Does activating Win 10 cancel Win 7 on a computer?

I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10.
I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win 7
hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

Has anyone experienced this?

Ken wrote:
I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10. I
have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win 7
hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

Has anyone experienced this?

My situation on one machine exactly.
You have a month to roll back to Win7; all saved internally by the
install system.
If I want to go back I'll use the internal Restore option.
I've taken system images before and after the install, but using the one
before might confuse the MS system, so it's only for dire emergencies.

P.S. Win10 is pretty good on my OEM machine. Well worth a look at and
staying with to get over the culture shock.

Ed

Ken wrote:
I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10. I
have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win 7
hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

Has anyone experienced this?

The gentleman here has done the license amplification,
and claims both Win7 and Win10 are activated.

Now, we wait 30 days, to see if the Win7 on that machine
becomes non-genuine or not.

This is what I like about this scheme. The waiting...

http://www.askvg.com/tip-dual-boot-b...ndows-78-1-os/

Most experiments on computer, the outcome is instant.
Not with licensing.

And do you think I can find a definitive statement
on this ? Not even the illustrious Andre Costas, when
given a chance to describe the licensing scheme,
describes the Win7 license as "consumed". Nobody
will come right out and say whether the license
can be amplified (dual boot activated forever),
or not amplified (only Win10 will run and Win7
license key is "trashed").

We'll just have to wait, and see if askvg has a
change of heart. When his Win7 status changes.

*******

I have an infinite number of stupid-ass scenarios
to run through, to point out whether this scheme
supports license amplification or not.

Let's start with a box of Win7 retail software.

Win7 on Win10 Mobo#1 Install Win10
Mobo#1 Upgrade replace Win7 Upgrade
(July2015) Mobo#1 Mobo#2 Activate Install
(Aug2015) Win10 Mobo#2 Mobo#2
Deactivates
--------- (Oct2015) ---------

So in this example, changing the motherboard within
the first year (after July 2015), I still qualify for
the free upgrade. When I change to Mobo#2, Win10 initially
reports "Not Genuine". Knowing I have done an "Oopsey",
I reach for my Win7 disc and reinstall. I must activate
Win7, because I will not qualify for the upgrade without
doing so. Then, I do an upgrade install of Win10, using
my Win10 DVD and setup.exe on it.

So using that logic, my Win7 license must remain
"Genuine" and license amplification is possible
until at least Aug 2016.

What they could do, is make the Win7 license
"Not Genuine" on Aug 2016, if the Win10 upgrade
still appears to be running. Even detecting this
is tricky, and likely to generate support calls.

Microsoft is free to manually manage these
scenarios, have their phone support accept
pleas to help with the above scenario, but
no product management wants to purposefully
create a quagmire for themselves. That's because
activation of Microsoft products is supported for
free - if the activation system denies usage of
your product, they're supposed to fix it.

So you can make arguments that license amplification
is possible. But we may not know the answer for
either a one month delay or a one year delay, before
the activation server answers the question for us.

Unless the illustrious Andre Costas happens to
let slip what the real policy is.

So many tech writers have used this "consumed"
notion for the Win7 license, it's pretty hard
to feel sure about anything.

"We probably won't know, until we know..."

Paul

Ken wrote:

I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10.
I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win 7
hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

Has anyone experienced this?

As a test upgrade one hard drive to win 10. then swap out and see what
happens! I am running win 8.1 and if i so want i can always reinstall win 7.

Darklight wrote:
Ken wrote:

I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10.
I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win 7
hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

Has anyone experienced this?

As a test upgrade one hard drive to win 10. then swap out and see what
happens! I am running win 8.1 and if i so want i can always reinstall win 7.


That is what I had intended to do, but I am afraid installing Win 10 on
one hard drive will make my Win 7 installation on the other invalid. I
would kick myself if that happened, that is why I asked.

Ken posted this via :

I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10.
I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win 7
hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

The answer is no... in my situation. Here's how that went:

FIRST: I cleaned up and imaged back (using AOMEI) my Win8.1 Pro OS to a data
partition on the same internal HDD...

Second: I ran the Windows 10 Update routine using their media creation tool,
which bascially downloads the necessary files and commences with the
upgrade...

