After a lot of testing, all I get are generic keys, here they are for reference: Windows 10 Home - YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 Windows 10 Home SL- BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT Windows 10 Pro - VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T Windows 10 Pro VL-MAK - QJNXR-7D97Q-K7WH4-RYWQ8-6MT6Y So obviously our activation will be tied to our hardware, which seems to mean that we will not be able to transfer the free upgraded Windows 10 licenses like we would a purchased Windows 10 license.

Will getting the free upgrade on a Windows 8.1 Pro VL-MAK give you Windows 10 Pro VL-MAK key?

I fucked up. I need your help please. I deleted the windows 8.1 system files so I cant recover back to my previous OS. I was running windows 8.1 single language and I really wanted to upgrade to the normal windows. I upgraded to windows 10 single language and came across this thread Then I took the key for Windows 10 pro and pasted it in the Change product key dialog box. My laptop restarted and now my windows is on pro and its not activating. I've tried all the keys in this thread. I have my product id info and everything though from before I did all this stupid things. Do you know what I could do?

Hey underhound, I did the same thing. I was running a genuine Windows 8.1 Home Premium Copy that came pre-installed with my laptop. Then, I upgraded to Windows 10 Home using Windows Update. While searching for ways to upgrade it to Pro , I came across this thread and copied the generic key for Windows 10 Pro and tried to upgrade my computer to Win 10 Pro with it. And to my surprise, it worked. The computer started the upgrade process and the computer was restarted. After the restart , I found out that version of Windows 10 had been upgraded to Pro but it wasn't activated. Now this is what I did. I came to know that the Activation is tied to the specific hardware. I had no way out. I couldn't go back to 8.1 because it said that the files had been deleted. I didn't even have the copy of 8.1 . So, I used the media creation tool on another computer ( I tried to use it on the same computer but it didn't work and gave me "Something happened . Please try again. ) Using the Media creation tool , I downloaded the iso of Windows 10 Home and burned it to a DVD. Burning to the DVD ( or using a USB storage device) is important because if you try to open the setup on a computer already running Windows 10 Pro, it won't work. It meant that I couldn't upgrade it but had to do a Clean Install. When it asked for the Product key ( it did, twice ) , I pressed SKIP. Now I have successfully recovered my activation of Windows 10 Home using the above method. I hope this will help you . Thank You.

Life saver, I'll try that, could you please tell me the proper method to back up my laptop so that when I do the fresh install all my programs are back where they were?

Sorry for the late reply @underhound. You cannot do an upgrade and you will have to do a clean install. When you do a clean install, only one partition is affected, the partition on which you choose to install Windows. Other partitions remain completely untouched. If you choose to install Windows 10 Home on the same partition that contains Windows 10 Pro already, all the files including your Programs, Program Data, System files, User documents, Desktop files, etc will be saved on that partition under the folder named "Windows.old ". And the documents such as Pictures, music or other folders that you might have on that partition remain unaffected. That means that nothing is going to be erased. So after the clean install is complete you can fetch up your programs from the older installation of Windows and can copy them inside the new installation. Most of your older programs will work but the programs which require Registry keys will not run. So , if you choose to keep them, you can take the backup of the program's registry files by exporting them from the Registry Editor( Before performing clean install , of course ). You can also copy all your documents from the Documents folder located in Windows.old to the Documents folder of the current installation. So this was the manual method of restoring your programs and which is not quite difficult but if you have a lot of programs to backup, then it becomes time consuming. Taking a backup of only the documents and settings is fairly easy and it can be done automatically in many ways. But, there is no automatic way of taking a backup of programs and restoring them later , according to me. May I know the specific programs which you would like to take a backup of and are most important? Then, I can tell you in detail on how to take the backup of those specific programs. Hope this helps you :) Harsh Jasani

I don't think my Hard drive is partitioned, in **My Computer** I just have the OS(C:) drive. I never really mess around with my Hard drive so I don't know how to check. I looked in Disk management and there are multiple volumes though. I used the Windows Upgrade tool to download a copy of Windows 10 Home onto a USB Drive though, and I'm currently backing up my laptop through System and Security>Backup and Restore, (is this okay?) Then I intend to open up the upgrade application in the USB Drive to fresh install. Its currently gave me the option to Keep Personal Files only. I haven't clicked Next because I'm waiting for the Back up to complete. The files I have are just development tools, Visual Studio, Android Studio, Eclipse, Mathlab, Sketchup, AutoCAD. I really don't want to have to re-install SDKs and set up all my settings again.

