After upgrading to windows 10 (from windows 7), can I use said product key to do an install on a different computer?

[xoiio]

I'm not 100% sure on this, and want to get some confirmation.

My desktop which used my windows 7 key is pretty much total crap with the motherboard issues it has, and I got a new laptop, but want to save that OS license for future use when I build up a desktop later on. Thing is, the free upgrade to windows 10 might not be around forever, so I set up a VM on one of my servers, to install windows 7, do all the updates, and then wait for the windows 10 upgrade prompt to upgrade it, and convert my license key to a windows 10 one so that I can use it later on.

Now, I just did a reinstall of windows 10 which included recovering the product key, and I used that key to install windows 10 again on the same machine, but I'm wondering if the license key will work as it used to, where I can basically just save the key, and then whenever I need it down the road I can pop in a windows disc (well, iso on a zalman drive), install it with said key and be off to the races, or if it is tied to the hardware that it was originally installed on.

 

[basroil]

No

OEM licenses are non-transferable and upgrading doesn't change that

 

[simonchipmunk]

you can create an ISOimage of the windows 10 by using the Media Creation tool.
burn it to a dvd or flash drive, and you can use it to upgrade other pcs running Windows 7.

 

[Monty1]

Hi when my old pc started to fail i used the license key on my new build with no problems you just need a copy of windows 7 to do a fresh install the only thing you can't do is have your old pc online at the same time as your new one as Windows will only validate 1 pc per licence so the answer is yes you can.

 

[simonchipmunk]

Hi when my old pc started to fail i used the license key on my new build with no problems you just need a copy of windows 7 to do a fresh install the only thing you can't do is have your old pc online at the same time as your new one as Windows will only validate 1 pc per licence so the answer is yes you can.[/quotem
I must apologize , as I meant to say you could obtain an iso-Image of Windows 10 upgrade, using microsofts Creative image maker tool, burn it to a DVD or Flash Drive and then use it to install the windows 10 on more than one pc.

 

[Aria1066]

Same license key on 2 devices !!! Sooner or later MS will invalidate one or the other or both.

 

[simonchipmunk]

Same license key on 2 devices !!! Sooner or later MS will invalidate one or the other or both.

the key for the ISO-Image as I understand it is a digitized activation key.

 

[basroil]

Same license key on 2 devices !!! Sooner or later MS will invalidate one or the other or both.

the key for the ISO-Image as I understand it is a digitized activation key.

It doesn't matter what the key is, it's illegal to have two devices with the same key (unless you have volume licensing)

 

[simonchipmunk]

Same license key on 2 devices !!! Sooner or later MS will invalidate one or the other or both.

the key for the ISO-Image as I understand it is a digitized activation key.

It doesn't matter what the key is, it's illegal to have two devices with the same key (unless you have volume licensing)

basro,thank you for your response. I couldn't tell from the first posting which key he recovered. if it was the windows 7 key, then you are right, he can't use it on another pc.i am going to assume that he was referring to the windows 7 key.
i'm sorry I don't know anything about servers.but regardless,basro is correct, because Microsoft willremember the key he used.

 

[USAFRet]

No.
1 license, 1 system.
Be it the original Win 7, or that Win 7 Upgraded to Win 10.

You can't use that on a whole new system.

And a VM is a whole new system. You can't use the same license key on the host and the guest.

 

[basroil]

basro,thank you for your response. I couldn't tell from the first posting which key he recovered. if it was the windows 7 key, then you are right, he can't use it on another pc.i am going to assume that he was referring to the windows 7 key.
i'm sorry I don't know anything about servers.but regardless,basro is correct, because Microsoft willremember the key he used.

If you upgrade, THERE IS ONLY ONE KEY, and that's the key for your original OS. There is no transfer.

As for the VM thing, all depends on the license. Volume licenses do allow host+guest, as do some server licenses, but each install is considered separate (so if you have volume license for a computer+vm in that computer, you need two licenses)

 

[simonchipmunk]

No.
1 license, 1 system.
Be it the original Win 7, or that Win 7 Upgraded to Win 10.

You can't use that on a whole new system.

And a VM is a whole new system. You can't use the same license key on the host and the guest.

I agree with you USAFRet.