Next: After about 1-hour-15-minutes, the system booted into my new Windows
10 installation. The problem was that my Realtek ethernet card was lost in
the upgrade because Windows kept giving my error messages that I "might need
to upgrade the eternet driver." Well, I exhausted ever repair method
available - even going to the Realtek driver page, but the driver seemed up
to date there. I checked in Device Manager... Properties... It gave me
version and stated "this device is working properly" yet every time I ran the
diagnostics, they dead-ended with "... need to upgrade the drivers."

Next: I restored the backed-up Win8.1 image; of course the network card and
drivers were just fine, so I searched the Internet... All kinds of problems
with Realtek network adapters, but no answers and no joy... During this
episode, my Windows 8.1 was checked and validate by the Microsoft mothership.

Next: I used the media creation tool to create an ISO; burned the ISO to
DVD, and then tried to upgrade to Windows 10 using that method. It was
shorter because I was only ocassionally connecting with Microsoft's servers
during the upgrade. On boot to Windows 10, same problem with the ethernet
adapter... unresolvable within Windows 10... SO, I imaged back to my Win8.1
OS again...

Next: I uninstalled EVERYTHING 3rd-party which had any connection to the
ethernet adapter whatsoever... OUT with NetWorx, mandatory reboot; OUT with
WiFi Guard; mandatory reboot; OUT with PrivateFirewall, mandatory reboot;
then OUT with AVG, mandatory reboot... This was everything 3rd-party that
monitored or impacted my ethernet network adapter.

Then: I used the Windows 10 "media creation tool" DVD to upgrade my Win8.1
Pro system to Windows 10... It connected to Microsoft servers a couple of
times that I know of by watching the lights on my router and ISP gateway...
but she booted to Windows 10 with absolutely no problem whatsoever.

Now, directly to your inquiry: Microsoft hashes your PC hardware info with
your initial Windows Key and creates an "activation" tag unique to your PC
and your Windows version. It did this with my Windows 8.1 and finally it did
this with my Windows 10.

I don't believe there's been any reason or incentive for Microsoft to cross-
reference their data bases to reveal who's running different OSs on the same
PC... It's just a matter of tagging that OS to that PC and verifying that's
it's legitimate and legal to them... or so it would appear. It might be just
a matter of time... but that doesn't seem to make sense; in that you bought
the OS and activated the OS, so you should be able to run that OS ["on that
device," for the semantics Nazis] for its lifespan.

Now, I can run [from my backup images] Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or
Windows 10 from this PC... legitimately, legally, and with all benefits
thereto, such as upgrades and downloads, etc., from the Microsoft Mothership
for as long as the respective OSs are supported - ["on this device," for the
semantics Nazis]. If I tried to restore one of the backup images to a
different PC, then Microsoft would catch me from their mothership spiders,
and give me the blue-screen-of-buy-it-or-get-nuked next time I go online with
a machine other than the one on which the OS was activated...

I guess, theoretically, I could multi-boot, or whatever, but I just never saw
the need for running anymore OSs - per computer - than the one I'm using at
the time. I have a home network, so sometimes I'm syncing files or
whatever... on the LAN, but one current OS per PC has been berry berry good
for me.

HTH.

--

I AM Bucky Breeder, (*(^; and,
It's like Yogi Berra always used to say:
"The future ain't what it used to be!"

http://tinyurl.com/ocnqvgq

On Tue, 04 Aug 2015 15:00:08 +0000, Bucky Breeder wrote:

Ken posted this via :

I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10.
I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win
7 hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

The answer is no... in my situation. Here's how that went:

FIRST: I cleaned up and imaged back (using AOMEI) my Win8.1 Pro OS to a
data partition on the same internal HDD...

Second: I ran the Windows 10 Update routine using their media creation
tool, which bascially downloads the necessary files and commences with
the upgrade...

Next: After about 1-hour-15-minutes, the system booted into my new
Windows 10 installation. The problem was that my Realtek ethernet card
was lost in the upgrade because Windows kept giving my error messages
that I "might need to upgrade the eternet driver." Well, I exhausted
ever repair method available - even going to the Realtek driver page,
but the driver seemed up to date there. I checked in Device Manager...
Properties... It gave me version and stated "this device is working
properly" yet every time I ran the diagnostics, they dead-ended with
"... need to upgrade the drivers."