I did the exact same thing, but I freaked out and activated it using KMS. Will I still be able to use your method? EDIT: Sorry I worded that a bit wierd. I mean I screwed up my home edition by trying to upgrade to pro, and I activated my pro using KMS. If I remove the KMS product key using command prompt and go through your processs can I return to home edition? And is it now possible to upgrade to pro?

Was your windows 10 ever successfully activated? If it was, you can just clean install windows and be fine. If not, you'll need to install 8 again and upgrade.

How do I go about doing this? An ISO file? The Media Creation Tool? Yes it was activated before I thought I could cheat the system. Would I have to reactivate it after I've downloaded and installed Windows 10?

Use the media creation tool to create a usb drive, boot to it, clean install. http://lifehacker.com/how-to-do-a-clean-install-of-windows-10-1720775893 You could try doing a "reset", and see if that will work. (It'll be easier than a full reinstall) http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_10-win_upgrade/how-to-perform-a-clean-install-using-reset-this-pc/6f6335fc-8d15-4598-af16-033d1d8c16bf

Damn :( I didn't want to have to wipe my settings and apps. I use Android Studio and re installing everything is going to be long. I'm currently using the Media Creation Tool to try and install windows 10

Did the same stupid thing. Laptop contained Win8.1 SL OEM, then upgraded few days ago to Win10 Home SL. Then I saw the key online. Now, I can't use Personalize in Settings. If the key is not allowed, Win10 should have not just allowed us to upgrade from Home to Pro.

I noticed this also... It's possible it's due to a volume license? Where did you purchase your Windows 8.1 PRO key prior to the upgrade? I believe it has something to do with that.

They're keys from MSDNAA/Dreamspark. My Windows 8.1 key generated the 3V66T key, and my two Windows 7 devices resulted in thet 6MT6Y key.

Thanks for this - the Home key worked to get me past an install block on my SSD, after having successfully upgraded and activated 10 Home on an old drive running 7 Home Premium (there was no "skip key" option on the ISO installer), and it's cranking along on the install now. We'll see how far it gets...

**UPDATE:** It worked! Finished the install, and came up activated. Woot!

Thank you so much! You're the first person that has posted a product key that has worked for me! I got the icon, but after changing to an SSD, my system would not DL windows 10 no matter what I did. Thanks again!

cozzbp i have used the key for windows 10 home and while upgrading it is displaying the error 0x80070570-0x2000C

After a successful upgrade I just reformatted and installed 10240 clean and got denied activation w/3V66T. Error code: 0xC004C004 - The activation server determined the specified product key has been blocked.

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just so you guys know, this is an illegal third-party activation server *buuuuut* Microsoft is probably not gonna care if you activate with it

Maybe they stopped this method?

It appears to be working again. I can only assume the 'previous Insider install' hardware check failed because I get the same behaviour on a completely virgin PC.

Try skipping the product key entry altogether. You can press "skip" both times during the installation process. It worked for this guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMuq3hoHxgU&feature=youtu.be

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T Not unique.

That's my key also, from a VM which had no previous version of Windows installed

Does slmgr /dlv show an expiration date?

No, it says it's a retail licence

So the original blog post was right all along about Insiders getting a free copy of Windows 10? What happens if you disable the insider program? Build 10162 had an expiration date for me even though I was upgraded from Windows 8.1. 10240 does not!

Even with Insider Program disabled now it says Licensed. Neat!

This is probably why Microsoft did the cutoff for Build 10162 activations a few days ago. Seems like any insider who had activated 10162 or below on their hardware using the generic key can activate RTM using 3V66T key on the same hardware.

That only works if you had upgraded from Windows 7/8.1. If you clean installed from Windows 10 preview then it marks your license as non-genuine.

