Reminder if you are late on the bandwagon...

[Rudi]

This is how I understand it...

If you have created a flash drive or DVD with the ISO files for Win 10 (using the Media Creation Tool), you can upgrade any PC that has a legitimate copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 (not Windows 8 - here you first need to upgraded to Windows 8.1); iow you must have a valid licence key that you can either manually type in during the Win10 installation, or that Win10 can extract from the old OS after installation. Upgrading any non-legit copy will fail as you or the OS will not be able to pass the licence key to Win 10 during or after the install. In this case Win 10 will not activate.

Also, you will be able to upgrade/clean install at any time; before or after 29 July 2016.

I have read material that indicates that one can also clean install (not upgrade) if you want to avoid an upgrade or if you have a new PC and want to get rid of bloatware from the manufacturer. I'm not sure if there is additional things to be aware of if you clean install, so others can chip in here too....

( if anything I has said id inaccurate, please correct me. TX )

[viking33]

I'm not Rudi, but I think the answer to your question is that the free upgrade options expires on the 29th of this month. Because of that, I plan to install a dual boot version of Win10 and activate it but use the Win7 boot partition until I feel more secure with Win 10.

Perhaps JoeP, Viking Bob, Rudi, Hans or others will chime in here and correct my misapprehensions.

I think your plan is perfectly legit, Bob. You mention no plans to do this on a second system nor do I. I have both Win 7 and 10 running dual boot and both are accepted by MS and happily activated.
As I mentioned before, I still use 7 regularly and go into 10 only when I feel the rare urge to do so. I accept Microsoft for what it is but am definitely not a slave to it's dictates.

[BobH]

Thanks for the info, Rudi!

I'm still taking mind-altering drugs for back pain; so I'm not ready to attack a dual boot Win10 yet, but I hope to do so before the 29th instant.

[JoeP]

Please note that if you wish to get the free upgrade you MUST do that before July 29. Once you have SUCCESSFULLY upgraded you may roll back to the prior OS and then re-upgrade at a later date (even past July 29).

Joe

[kdock]

Ah! That's my missing link. Thanks Joe.

[GeekGirlInFurs]

If you really want to go to Win 10, this is one of many places to DL an ISO copy.

Have Fun!

Thanks for this link.

I am running plain Windows 8.1, not Pro. After downloading and running the W10 Media Creation Tool, then selecting "Create installation media for another PC," the only options I have are for Windows 10, Windows 10 Home Single Language, and Windows 10 N. None of these indicate Pro. Is that because I am not already on a Pro version of Windows? Or is is because there is only one ISO/installation dl for all versions of W10 and the final version will depend on the serial number? (Note: I've unchecked the "Use the recommended options for this PC" option, which enabled the dropdown boxes giving gave me access to all the available options, none of which indicated a Pro version of W10.)

What I'd like to be able to do is a CLEAN install from an ISO (or USB, if need be) on the basis of a W8.1 Pro installation that is NOT YET installed on the current computer, but which I have already acquired an ISO for.

I hope the above makes sense. :-)

Thanks!

[HansV]

As mentioned before, you cannot upgrade directly from Windows 8.1 Home to Windows 10 Pro. This holds even if you have an ISO file that might install Windows 10 Pro.

If you have an ISO for Windows 8.1 Pro and a license key for it, you should install Windows 8.1 Pro first, then upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.

[GeekGirlInFurs]

Thanks for the reply. I understand that, and have already gotten a W8.1 ISO that I'll install before attempting a W10 Pro upgrade (assuming that's what I decide to do.)

But right now, I'm simply trying to download a W10 Pro ISO, so that I have it ready later, AFTER I've installed W8.1 Pro.

Is that also not possible?

[JoeP]

See Windows 10 Tech Bench Upgrade Program.

The version named "Windows 10" is valid for both Win10 Home & Win10 Pro. It depends on the product key entered at install time.