Next: I restored the backed-up Win8.1 image; of course the network card
and drivers were just fine, so I searched the Internet... All kinds of
problems with Realtek network adapters, but no answers and no joy...
During this episode, my Windows 8.1 was checked and validate by the
Microsoft mothership.

Next: I used the media creation tool to create an ISO; burned the ISO
to DVD, and then tried to upgrade to Windows 10 using that method. It
was shorter because I was only ocassionally connecting with Microsoft's
servers during the upgrade. On boot to Windows 10, same problem with
the ethernet adapter... unresolvable within Windows 10... SO, I imaged
back to my Win8.1 OS again...

Next: I uninstalled EVERYTHING 3rd-party which had any connection to
the ethernet adapter whatsoever... OUT with NetWorx, mandatory reboot;
OUT with WiFi Guard; mandatory reboot; OUT with PrivateFirewall,
mandatory reboot; then OUT with AVG, mandatory reboot... This was
everything 3rd-party that monitored or impacted my ethernet network
adapter.

Then: I used the Windows 10 "media creation tool" DVD to upgrade my
Win8.1 Pro system to Windows 10... It connected to Microsoft servers a
couple of times that I know of by watching the lights on my router and
ISP gateway... but she booted to Windows 10 with absolutely no problem
whatsoever.

Now, directly to your inquiry: Microsoft hashes your PC hardware info
with your initial Windows Key and creates an "activation" tag unique to
your PC and your Windows version. It did this with my Windows 8.1 and
finally it did this with my Windows 10.

I don't believe there's been any reason or incentive for Microsoft to
cross- reference their data bases to reveal who's running different OSs
on the same PC... It's just a matter of tagging that OS to that PC and
verifying that's it's legitimate and legal to them... or so it would
appear. It might be just a matter of time... but that doesn't seem to
make sense; in that you bought the OS and activated the OS, so you
should be able to run that OS ["on that device," for the semantics
Nazis] for its lifespan.

Now, I can run [from my backup images] Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
or Windows 10 from this PC... legitimately, legally, and with all
benefits thereto, such as upgrades and downloads, etc., from the
Microsoft Mothership for as long as the respective OSs are supported -
["on this device," for the semantics Nazis]. If I tried to restore one
of the backup images to a different PC, then Microsoft would catch me
from their mothership spiders, and give me the
blue-screen-of-buy-it-or-get-nuked next time I go online with a machine
other than the one on which the OS was activated...

I guess, theoretically, I could multi-boot, or whatever, but I just
never saw the need for running anymore OSs - per computer - than the one
I'm using at the time. I have a home network, so sometimes I'm syncing
files or whatever... on the LAN, but one current OS per PC has been
berry berry good for me.

HTH.

I do not know the answer, but I think you probably hit the nail on the
head with what you provided. In all the scenarios you stated, even the
multi boot, only one os is running on a single machine at any given time.
Since that machine has been paired with the os and declared valid, I see
no reason for MS to complain.
Liken this to Netflix, which I can run anywhere as long as I'm not running
another instance at the same time (one can pay extra to permit this, like
two TV's in the same house).

On 04/08/2015 16:00:08, Bucky Breeder wrote:
Ken posted this via :

I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10.
I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win 7
hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

The answer is no... in my situation. Here's how that went:

FIRST: I cleaned up and imaged back (using AOMEI) my Win8.1 Pro OS to a data
partition on the same internal HDD...

Second: I ran the Windows 10 Update routine using their media creation tool,
which bascially downloads the necessary files and commences with the
upgrade...

Next: After about 1-hour-15-minutes, the system booted into my new Windows
10 installation. The problem was that my Realtek ethernet card was lost in
the upgrade because Windows kept giving my error messages that I "might need
to upgrade the eternet driver." Well, I exhausted ever repair method
available - even going to the Realtek driver page, but the driver seemed up
to date there. I checked in Device Manager... Properties... It gave me
version and stated "this device is working properly" yet every time I ran the
diagnostics, they dead-ended with "... need to upgrade the drivers."

Next: I restored the backed-up Win8.1 image; of course the network card and
drivers were just fine, so I searched the Internet... All kinds of problems
with Realtek network adapters, but no answers and no joy... During this
episode, my Windows 8.1 was checked and validate by the Microsoft mothership.