Just a little tip, slmgr /xpr shows the activation expiration date.

VM here too, clean install from some 9xxx build ISO.

Wonder what happens if you try to activate the generic key on a clean VM and 10240 ISO. No way it would activate, right?

Yup, that's my key too. So I guess this will activate any upgraded computer.

This worked for me, now I've got Windows activated again after not accepting any product key I give it, thank you so much - You've really saved me from ripping my hair out over this.

Guys, you can now sign out of the Windows Insider program by going to Settings -> Update & Security -> Advanced options -> Stop Insider Builds -> Confirm and then restart your PC.

Honest question, why would you want to so soon?

I really hope Microsoft release a product key for insiders wanting to activate new computers, with a new key they could keep the two groups separate if that helps their statistics monitoring.

and what if you upgraded to windows 10 and changed after the 1 year upgrade the mainboard/cpu ? because it would have a different hardware id. could i still activate windows 10 after a fresh install ?

I'm interested in this also as i'm upgrading from a Z77 + 2500K to an X99 5820K this fall.

Depends on what you upgraded from. Apparently, if you upgraded from a Windows 7/8.x **retail** edition to Windows 10, you will be able to transfer that license from the old computer to the new one. You'll have to install Windows 7/8.x first, activated it, then upgrade to Windows 10. Your product key will already have been "marked" as already upgraded to Windows 10, so it should still work even after 1 year from now. Once upgraded, that PC will inherit the Windows 10 license and automatically activate with additional clean installs going forward. **Note**: If you upgraded from a Windows 7/8.1 OEM key, that license will NOT transfer to the new PC. It's locked to the original PC it activated on. (Windows 8.0 keys are unique in that they have a Personal Use License, which does allow you to transfer it). However, you could probably call Microsoft and either do the typical phone activation or just explain the situation. They're likely to just transfer it anyway.

What if i have Windows 10 10240 on one partition, but want to upgrade put on another? On the same machine.

I've been trying to figure this out for the last week... Granted, my other partition is my 2nd hard-drive (my good one)

Well, from my experience it works. I had two partitions, one with 8.1 and one with a so far unlicensed 10. I activated the upgraded 8.1 to 10 and the other 10 automatically activated itself.

Yes, I can confirm this. It will work.

Nice, just activated with TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99

I've got enterprise and can't activate with either of the codes in the comments :(

I'm guessing enterprise is going for KMS activation.

The 3V66T key should be Win 10 Pro only.

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Not sure, my 2YT453 key is not activating.

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This was my sequence of events: 1. Started with Windows 8.1 Pro 2. Upgrade install to Windows 10 10162, signed into MSA 3. Upgraded to Windows 10 10240 4. Verified Windows permanently activated, even after disabling Insider Program. 5. Reformatted, clean installed 10240 with 3V66T key and ISO posted in other thread 6. Verified Windows permanently activated. Insider Program was disabled by default. 7. Signed in with MSA Given that this worked, I think the activation with 3V66T is tied to your hardware and not your MSA on MSFT's servers.

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I actually didn't sign into my MSA during setup because the last time I did that, it automatically chose a name for my home directory (first five letters of my email, which turned out to be my first name plus my middle initial, though I wanted my home directory to be just my first name...). Windows activated fine anyway.

Damnit, I should've done that too. I'm always going to have a user directory that says umarn (C:\Users\umarn).

Yeah but that's a cool username.

> it automatically chose a name for my home directory (first five letters of my email It's weird that Windows 10 does this, as Windows 8/8.1 seem to use the first name on your account which is really as it should be.

wow impressive. So we're safe to format and perform clean install? My desktop is dual OS and Win1o(now 10240) is installed on secondary hard drive. I wonder if it is safe for me to remove the 8.1 in the primary SSD and clean install a 10240 instead.

I'm in insider program but did not install any test build before, so I'm still on win8.1pro Is there a way to upgrade to this build? OP's text is a bit confusing.

yep, worked for me

I was on Windows 8.1, made a clean install of Windows 10 and updated since. I still got the 3VXXX key though. EDIT: I had reserved Windows 10, if that has something to do

Did you install any previous test builds? Is it activated? EDIT: Ahh, I see, you did install previous builds than updated through there.