[StuartR]

This weekend I backed up my Windows 7 laptop using Acronis True Image, upgraded to Windows 10 Pro, ran Windows 10 for 24 hours, backed up the Windows 10 software and then restored the Windows 7 image.

Now I have the option of moving to Windows 10 any time I need to by just restoring the Acronis image.

[Rudi]

Nifty, but when you eventually decide to go to Win10, will you be able to merge the changes you made on the Win7 image, onto the Win10 image?

[StuartR]

If I ever decide to move to Windows 10 then I guess I will have to update my applications as well to match whatever I had done to Windows 7. My OS partition does not include any of my data.

[PaulB]

My OS partition does not include any of my data.

Does this mean you have moved the user data stored in your user profile (or parts of it) off the C drive? If so, was this a manual move or is there a built-in facility to do this?

[StuartR]

No, the user profile is still on the C drive, but I don't expect that to be a problem. I can't imagine that there is much in there that changes, and that I would need to keep.

[GeekGirlInFurs]

Hi. Thanks again for the info in this thread. I've hit a snag, and am hoping for some guidance, and/or confirmation of what seems to be going on.

- My laptop was originally plain Windows 8.1.
- I purchased a product key for W8.1 Pro and successfully upgraded that without any problems.
- I used a W10 Pro ISO and successfully upgraded W8.1 Pro to W10 Pro -- this was an upgrade that kept all settings, etc; not a clean install. So far, so good.

- I then created a Macrium Reflect image of W10 Pro, then successfully rolled back to W8.1 Pro from another Macrium image. No problem.

- I then booted from the W10 Pro ISO to do a custom clean install of W10 Pro. When this completed (taking about 2 hours!) when I signed in, the version was W10 HOME. That's the snag.

I went to the system page, clicked Activate Windows, then clicked "Change product key." When I put in the product key for W8.1 Pro, it tells me: "You are running Windows 10 Home. The product key you entered cannot be used to activate this edition." Though it doesn't actually specify what "this edition" refers to.

I more or less can see what happened: The install process got the edition from the original base edition of the laptop (even though it could easily have looked to see that the version it was overwriting and moving to "Windows.old" was an activated Pro version; or checked its servers to see the hardware's Pro entitlement.) But if the product key (which is my "proof" of W8.1 Pro ownership) was enough to upgrade 8.1 to Pro, and that was enough to upgrade to W10 Pro, why wouldn't that same key let me upgrade a W10 Home entitlement to W10 Pro?

Is the answer as simple as: Just because. We don't care. We don't have to.

Is there any way around this other than a whole new series of rollbacks, images, installs, images, and further rollbacks?

All insight appreciated.

[StuartR]

...Is there any way around this other than a whole new series of rollbacks, images, installs, images, and further rollbacks?

That would be my suggested approach.

[GeekGirlInFurs]

Right. That's what I'm now in the middle of doing.

Given that I'm working with a laptop that started with plain 8.1 was upgraded to 8.1 Pro, would it be possible for me to create a dual boot with both W8.1 Pro and W10 Pro?

It seems that to get from an upgraded 8.1 Pro to 10 Pro, I need to run the 10 Pro installation from inside 8 Pro, rather than booting into it. Going through this now, I'm given options for what to keep, and and am now choosing to keep nothing for a clean install. But is there any way to specify where to install it?

Thank you.

[BobH]

Pleased to report that I now have a multi-boot system with WIn7 on an SSD, WIn7 on an HDD and WIn10 on an HDD.

The WIn10 install is thanks to my SIL who came by last night and did the necessaries. I've been so addle brained lately with complications from a plethora of drugs and a suspected adverse interaction - as yet undetermined, unresolved - that I don't trust myself to do much more than read.

I haven't got WI10 fully functional with all my software yet, but I do have it working and Firefox installed there. Next step is to get my password manager and its files over and I should be able to post from that OS, too.

[BobH]

Coming to you live from the Metropolis of Microsoft atop the 10 Windows sky-rise resort hotel with the assistance of Firefox . . .

[HansV]

Congrats on installing Windows 10!