Next: I used the media creation tool to create an ISO; burned the ISO to
DVD, and then tried to upgrade to Windows 10 using that method. It was
shorter because I was only ocassionally connecting with Microsoft's servers
during the upgrade. On boot to Windows 10, same problem with the ethernet
adapter... unresolvable within Windows 10... SO, I imaged back to my Win8.1
OS again...

Next: I uninstalled EVERYTHING 3rd-party which had any connection to the
ethernet adapter whatsoever... OUT with NetWorx, mandatory reboot; OUT with
WiFi Guard; mandatory reboot; OUT with PrivateFirewall, mandatory reboot;
then OUT with AVG, mandatory reboot... This was everything 3rd-party that
monitored or impacted my ethernet network adapter.

Then: I used the Windows 10 "media creation tool" DVD to upgrade my Win8.1
Pro system to Windows 10... It connected to Microsoft servers a couple of
times that I know of by watching the lights on my router and ISP gateway...
but she booted to Windows 10 with absolutely no problem whatsoever.

Now, directly to your inquiry: Microsoft hashes your PC hardware info with
your initial Windows Key and creates an "activation" tag unique to your PC
and your Windows version. It did this with my Windows 8.1 and finally it did
this with my Windows 10.

I don't believe there's been any reason or incentive for Microsoft to cross-
reference their data bases to reveal who's running different OSs on the same
PC... It's just a matter of tagging that OS to that PC and verifying that's
it's legitimate and legal to them... or so it would appear. It might be just
a matter of time... but that doesn't seem to make sense; in that you bought
the OS and activated the OS, so you should be able to run that OS ["on that
device," for the semantics Nazis] for its lifespan.

Now, I can run [from my backup images] Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or
Windows 10 from this PC... legitimately, legally, and with all benefits
thereto, such as upgrades and downloads, etc., from the Microsoft Mothership
for as long as the respective OSs are supported - ["on this device," for the
semantics Nazis]. If I tried to restore one of the backup images to a
different PC, then Microsoft would catch me from their mothership spiders,
and give me the blue-screen-of-buy-it-or-get-nuked next time I go online with
a machine other than the one on which the OS was activated...

I guess, theoretically, I could multi-boot, or whatever, but I just never saw
the need for running anymore OSs - per computer - than the one I'm using at
the time. I have a home network, so sometimes I'm syncing files or
whatever... on the LAN, but one current OS per PC has been berry berry good
for me.

HTH.

My take on this is that you can install 10, revert back to 7 or 8,
reinstall 10, revert back ad infinitum as many times as you like within
the 30 day, do you want it or do you not period. Once your 30 day
period from first install of win 10 is over your licence of 7 or 8 will
become invalid if you retain win 10.
So in theory your multi-boot will cease being legal after 30 days.
Or I may be wrong ;-)

--
mick

Bucky Breeder wrote:
Ken posted this via :

I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10.
I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win 7
hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

The answer is no... in my situation. Here's how that went:

FIRST: I cleaned up and imaged back (using AOMEI) my Win8.1 Pro OS to a data
partition on the same internal HDD...

Second: I ran the Windows 10 Update routine using their media creation tool,
which bascially downloads the necessary files and commences with the
upgrade...

Next: After about 1-hour-15-minutes, the system booted into my new Windows
10 installation. The problem was that my Realtek ethernet card was lost in
the upgrade because Windows kept giving my error messages that I "might need
to upgrade the eternet driver." Well, I exhausted ever repair method
available - even going to the Realtek driver page, but the driver seemed up
to date there. I checked in Device Manager... Properties... It gave me
version and stated "this device is working properly" yet every time I ran the
diagnostics, they dead-ended with "... need to upgrade the drivers."

Next: I restored the backed-up Win8.1 image; of course the network card and
drivers were just fine, so I searched the Internet... All kinds of problems
with Realtek network adapters, but no answers and no joy... During this
episode, my Windows 8.1 was checked and validate by the Microsoft mothership.

Next: I used the media creation tool to create an ISO; burned the ISO to
DVD, and then tried to upgrade to Windows 10 using that method. It was
shorter because I was only ocassionally connecting with Microsoft's servers
during the upgrade. On boot to Windows 10, same problem with the ethernet
adapter... unresolvable within Windows 10... SO, I imaged back to my Win8.1
OS again...