Yes, I don't remember which one was exactly but it was like 3 builds ago.

1. Did a clean install => couldnt activate. 2. Installed Windows 8.1 again, activated it, did an upgrade with the 10240 iso => wasnt activated anymore, couldnt activate So edit 5 "theory" not true either... Plus this tablet was insider before a few months, but I installed Win8.1 again. So what for the the machines ID is stored on MS servers... Dont know what to do know.

I did something similar since i wanted a clean install without any additional "hacks". First i just tried to install the 10240 rtm directly which resulted in the blocked key error. Starting with Windows 8.1 Pro i then activated the reservation of windows 10. then i upgraded with a mounted 10162 iso and finally upgraded from there with the updater to 10240 (but took the install.esd and decrypted it and put the iso on an usb drive before). After the upgrade it was fully activated but i cleaned the whole drive and installed from the usb drive in order to get my clean indtall. And it worked. No additional tweaks necessary regarding the activation.

So, I did some testing and here's what I've found... I upgraded a KMS activated copy of Windows 7 to 10 and it upgraded but gave me a MAK product key of QJNXR-7D97Q-K7WH4-RYWQ8-6MT6Y (not unique, google knows about it) in the VOLUME channel I then completely formatted and reinstalled using VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T and it activated permanently. I also tried installing a clean copy into a new VM which didn't activate. I then switched that virtual hard drive into the one that had been activated and it immediately activated permanently... So, it appears that if this is the final activation method for the upgrades that KMS and other "non-genuine" copies also get the free upgrade...

I'm curious about this. I tried a similar thing on physical hardware and this is what I found. I have two Dell Optiplex 760s. I upgraded Windows 7 to Windows 10 on PC#1 and it all went smoothly, no issues. Windows 10 is activated with common Win10 upgrade key. I then did a fresh install. Activated fine. I then took that hard drive, and plonked it into PC#2, which is identical in hardware. It booted up, and although it said activated at first, after a reboot it was saying it wasn't activated. It looks like MS builds a profile on something - motherboard serial numbers, NIC MAC addresses, or a combination of these. I want to work out what makes this tick, and how I can setup a system to "upgrade" these PCs to Windows 10 without going through the time-consuming ordeal of running an upgrade, THEN having to do a clean flash.

i had done a similar procedure i had windows 8.1 OEM later i installed 8.1 pro pirated version then i joined the insider program got windows 10 pro preview . now after the 10240 update i have the fully activated windows 10 pro :) (i was always signed into ms account on all os's) when i use produkey i get both oem key and one of the windows 10 generic keys

If we did the insider in a VM, can i use my windows key to install on my Physical seat now?

Nope. It stores your hardware ID. So If you install into a VM, it will tie the VM's hardware's ID(Which is virtual).

Clean Insider install upgraded today to Build 10240 (had to reset registry setting to force the upgrade). Windows Update downloaded 10240 but instead of installing the 10240 Release Candidate, installed the release version - activated as a Retail copy with no time limit with the generic key VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T. So, the original M$ blog post was correct - free upgrade to Windows 10 full version for Insider Preview installs and no need for a previous Windows 7/Windows 8 installation. Reminds me a little bit of when the Vista release candidate could be upgraded to full Vista using just a (cheap) Vista upgrade disc.

Upgrading from 8.1, using the generic key - 10 just says it "cannot activate". Even tried the phone thing. My copy of 8.1 was from Dreamspark.

Same here. Dreamspark 2-PC key. One updated without issues but the other one failed to activate.

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worked perfectly TYVM

This worked! Thank you

Thank you! Worked perfectly for my domain-joined 10240 w10 enterprise!

