Windows 10 Fresh Install from Windows xp

[doneyu]

I know that I can use windows 10 on my computer, which I call "The Beast". (The Beast has a 32 bit processor) I only have one windows 7 key that I had activated before I upgraded to windows 10. Can I use it to activate windows 7, get all updates for windows 7 home edition, and then upgrade to windows 10 32 bit? Thanks,
doneyu

 

[little_me]

You have one windows 7 home license. You've activated it on a computer (not "the beast" I assume) and then upgraded it to windows 10.
I am pretty sure you will run into problems at latest when you upgrade the second computer ("the beast") to windows 10 and it tries to activate itself.
*edit* this is most likely what will happen since most computers come with OEM licenses which are already tied to the computer hardware and will not activate on separate hardware. So you might be able to install win7 on the computer but said windows 7 wont activate and thus upgrading to 10 will be impossible.

The reason for this would be that while upgrade to 10 is free for windows 7 users, Microsoft doesn't want anyone to use same license on two machines at once (it needs two licenses, one for each) and thus, one upgraded to windows 10 install will most likely fail to activate.

If you have only one computer that you upgraded to windows 10 before, reinstalling 7 is pointless if you want to reinstall windows 10.
windows 10 has "reset computer" option and even if there was not, you can download windows 10 media creation tool for free:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

in short, windows 10 media is free, license is not. (it is more or less tied to the earlier "upgraded from 7 or 8" license)

DL;DR
nope, you need separate license for both machines.

 

[doneyu]

I bought windows 10. I know how to use it. I need to do a clean install. All I need to do is to make the usb work, which it isn't. Can someone help me with that? I can't seem to get the usb to be noticed on my newer computer, and only "The Beast" notices it. When i try to boot it on windows xp, it says that it's not a valid win 32 program. What is worse, is when I try it with my main computer, I get a problem saying that I can't start the "Upgrade" because my windows 10 copy is 64 bit, not 32 bit.

 

[little_me]

so.. you have windows 10, 32 bit or 64 bit on the usb drive? If the windows on usb is 64 bit, you cannot install it on "the beast" since it's processor understands only 32 bits. (hence "not valid win 32 program")
Same problem appears on the main computer since you most likely have windows 10 32 bit on it and the media is 64 bit or other way around.
or.. it might be that the data on USB is somehow corrupted, which is less likely.

Problem with older computer might be that it doesn't necessarily know how to boot from usb though. If the media is 32 bit, you should still be able to run it from within XP and choose clean install to proceed.
Thus you should be able to do it from either the usb or with the media creation tool linked above as long as you have suitable architechture selected (32 or 64 bit)

so.. verify that the media you have has correct archetechture, if it is wrong, you can re-do it with the media creation tool. (choose create installation media for another computer)

 

[doneyu]

my main computer is 64 bit. when I put the usb on "the Beast", I get a "windows failed to start, and I get some error codes.

 

[little_me]

I would suspect that the installation media is 64 bit and thus cannot be run on the beast, causing the error codes.
You could likely get around that by running media creation tool on the beast and downloading 32 bit install media that way.

If that fails, full, exact error messages would be needed to further diagnose the reason as to why it gives errors.

 

[doneyu]

Alright, I will try that tonight

 

[doneyu]

It didn't work. nevermind