Next: I uninstalled EVERYTHING 3rd-party which had any connection to the
ethernet adapter whatsoever... OUT with NetWorx, mandatory reboot; OUT with
WiFi Guard; mandatory reboot; OUT with PrivateFirewall, mandatory reboot;
then OUT with AVG, mandatory reboot... This was everything 3rd-party that
monitored or impacted my ethernet network adapter.

Then: I used the Windows 10 "media creation tool" DVD to upgrade my Win8.1
Pro system to Windows 10... It connected to Microsoft servers a couple of
times that I know of by watching the lights on my router and ISP gateway...
but she booted to Windows 10 with absolutely no problem whatsoever.

Now, directly to your inquiry: Microsoft hashes your PC hardware info with
your initial Windows Key and creates an "activation" tag unique to your PC
and your Windows version. It did this with my Windows 8.1 and finally it did
this with my Windows 10.

I don't believe there's been any reason or incentive for Microsoft to cross-
reference their data bases to reveal who's running different OSs on the same
PC... It's just a matter of tagging that OS to that PC and verifying that's
it's legitimate and legal to them... or so it would appear. It might be just
a matter of time... but that doesn't seem to make sense; in that you bought
the OS and activated the OS, so you should be able to run that OS ["on that
device," for the semantics Nazis] for its lifespan.

Now, I can run [from my backup images] Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or
Windows 10 from this PC... legitimately, legally, and with all benefits
thereto, such as upgrades and downloads, etc., from the Microsoft Mothership
for as long as the respective OSs are supported - ["on this device," for the
semantics Nazis]. If I tried to restore one of the backup images to a
different PC, then Microsoft would catch me from their mothership spiders,
and give me the blue-screen-of-buy-it-or-get-nuked next time I go online with
a machine other than the one on which the OS was activated...

I guess, theoretically, I could multi-boot, or whatever, but I just never saw
the need for running anymore OSs - per computer - than the one I'm using at
the time. I have a home network, so sometimes I'm syncing files or
whatever... on the LAN, but one current OS per PC has been berry berry good
for me.

HTH.

Thanks for the very thorough explanation of what you did. From that it
appears I do not have anything to worry about unless Mick is correct
about the 30 day thing. I think I shall wait until someone has upgraded
and 30 days have passed just to be sure all is well. Thanks to all who
commented.

Ken wrote:


Thanks for the very thorough explanation of what you did. From that it
appears I do not have anything to worry about unless Mick is correct
about the 30 day thing. I think I shall wait until someone has upgraded
and 30 days have passed just to be sure all is well. Thanks to all who
commented.

One automated activity on Windows 8.1, is
deleting Windows.old after 30 days. It's
my belief that the 30 day rollback limit,
is a practical issue with the Windows.old
being deleted. Windows 10 likely has the
same treatment of Windows.old, which is
why at that point, the materials to roll
back would no longer be on the C: drive.

While we can pretend it's a licensing issue,
there's no evidence at all of what Microsoft's
license policy might be. We can't say with
any precision, what the actual activation
servers are programmed to do.

Paul

Paul wrote on 08/04/2015 8:37 AM:
Ken wrote:
I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10.
I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win
7 hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I
would not lose Win 7.

Has anyone experienced this?

The gentleman here has done the license amplification,
and claims both Win7 and Win10 are activated.

Now, we wait 30 days, to see if the Win7 on that machine
becomes non-genuine or not.

This is what I like about this scheme. The waiting...

http://www.askvg.com/tip-dual-boot-b...ndows-78-1-os/


Most experiments on computer, the outcome is instant.
Not with licensing.

And do you think I can find a definitive statement
on this ? Not even the illustrious Andre Costas, when
given a chance to describe the licensing scheme,
describes the Win7 license as "consumed". Nobody
will come right out and say whether the license
can be amplified (dual boot activated forever),
or not amplified (only Win10 will run and Win7
license key is "trashed").

We'll just have to wait, and see if askvg has a
change of heart. When his Win7 status changes.

*******

I have an infinite number of stupid-ass scenarios
to run through, to point out whether this scheme
supports license amplification or not.

Let's start with a box of Win7 retail software.