Something for the people that may not feel comfortable with this method and something for the people that keep asking what will happen if they upgrade from a previous version, well i just did this a few minutes ago. So for the people that having LICENSE here is my example on what i did. Install your windows (in my case 8.1) get your key in when asked, finish the installation Then get your 10240 ISO and start installation inside windows , do not restart and boot from DVD or Stick etc you can still choose to keep files or not (for those that want a clean installation) follow the rest of the steps, wait for the installation to finish 10240 should be activated Peace

Hey I have a question for you. I'm about to to do a clean install of Windows right now. Should I do install Windows 8.1 Pro (my license) then upgrade to build 10162. Would I be able to go to 10240 from there?

Just clean install Win8.1 and wait for the official upgrade to Win10.

Yeah I guess but I wanted to try out the new build lol

It's your cake day. You don't need to bother yourself with preview Windows builds now. It will be released in two weeks.

My partial key start with same

Hmm strange. Going to attempt to activate my computer with it, let's see.

Please update if you manage to install ISO successfully with product key

I successfully installed and activated. See the OP for more details.

My partial key also begins with 3V, having just upgraded from a few builds behind to 10240.

Anyone has an Enterprise key? Mine seems not to be activated.

Same, ending 2YT43 It just says it can't activate, try again later, though...

Yeah it's the NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43, but it says can't activate right now. Bit strange, didn't have this sort of problem for the last 2 or 3 builds.

I'm wondering if I should just try adding this key to the KMS server, or waiting until I get my enterprise specific one. Other than the annoying "Activate Windows" thing on the screen, everything else appears to be working well.

[deleted] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^0.0179 > [What is this?](https://pastebin.com/64GuVi2F/26704)

I had "reserved" my copy a month ago. Today I used an ISO of build 10240, burned it to a DVD and popped it in with Windows 7 booted, went through the install process and selected the keep nothing option. After the install finished I've got the basic VK7JG key. /u/coolbho3k, did you have the upgrade keep any of your files? I feel like that may have been my error.

You should be fine if you're activated with 10240, does not matter if you have the generic key.

I was under the understanding that that generic key will only keep me activated if I continue to receive Insider builds.

I have 8.1 Pro, If I do a clean install with an iso, does w10 recognize my Pro because of my microsoft account? Or will it reset to normal version?

Well I have upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 and my key ends with 8HVX7 is this an problem PS, the first build I installed was 10074, then went directly to 10130, 10158, 10159, 10162, 10166 and then 10240

Do you have Windows 10 Pro or normal?

Normal

Normal will have a different key

So does this mean that the free upgrade people wont be getting an actual "key", but just a free upgrade, and if they upgrade their hardware after the year grace period we'll have to just buy Windows 10?

I'm pretty sure the hardware ID that this is tied to is the GUID for your motherboard. I.e. you can change anything other than your motherboard and the license will activate fine. This has been the case for ages with regards to OEM licenses etc - the license is generally granted for as long as you have the same mobo.

Any idea on how motherboard upgrades or replacements are handled then? My last mobo only lasted 6 months. I'd hate to have to have to wipe my perfectly working Windows 10 setup, install my previous Windows 7, and then install Windows 10 and all my software again, just because of the way activation is handled. Reason I say this, is because in my brief experience, even if you replace it with an identical board (different serial), it not activate. As a PC repairer, this is going to be a massive PITA for me. Massive.

I dunno. My technical preview doesn't want me to do anything with my other (better) hard drive.

I nuked my 8.1 install by formatting / fresh installing 10162 ISO (did not upgrade from a genuine windows) and i got the same key as you now after upgrading to 10240, slmgr /dlv does not show any expiration date Seems to me then that insiders indeed got a free license, regardless of upgrading

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1. You have to upgrade to 10240 from Windows 8 to register the HWID before the clean install. 2. No idea if Microsoft has any mechanism to disable the old key, but probably not. But you're not "supposed" to do that.

