will still be entitled to Win10 right?
So that next time, when I want to upgrade those versions in the physical computer, I can still upgrade right?

Anyone knows or can advise a faster/ better way?

 

[Flanky]

anyone knows/ tried before?

 

[ykgoh]

Probably no one has tried before. However, I do see some complications.

In theory, when you do the upgrade using a VM, during the Windows activation process, Windows will gather data about your hardware specifications and this will bind your product key usage to your VM's hardware specifications.

This will likely cause Windows Activation to not recognise your system when you reinstall on a real physical system. It may in fact mistake it as an attempt to re-use the license key on another system.

As much as I would like to give a clear answer, the specific details of how Windows Activation works and how much and when it checks (or doesn't check) the system is unknown.

I am not sure if you can choose to do an upgrade and get a Windows 10 license key generated on Microsoft's server, and yet skip the activation for the VM. Perhaps someone can advise.

You can read more about Windows 10 activation here:

• INSTALLING WINDOWS 10 AGAIN ALREADY? YOU CAN SKIP ACTIVATION
• Microsoft quietly rewrites its activation rules for Windows 10
• You Don’t Need a Product Key to Install and Use Windows 10

 

[ngbc]

When you upgrade an existing Windows 7 or 8.1 machine to Windows 10 it is registered with Microsoft and is assigned a unique hardware ID (HWID) and issue that particular machine a Digital Entitlement* License. So your "New sealed unused retail box Win7" will not be entitled to free Win 10 license after 29-Jul-2016.

I never try but there was thread in reddit.com on pre-activating pre-activate your Win7/8 systems for Windows 10 with VHD.. you may want to test on one system (using win 7 key) first and verify by actually install Win 10 on that system again (w/o key) to see if it activate!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/...o_preactivate_your_win78_systems_for_windows/

 

[Flanky]

thanks for this link. wah. just a few days more to try this out.
have 3-4 keys to "upgrade"

 

[revogsx]

thanks for this link. wah. just a few days more to try this out.
have 3-4 keys to "upgrade"

like what other said, you cannot upgrade the keys alone. You need to upgrade the keys + hardware associated with it.

Maybe what you can do is
1. Upgrade some desktop to windows 10.
2. then rollback to windows 7 (windows 10 allows you to rollback)

 

[Flanky]

like what other said, you cannot upgrade the keys alone. You need to upgrade the keys + hardware associated with it.

Maybe what you can do is
1. Upgrade some desktop to windows 10.
2. then rollback to windows 7 (windows 10 allows you to rollback)

ya. thing is i only have 2 pc, but have 4 keys...

 

[SecretAgent]

I got the same problem too... I got an additional win7... but my laptops are both on win10 already... I still wanna win7 to be able to go win10 when I build a desktop rig later on...

 

[Flanky]

I got the same problem too... I got an additional win7... but my laptops are both on win10 already... I still wanna win7 to be able to go win10 when I build a desktop rig later on...

how ah? when u have solution must share okie!

 

[Kiwi8]

I want to know too.

I used to have a 3rd system but now broken down. I have a Windows 8 key that I wish to upgrade to Windows 10 too.

 

[Pokémon]

Take note that Windows 10 is tied to your computer’s specific hardware (particularly the mainboard), not your Microsoft account nor the CD Key.

Running on VM and activating it on the same machine, may not necessarily mean your hardware is tied to it. Maybe someone can try and let us know how it goes.

Microsoft will be releasing the Windows 10 Anniversary Update on 2nd August 2016.