Windows 10

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
5,472
272
I have had similar issues in the past as well, I just call their activation number to get it sorted. Windows activation: (888) 571-2048
Called them today. They refused to help me, unless I paid $119 for a new key. They said that the only way to get an activated Win10 is to roll back to Win7, and then upgrade. So I guess all the guides out there saying that you can do a clean install with Win10 after activating a Win10 upgrade are wrong, or something. What a pain in the fucking ass. I just don't get the logic here.
 

Kedwyn

Silver Squire
3,915
80
Called them today. They refused to help me, unless I paid $119 for a new key. They said that the only way to get an activated Win10 is to roll back to Win7, and then upgrade. So I guess all the guides out there saying that you can do a clean install with Win10 after activating a Win10 upgrade are wrong, or something. What a pain in the fucking ass. I just don't get the logic here.
It can be done, I did one. You just have to make sure it activates and get your key using one of free programs. Avoids relying on Microsoft. If your system doesn't actually activate and you try this you'll be screwed and forced to reinstall the old OS again.
 

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
5,472
272
It was 100% for sure activated. I didn't write down a key though. I had read that the key that would be shown if I looked was just a generic one that wouldn't be useful for the clean install. Meh, who fucking knows. It's entirely possible that the method I tried worked originally, but then Microsoft closed the loophole when they saw a shitload of people doing it that way. The guy on the phone was emphatic that the only way to do a clean install was with a newly purchased key.
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,732
32,134
I lost my key. I upgraded from 7 to 10. When I tried to roll back to 7 it ate my key and said mine was invalid. I called the activation number. At that time the wait was between 5 and 8 hours. I bought a new key off reddit for $25 I think it was. I used a company key on the other install.
 

Gorillaz_sl

shitlord
203
0
I'm on a Teclast x98 Air 3g running Windows 10 and it runs great. I can play HoTS reasonably and battery life is good.

Its not exactly studly spec wise, so i don't understand people's problems.
 

Luthair

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,247
85
Called them today. They refused to help me, unless I paid $119 for a new key. They said that the only way to get an activated Win10 is to roll back to Win7, and then upgrade. So I guess all the guides out there saying that you can do a clean install with Win10 after activating a Win10 upgrade are wrong, or something. What a pain in the fucking ass. I just don't get the logic here.
More recent OEM (dell, hp, etc) computers have a product key embedded in the device, apparently those are the ones that can do the fresh install.

Win10 does have a reset feature which is supposed to take you back to fresh.
 

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
28,329
43,175
It's not just OEM systems. I built my gaming PC. I upgraded from 8.1, reformatted and installed fresh Win 10 and it automatically activated. Sounds like something went screwy, Eomer.
 

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
5,472
272
It's not just OEM systems. I built my gaming PC. I upgraded from 8.1, reformatted and installed fresh Win 10 and it automatically activated. Sounds like something went screwy, Eomer.
Like I said though, Microsoft told me on the phone that that method is absolutely NOT supposed to work. Upgrading is the only way, a clean install will not activate they said. Who fucking knows. Laptop is back to a fresh Win7 install, but now of course it doesn't seem to want to upgrade to Win10 through Windows update. It's all up to date as far as Win7 goes, and further checks for updates don't show the Win10 upgrade as yet, nor is there the app in the notification tray. I tried a method that's supposed to force it (How to force Windows to start downloading the Windows 10 update files | VentureBeat | Business | by Jeff Grubb Emil Protalinski), but that doesn't work, it just says I'm up to date. I tried a troubleshooter download directly from Microsoft, and the result was that my computer is supposedly NOT up to date. And the USB stick I created for the clean install absolutely will not do an upgrade installation. If I boot with it, and then pick upgrade, it tells me to boot to Windows 7 and run it from there. When I do run it from inside Win7, it wants a product key with no way to skip it (Win7 key doesn't work, of course). I'm in this absolutely fucking retarded circle jerk right now, and I'm the cracker.

That being said, the install on a brand new computer I put together yesterday went absolutely flawlessly. I haven't bought a key for it yet, but otherwise it was probably the easiest build and install I've ever done, even with an Intel 750 SSD.

Is the best place to get a Win10 key just from the MS Store?
 

The Dauntless One

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,159
137
Like I said though, Microsoft told me on the phone that that method is absolutely NOT supposed to work. Upgrading is the only way, a clean install will not activate they said. Who fucking knows. Laptop is back to a fresh Win7 install, but now of course it doesn't seem to want to upgrade to Win10 through Windows update. It's all up to date as far as Win7 goes, and further checks for updates don't show the Win10 upgrade as yet, nor is there the app in the notification tray. I tried a method that's supposed to force it (How to force Windows to start downloading the Windows 10 update files | VentureBeat | Business | by Jeff Grubb Emil Protalinski), but that doesn't work, it just says I'm up to date. I tried a troubleshooter download directly from Microsoft, and the result was that my computer is supposedly NOT up to date. And the USB stick I created for the clean install absolutely will not do an upgrade installation. If I boot with it, and then pick upgrade, it tells me to boot to Windows 7 and run it from there. When I do run it from inside Win7, it wants a product key with no way to skip it (Win7 key doesn't work, of course). I'm in this absolutely fucking retarded circle jerk right now, and I'm the cracker.

That being said, the install on a brand new computer I put together yesterday went absolutely flawlessly. I haven't bought a key for it yet, but otherwise it was probably the easiest build and install I've ever done, even with an Intel 750 SSD.

Is the best place to get a Win10 key just from the MS Store?
Windows 10
Did you try this? I used this to upgrade my desktop and Surface. After you upgrade, just do a factory reset in recovery settings for a clean install.
 

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
5,472
272
And the USB stick I created for the clean install absolutely will not do an upgrade installation. If I boot with it, and then pick upgrade, it tells me to boot to Windows 7 and run it from there. When I do run it from inside Win7, it wants a product key with no way to skip it (Win7 key doesn't work, of course).
As you can see, the USB stick I made using that tool won't work. I'll give that page a try again, perhaps there's a different option from other than creating a USB bootable that will work.
 

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
5,472
272
As you can see, the USB stick I made using that tool won't work. I'll give that page a try again, perhaps there's a different option from other than creating a USB bootable that will work.
Yup, it worked. Why it wouldn't work with the USB stick, or why this entire process needs to be so fucking convoluted, I'll never know.
 

Woefully Inept

Ssraeszha Raider
8,874
34,331
Ok so I'll be taking the Windows 10 plunge Friday when my new hard drive arrives. Did I see earlier somewhere in this thread that there's stuff I should be aware of to disable after installing?
 

Denamian

Night Janitor
<Nazi Janitors>
7,204
19,004
Just do the custom setup instead of express settings and read through all the options. There's some data gathering stuff that's enabled by default and I shut that all off on setup. I also disabled cortana because when I search stuff on my computer I don't want to be searching the internet at the same time.
 

jooka

marco esquandolas
<Bronze Donator>
14,443
6,166
Ok so I'll be taking the Windows 10 plunge Friday when my new hard drive arrives. Did I see earlier somewhere in this thread that there's stuff I should be aware of to disable after installing?
I am assuming you are getting a fresh drive for a fresh install here. Make sure to do the upgrade on the old drive, get a legit 10 key, write it down, and then make a USB installer for the new drive.