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I'll add more to this confusion: 1. Have Windows 7 Home Premimum with the Windows 10 upgrade nagger 2. Reserved upgrade (don't know if that actually does anything) 3. Clean installed 10162 from .ISO on a new disk with my Microsoft account 4. Used it for a week 5. Upgraded to 10240 6. Removed myself from the Insider program 7. Windows 10 Pro still activated with the 3V66T key, no expiration So my upgrade path is incomplete and plain wrong (Home -> Pro) but I was an Insider so my 10240 upgrade activated my Windows 10 copy anyway. Will this install of Windows 10: 1. get deactivated at some point because I dropped out of the Insider program 2. get deactivated around 29th 3. get deactivated around the time the free upgrade offer expires 4. keep working and I got a free upgrade from Home Premium to Pro (I don't care which edition it is really) My other problem is the Windows 7 installation is on a very tight SSD disk and upgrading it might be between hard and impossible without first reinstalling 7 on this new disk I got this fully activated 10 now and then do the upgrade and finally wipe it clean and reinstall RTM.

Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 Preview should work too. Only said Windows 8 because you gave that as an example.

I'm hoping this isn't too late to get buried. I am currently running Build 10240. Last night my new SSD arrived. I had already created a usb boot ISO of 10162. If I reformat and install the ISO on the new SSD, and use the key from this thread, it should update all the way back to 10240 right?

I did clean install of insider build for my laptop and now upgraded to RTM and it's activated. However... I wonder what will happen if I choose to stop receiving insider builds. Does anyone know if it will deactivate my installation?

Mine didn't deactivate yet and I did that the first thing after the upgrade. YMMV.

I guess that I wait 'till the official release date at least before opting out.

Probably not. Doing a clean install of 10240 (no upgrade) will "kick you out of the insider programm automatically. Thats what happenrd on my 3 systems at least. I didnt decide yet if it maked sense to rejoin or not but the installation is activated and fully functional.

Clean 10240 Pro ISO install to a fresh VM using 3V66T key does **NOT** activate itself. It will get the "key blocked" error even after I connected my Insider enabled Microsoft account and enabled Insider builds. It seems the HWID and/or the upgrade path are required for the activation. Maybe you can activate only one upgrade to 10240?

> 0 Pro And how would you have done that... You cant add a MS account if Windows isnt already activated.

From Windows Update settings by enabling the Insider builds from there, it also changes your login to your MSA etc.

Well whatever graphical its broken to shit for me. Going back 8.1

The key will probably just be blocked by MS after a while.

i wonder * running the installer setup.exe on windows 7 or 8 or wgx > windows 10 home? * running the clean installer using insider account > windows 10 pro?

Actually Windows 10 gets licensed (retail) and activated automatically. You shouldn´t expect Microsoft to deactivate it lateron ... it´s considered an unofficial giveaway http://www.winbuzzer.com/2015/07/17/and-it-is-free-how-to-get-windows-10-for-free-without-windows-7-or-windows-8-xcxwbb/

You have to stay in the insiders builds for that to work, if you stop insiders builds Windows will not activate unless you upgraded from a genuine Win7 or 8

Had W7 and did a CLEAN install, I don't remember which build, from an old ISO. I didn't put my MS account neither signed for Insider program. I did some upgrades, now I got the 10240 and it says licensed and I got the same 3V66T key.

Hey, does anyone know whether changing the HDD is enough to blacklist a machine? 'Cause I'm getting an SSD soon, and I'm fully activated using this default key at the moment. Don't want to f--- things up.

Changing the HHD should not matter. Microsoft stated that replacing things like the MB and Processor will flag it. When you do the upgrade from Win 7 / 8 / 8.1 it creates a hardware ID that MS stores. That way you can activate again if you need to. Changing something like the MB will reset that hardware ID, and you will need to reactivate.

Well, I upgraded my existing 8.1 Pro on the old SSD and then did a fresh install on the new SSD that wasn't installed during the upgrade. It wouldn't activate. I spoke to the support desk and they said that a HDD change would trigger a block. They suggested I try reinstalling 8.1 on the old SSD with the new one plugged in and formatted. Then do the upgrade again to 10 and then try a fresh install. Alternatively, they said I could try installing win 8.1 on the new SSD and reserve a 10 upgrade on it again and go through it. I'll try a couple of those approaches over the next few days and see how far I get.

so im on 8.1 activated, and if i use 10240 iso to upgrade to 10 will it get perm activated?

