Windows 8 upgrade from win7
 

I just wondered if the product key from a windows 7 install can be used
for an upgrade to windows 8.1.

I have googled this but can't find a definitive answer.

Windows 8 upgrade from win7
 

BobH wrote:
I just wondered if the product key from a windows 7 install can be used
for an upgrade to windows 8.1.

I have googled this but can't find a definitive answer.

I've never heard of a Win7 key being usable in a Win8 install.

If you have a Win8 computer that was downgraded to Win7, the
Win8 license key is stored in the BIOS, and that would activate
a re-installed Win8. The "OS level" would have to match,
so if it originally shipped with OEM Home, the DVD used would
have to be Home as well for it to work. You couldn't
arbitrarily bump yourself to Pro.

But if you had a Win7 era computer, and expected to magically
go to Win8, that won't happen unless such an upgrade was
promised as part of the sales terms of the machine at the
time. And media was provided (royalty OEM, and presumably
some mechanism to get it to install).

*******

If you wanted to *test* Win8 for 30 days or less, you could
use an Install Only key to do that. But the Install Only
key would not be sufficient to accept a Win10 Upgrade offer.
That wouldn't work. That's because these keys won't activate.
They're just accepted by the license box, so you can get past
that step. I actually used this while installing a paid
version of Win8.1, and it worked. Later, I used SLUI or
similar, to present the real key (do a key change) and
activate the OS. That's the copy of Win8.1 on my
test machine, which cost me $39.95 at the time.

Windows 8.0 Pro: XKY4K-2NRWR-8F6P2-448RF-CRYQH
Windows 8.0 Co FB4WR-32NVD-4RW79-XQFWH-CYQG3

Windows 8.1 Pro: XHQ8N-C3MCJ-RQXB6-WCHYG-C9WKB
Windows 8.1 Co 334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT

The purpose of an Install Only key, is to solve
the problem that the OS doesn't have a "Skip" button
for the license key box.

Note that, for WinXP/Vista/Win7, when presented with the
license key box, you can click "Next" with an empty license
key box, to get past it. In Win8/Win8.1/Win10, you cannot
use Next to escape the license key box. Win10 offers the
"Skip" option when detecting certain qualifying conditions
(like the expectation there will be a Freebie Upgrade
operation involved). I have not seen an Install-Only key
for Windows 10. These usually exist first for VLK users,
using an Enterprise DVD. The keys are less likely to be
available for Pro or Home users. It took a while to find
the four examples above.

The "Core" designation above, means the same thing as "Home"
or a case where you see "Windows 8.x" with no identifier at
all. "Core" is the lower capability OS, equivalent to Home
on other OSes.

HTH,
Paul

Windows 8 upgrade from win7
 

BobH wrote on 09/02/2015 3:16 PM:
I just wondered if the product key from a windows 7 install can be used
for an upgrade to windows 8.1.

I have googled this but can't find a definitive answer.

No, it can not.

The product key for Windows 8.0 and 8.1 can be used to upgrade or clean
install Windows 10 using the Windows 8.1 Media Creation Tool (free) media.
- Media created will be 8.1 and allow the entry of a valid Windows
8.0/8.1 Product Key. If the device has the product key on chip (OEM
Pre-installed Windows) the installation will use the information to
install and activate Windows 10.

Fyi...Windows 8.1 was released as full version product - to move from 7
to 8.1 bypassing 8.0 only two installation routes are available.
- keep personal files (data only)
- keep nothing (clean install)

--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

Windows 8 upgrade from win7
 

On Wed, 2 Sep 2015 20:16:43 +0100, BobH wrote:

I just wondered if the product key from a windows 7 install can be used
for an upgrade to windows 8.1.

I have googled this but can't find a definitive answer.

So why not update to Win10 bypassing Win8? Very similar look and
feel to Win8.1 in many ways. That would be perfectly permissible
under current arrangements, at least for the next year.

Windows 8 upgrade from win7
 

.. . .winston wrote on 09/02/2015 3:39 PM:
BobH wrote on 09/02/2015 3:16 PM:
I just wondered if the product key from a windows 7 install can be used
for an upgrade to windows 8.1.

I have googled this but can't find a definitive answer.

No, it can not.

The product key for Windows 8.0 and 8.1 can be used to upgrade or clean
install Windows 10 using the Windows 8.1 Media Creation Tool (free) media.
- Media created will be 8.1 and allow the entry of a valid Windows
8.0/8.1 Product Key. If the device has the product key on chip (OEM
Pre-installed Windows) the installation will use the information to
install and activate Windows 10.

Fyi...Windows 8.1 was released as full version product - to move from 7
to 8.1 bypassing 8.0 only two installation routes are available.
- keep personal files (data only)
- keep nothing (clean install)


Should ***say***
he product key for Windows 8.0 and 8.1 can be used to upgrade or clean
install Windows ***8*** using the Windows 8.1 Media Creation Tool...

--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

Windows 8 upgrade from win7
 

On 03/09/2015 13:55, mechanic wrote:
On Wed, 2 Sep 2015 20:16:43 +0100, BobH wrote:

I just wondered if the product key from a windows 7 install can be used
for an upgrade to windows 8.1.

I have googled this but can't find a definitive answer.

So why not update to Win10 bypassing Win8? Very similar look and
feel to Win8.1 in many ways. That would be perfectly permissible
under current arrangements, at least for the next year.


I would update to win10 if win10 would do the upgrade but it failed 4
times. From what I could find out the consensus of opinion seems to be
the G3258 cpu, which I am using. Apparently it is to do with microcode,
which is above my grade.