Win7 on Win10 Mobo#1 Install Win10
Mobo#1 Upgrade replace Win7 Upgrade
(July2015) Mobo#1 Mobo#2 Activate Install
(Aug2015) Win10 Mobo#2 Mobo#2
Deactivates
--------- (Oct2015) ---------

So in this example, changing the motherboard within
the first year (after July 2015), I still qualify for
the free upgrade. When I change to Mobo#2, Win10 initially
reports "Not Genuine". Knowing I have done an "Oopsey",
I reach for my Win7 disc and reinstall. I must activate
Win7, because I will not qualify for the upgrade without
doing so. Then, I do an upgrade install of Win10, using
my Win10 DVD and setup.exe on it.

So using that logic, my Win7 license must remain
"Genuine" and license amplification is possible
until at least Aug 2016.

What they could do, is make the Win7 license
"Not Genuine" on Aug 2016, if the Win10 upgrade
still appears to be running. Even detecting this
is tricky, and likely to generate support calls.

Microsoft is free to manually manage these
scenarios, have their phone support accept
pleas to help with the above scenario, but
no product management wants to purposefully
create a quagmire for themselves. That's because
activation of Microsoft products is supported for
free - if the activation system denies usage of
your product, they're supposed to fix it.

So you can make arguments that license amplification
is possible. But we may not know the answer for
either a one month delay or a one year delay, before
the activation server answers the question for us.

Unless the illustrious Andre Costas happens to
let slip what the real policy is.

So many tech writers have used this "consumed"
notion for the Win7 license, it's pretty hard
to feel sure about anything.

"We probably won't know, until we know..."

Paul

The 'consumed' term imo was a poor choice since MSFT chose to use
another term.

The last two o/s *8.0 and 8.1) EULA regarding upgrading used the term
'replaces'
qp
you install the software covered by this agreement as an update to your
existing operating system software, the update replaces the original
software that you are updating. You do not retain any rights to the
original software after you have updated and you may not continue to use
it or transfer it in any way.
/qp

Win10's EULA lacks that entire section.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Usete...10_English.htm




--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

mick wrote on 08/04/2015 11:33 AM:
On 04/08/2015 16:00:08, Bucky Breeder wrote:
Ken posted this via :

I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win
10. I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM
version. I customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have
two hard drives for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one
for the Win 10 upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still
use the other Win 7 hard drive on that computer? Or does registering
Win 10 on that computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope
not, but I am curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it
if I knew I would not lose Win 7.

The answer is no... in my situation. Here's how that went:

FIRST: I cleaned up and imaged back (using AOMEI) my Win8.1 Pro OS to
a data partition on the same internal HDD...

Second: I ran the Windows 10 Update routine using their media creation
tool, which bascially downloads the necessary files and commences with
the upgrade...

Next: After about 1-hour-15-minutes, the system booted into my new
Windows 10 installation. The problem was that my Realtek ethernet
card was lost in the upgrade because Windows kept giving my error
messages that I "might need to upgrade the eternet driver." Well, I
exhausted ever repair method available - even going to the Realtek
driver page, but the driver seemed up to date there. I checked in
Device Manager... Properties... It gave me version and stated "this
device is working properly" yet every time I ran the diagnostics, they
dead-ended with "... need to upgrade the drivers."

Next: I restored the backed-up Win8.1 image; of course the network
card and drivers were just fine, so I searched the Internet... All
kinds of problems with Realtek network adapters, but no answers and no
joy... During this episode, my Windows 8.1 was checked and validate
by the Microsoft mothership.

Next: I used the media creation tool to create an ISO; burned the ISO
to DVD, and then tried to upgrade to Windows 10 using that method. It
was shorter because I was only ocassionally connecting with
Microsoft's servers during the upgrade. On boot to Windows 10, same
problem with the ethernet adapter... unresolvable within Windows
10... SO, I imaged back to my Win8.1 OS again...

Next: I uninstalled EVERYTHING 3rd-party which had any connection to
the ethernet adapter whatsoever... OUT with NetWorx, mandatory
reboot; OUT with WiFi Guard; mandatory reboot; OUT with
PrivateFirewall, mandatory reboot; then OUT with AVG, mandatory
reboot... This was everything 3rd-party that monitored or impacted my
ethernet network adapter.