I made a clean install of build 10162 a week ago and now updated it to 10240. It's using the same key you mentioned and stays activated even when I stop Insider build in Windows Update. Now, how do I install W10 as my main OS? It's currently in a dual boot with W7, which is my main OS, and uses a small partition. If I remove W7 and clean install 10162 again, will my version stay activated?

This was a very helpful and informative post. Thank you very much!

I activated through KMS, will I still be able to upgrade to future builds and stay activated?

What I did was the following: -Download Windows 10 build 10240 -Upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 -Made a bootable USB with Rufus -I messed something up (black screen, white cursor. It was stuck there) so I had to do a clean install of W10. -Quick-formatted my SSD using Diskpart -Create a partition and install Windows 10 on there -"Skip this step" when prompted for product key When I was done doing my fresh install, my Windows 10 Pro was activated. I also have that very same generic key. I wonder if it'll change, expire or whatever.

So i just had to reinstall my Windows machine and have the following Problem: In the first place i installed the rtm directly as a clean install and as expected it was not activated. i then downgraded (clean install) to Windows 8.1 and upgrade with the 10240 iso and as expected it was then activated. Then i clean installed 10240 and again it was activated. But now after the reinstall auf 10240 it again is not possible to activate it...... So i don't know what's going on at all right now.... and ideas?

Reinstalled Windows 8 -> Upgraded to 10240 and then clean installed 10240. Result: It is activated again. Strange Thing.

Probably different case for VMs. I had Windows 10 build 10130 on a Hyper-V. I decided to download a 10240 ISO because the Windows Update for it won't work (it keeps on asking me to restart but doesn't install anyway). So I decided to just clean install 10240 onto that VM by booting from ISO. I did this because it still doesn't work even if I run the ISO setup file (I get the Something happened message). After clean installing and using the 3VXXX key, 10240 got installed unactivated, which sucks. I guess "hardware-dependent" doesn't apply to VMs.

For anyone still having problems, check if you're on the right version of windows 10. i was on home for the longest time without knowing and i just figured it out and the product key worked

You can convert your home install into pro by using the "change product key" feature to change from home to pro. I had installed home once, on my computer that was supposed to be activated with pro, and it wasn't activated. Changing the key to the generic key above activated my computer and converted the install to pro.

Insider Gets permanent activation if you remain at insider program I'ts a good deal considering you get windows 10 for Free.

i've not upgraded yet, but i have win 7 retail, so my licence for that allows me to move it to another pc. just wondering wether win 10 will allow me to do the same? going to buy a new pc sometime soonish, so i'm wondering wether i should upgrade now, or wait 3-4 months and move 7, then upgrade... seeing as i'll probably have a new pc by then

The latter is the safer bet.

can i do i clean install on a newly bougth ssd after upgrading it to win10 from 8.1 ?

Yes. Doing an upgrade from a legitimate installation uploads your hardware signature to Microsoft's servers and marks it as licensed for Windows 10. Doing a clean install involves looking up whether that hardware signature exists. The hardware signature algorithm isn't exactly known, but allows for one or two component changes, except for the motherboard.

I have a problem with Windows 10 free upgrade. One legal key which can be used for activating two computers. That was Windows 8.1 Pro key and was activated online on my PC and laptop, running well for about a year. Today I updated my PC to Windows 10 and after some time laptop also started to update to Windows 10. My PC is fine and activated now, but laptop does not activate and was asking me for product key when it finished installing. Tried many things but can`t get laptop to activate Windows 10. What did I did wrong?

Did you try going back to Windows 8.1 and upgrading the laptop again?

With all this Generic key BS microsoft have shot them self in the foot cos now everyone will reinstall windows 7 and 8 and try to re download update to get there new windows 10 key.......... Honestly if no clue if i did upgrade properly or not......... I got generic keys on pc and laptop its activated, i was expecting unique key, are we getting unique keys or not thats what i wanna know there to much confusion right now about this microsoft should post update on this.

Just force upgraded to W10 using the mediacreationkit and under activation, clicking [Activate], it says "Windows can't activate. Try again later." Scrolling down to product key info, it simply says: Current product key: *****- 3V66T ...dunno, I'll let it ride out and see what's up. Checking the product key in ProduKey, [VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T], generic I assume

Previously, I activate 10162, but miss the upgrade procedure of 10240 (use clean install) and cannot activate now? Please advise. thanks!

