Windows 10

ShakyJake

<Donor>
7,655
19,302
Edge really does fly. Extension support can come soon enough.
Yeah, how come IE never really had decent extension support? Tons of add-ons for Firefox and Chrome, but pretty much jack shit for IE. Were they super difficult to create for it?

I can't use Edge until some kind of color-inverter is created for it (the usual white backgrounds on sites burn my eyes).
 

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,600
116,707
It will, if you activated it on the upgrade copy before you wiped for the clean install.

Make sure to not wipe your upgrade copy until it's activated as authentic. The activation servers are pretty busy in the middle of the day.
No one has been able to answer yet about whether this works on a new SSD. I want to do a clean install, but on a new drive.

I don't like this whole no product key shit. It's made it incredibly frustrating to figure out WTF I'm doing.
 

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,600
116,707
Related, but what about in a few years if I rebuild my system? If my key is somehow tied to some piece of hardware that it uses for a hash check, does that mean my key basically gets locked into whatever piece of hardware that is forever?

Is this Microsoft's plan to make you buy a new key for every new system you make? That seems pretty shitty.
 

Chancellor Alkorin

Part-Time Sith
<Granularity Engineer>
6,029
5,915
That has been their plan for a while now. OEM keys already work that way. They are, for the most part, non-portable.
 

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
28,326
43,170
So if you buy a key, it's locked to a single hardware config? What piece of hardware is it tying ID to? I can see that being ok on the 'free' upgrade, but if I buy a license, that shit better be transferable.
 

Chancellor Alkorin

Part-Time Sith
<Granularity Engineer>
6,029
5,915
Can't confirm as I no longer have access to MSDN, but I suspect that will be the case, as it always has been with retail keys.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
23,615
34,165
You can always get around that, talk to tech in India tell them you had to replace components on your computer and they will fix your key and give you authorization code. I've done it only dozens of times at this point.
 

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast
<Gold Donor>
30,480
22,330
Yeah it's always been easy to transfer a real license. It's probably harder to transfer one of these upgrade licenses.
 

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast
<Gold Donor>
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I certainly don't have a problem with porn. Pretty sure that's the only reason I still come here.

It's sex that's gross. Totally different.
 

escrima

Blackwing Lair Raider
414
2,952
No one has been able to answer yet about whether this works on a new SSD. I want to do a clean install, but on a new drive.

I don't like this whole no product key shit. It's made it incredibly frustrating to figure out WTF I'm doing.
It does, I did it.
 

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,600
116,707
Awesome, thanks. I'll do a clean install this weekend then.

Now to just figure out what it's using to figure out what the "system" assigned to the "key" is.
 

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast
<Gold Donor>
30,480
22,330
When you do an upgrade on your existing copy of Windows, it creates a hardware hash based on hardware IDs in certain components. Then it registers that hash with the activation server, assigns you a key, and pairs the hardware hash with that key.

Then when you do the clean install on that same machine, you skip the key input every time it asks, and then once Windows 10 boots up for real it contacts the activation server, sends the hardware hash, looks to see if there's a key on file for that hash, downloads the key and then activates without you actually having to do anything.

The only way it will fail is if you change some major piece of hardware between installing the upgrade and wiping the machine.
 

Xexx

Vyemm Raider
7,454
1,655

Pretty good review that shows off the goods and bads. I really dig the xbox shit thats included into it.
 

Hachima

Molten Core Raider
884
638
I did a new Win 8.1 PRO install on a new SSD I've never installed windows on before, using a key I've used on other machines that are decommissioned now. Upgraded to 10 PRO and made sure it said I was activated (added to MSFT whitelist) Did a clean install w/o entering a product key and it installed as 10 Home and not Authenticated. I entered the 10 PRO generic keyGeneric key to install Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 8and after a couple min up adding new features it then said my new Win 10 clean install was activated.
 

Hachima

Molten Core Raider
884
638
Sounds right except the key part. On install you get a generic key. Everyone gets the same generic key. Your machine just needs to be on the activation list in order to use that key. There are 4 generic keys to match different windows versions. If you extract your key you will see it matches one from the link I posted above if you did the free upgrade.