Then: I used the Windows 10 "media creation tool" DVD to upgrade my
Win8.1 Pro system to Windows 10... It connected to Microsoft servers
a couple of times that I know of by watching the lights on my router
and ISP gateway... but she booted to Windows 10 with absolutely no
problem whatsoever.

Now, directly to your inquiry: Microsoft hashes your PC hardware info
with your initial Windows Key and creates an "activation" tag unique
to your PC and your Windows version. It did this with my Windows 8.1
and finally it did this with my Windows 10.

I don't believe there's been any reason or incentive for Microsoft to
cross-
reference their data bases to reveal who's running different OSs on
the same PC... It's just a matter of tagging that OS to that PC and
verifying that's it's legitimate and legal to them... or so it would
appear. It might be just a matter of time... but that doesn't seem to
make sense; in that you bought the OS and activated the OS, so you
should be able to run that OS ["on that device," for the semantics
Nazis] for its lifespan.

Now, I can run [from my backup images] Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows
8.1 or Windows 10 from this PC... legitimately, legally, and with all
benefits thereto, such as upgrades and downloads, etc., from the
Microsoft Mothership for as long as the respective OSs are supported -
["on this device," for the semantics Nazis]. If I tried to restore
one of the backup images to a different PC, then Microsoft would catch
me from their mothership spiders, and give me the
blue-screen-of-buy-it-or-get-nuked next time I go online with a
machine other than the one on which the OS was activated...

I guess, theoretically, I could multi-boot, or whatever, but I just
never saw the need for running anymore OSs - per computer - than the
one I'm using at the time. I have a home network, so sometimes I'm
syncing files or whatever... on the LAN, but one current OS per PC has
been berry berry good for me.

HTH.

My take on this is that you can install 10, revert back to 7 or 8,
reinstall 10, revert back ad infinitum as many times as you like within
the 30 day, do you want it or do you not period. Once your 30 day
period from first install of win 10 is over your licence of 7 or 8 will
become invalid if you retain win 10.
So in theory your multi-boot will cease being legal after 30 days.
Or I may be wrong ;-)

The 30 day roll back is the time frame that Win10 retains the files of
the prior o/s for rolling back via the Win10 roll back option. In 30
days the files to roll back are automatically purged by Windows 10.

- the 30 days means nothing else.

--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

On 04/08/2015 17:55:44, Paul wrote:
Ken wrote:

Thanks for the very thorough explanation of what you did. From that it
appears I do not have anything to worry about unless Mick is correct about
the 30 day thing. I think I shall wait until someone has upgraded and 30
days have passed just to be sure all is well. Thanks to all who commented.

One automated activity on Windows 8.1, is
deleting Windows.old after 30 days. It's
my belief that the 30 day rollback limit,
is a practical issue with the Windows.old
being deleted. Windows 10 likely has the
same treatment of Windows.old, which is
why at that point, the materials to roll
back would no longer be on the C: drive.

While we can pretend it's a licensing issue,
there's no evidence at all of what Microsoft's
license policy might be. We can't say with
any precision, what the actual activation
servers are programmed to do.

Paul

For those who have upgraded and intend to go past the 30 day mark but
still have win 7 or 8 on a dual boot system which they still intend
using would it be pertinent to remove the Windows Genuine Advantage
KB971033 from those OS and hide the update when it surfaces again so as
to not install it. ;-)

--
mick

On Tue, 04 Aug 2015 06:41:31 -0500, Ken wrote:

I am a bit confused about exactly what happens if I upgrade to Win 10.
I have a computer with Win 7 Home Premium, and it is a OEM version. I
customarily clone my hard drive as a backup, so I have two hard drives
for the computer with Win 7 installed. If I used one for the Win 10
upgrade and I found I did not like it, could I still use the other Win 7
hard drive on that computer? Or does registering Win 10 on that
computer negate the Win 7 installation? I would hope not, but I am
curious as to what Win 10 looks like and would try it if I knew I would
not lose Win 7.

Has anyone experienced this?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/w...covery-options

The above tells you that you can roll back for a period of up to 1 month.
However it also says that the original OS can be reinstalled using the original
installation media and product key. This latter method can be used even when
the roll back option is not available.