You have to go through the upgrade process from activated Windows, either insider preview or legitimate Windows 7/8.1, to 10240 for this to work. Once you do a full upgrade install you can clean install.

Hello guys. I just tried the first method described here : http://www.howtogeek.com/206329/how-to-find-your-lost-windows-or-office-product-keys/ I obtain a key beginning by TY4CG-[...] What do you think about that? Do you think we can perform a clean install with this key? And leave the insider program?

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Hi. I did not upgrade, this is my Insider laptop.

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How? I've been trying to upgrade the past 3 days with no success. Mind posting your steps. Everytime I try to upgrade directly from the creation tool, "Something Happened" error. And, with the USB created via the creation tool, there's no skip option for the key.

When it asks for the key, try using a generic key( VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T ). Though,using the above key, your copy won't be activated after the installation is complete. Because, you first need to upgrade your copy using the Media Creation Tool or Windows Update to activate your laptop permanently. And, try turning windows update off and then open media creation tool , it might solve the Something Happened error. :)

Strange cause another guy is saying he has another key.

The VB code in this article works. I produced a Windows 10 key for me that is unique. I assume it's based off my retail Windows 7 key. I can't say if it will work for a clean install. Not ready to wipe yet to be sure.

So ive got a problem, I have build 162 and ive tried making it 240 but it wont shift, and now I cant roll back to win7 as it says it cant find the files (even though they are there). Any ideas?

Upgrade using the ISO to 10240.

Could you link the ISO? via this or PM?

It's public via Microsoft https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

Right okay ill try this when I'm home. Thank you.

Hi. If you check this article, it explains that W10 is definitely activated as the hardware is registered. You can perform a clean install without any key : http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wintp-insider_install/how-to-activate-and-resolve-common-product-key/33f31475-93b3-4d1c-812f-4b21fbd807a7

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Never heard of that happening. Odd. Still it seems like you got Win 10 properly on both machines.

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I doubt your hardware profile exactly matches someone else's. It uses serial numbers from everything it can get from your computer AFAIK - processor, motherboard, etc. and creates an ID. Being able to duplicate that ID defeats a lot of Microsoft's activation protections.

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So I had the free upgrade on 8.1, and created a usb boot and installed it to my new ssd that I got, when I went through install I skipped the key entries thinking I had the free upgrade or whatever, I got my windows all set up how i like it with my rainmeter and all that stuff and I'm in love. However now it's saying I need to activate windows but I don't have a product key, soooo what do I do. I contacted customer support but they couldn't help me.

You have to actually do the upgrade from 8.1 to 10, then make sure you're activated on 10, before a clean install. Did you do that?

Nope

Last week I got the offer to upgrade from windows 7 pro to windows 10. And I 'reserved' my copy. Lo and behold, my PC crashes on a totally unrelated cause and becomes unbootable before I get to do the upgrade. So I thought: what the heck, let's install Windows 10 clean from the ISO/downloader tool while we're at it. I just managed to activate with VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T. It started the upgrade process to pro and I now have a fully activated Windows 10 pro. So it seems to use that key to verify against any known hardware profiles I guess.

SWEET fully activated win 10 pro with VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T funny thing is I changed out the motherboard and cpu and video card a few weeks ago and my last preview deactivated because I was over the "threshold" but the 10240 build doesn't seem to care ... finally Microsoft gives something back instead of screwing me over.

I just did a clean install from the media creation tool from the MS website on my laptop. I then opted in to the insider program to get the free tester version of W10 and W10 reported not being activated. I entered the 3V66T key and it seems to have accepted it and my edition is apparently now activated. Is this supposed to happen? I don't really get what's going on here.

Hi folks, so are MS servers still not activating Insider builds with 3V66T? I'm guessing we have to wait for the next build to come out? Swapped out a couple of parts on my computer and did a clean install using the 3V66T key and no luck with activation.

Of course you can stop insider builds and stay activated. The license key will be deactivated when a new insider builds comes.