Win 10 Install on Laptop with Expired Win 7 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Nufy · 10-08-2018, 07:23 PM

I have an old laptop from a previous project that was running Win 7 Enterprise.

The license has expired and I now want to install Win 10 Home.

I picked up a copy of Win 10 Home but the laptop / installer wont accept the product key...

Any ideas ???

Laptop is a Dell Precision i7 with plenty of hard drive space and Ram.

Thanks.

Traditional_Ale · 10-08-2018, 07:48 PM

Killdisk the hard drive, then boot from your Win10 source (thumb drive, dvd, whatever).

http://www.killdisk.com/

Shazam · 10-08-2018, 08:20 PM

Probably didn’t need to buy it, I did some win 10 installs on some old computers recently and Win 10 was activated and licensed for free.

Wormius · 10-08-2018, 09:50 PM

Stay with Windows 7 is my only advice.

Hemi-Cuda · 10-09-2018, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shazam

Probably didn’t need to buy it, I did some win 10 installs on some old computers recently and Win 10 was activated and licensed for free.

He said he had Win 7 Enterprise, which won't upgrade for free. Only consumer editions of Win 7 will free-upgrade

Hemi-Cuda · 10-09-2018, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nufy

I have an old laptop from a previous project that was running Win 7 Enterprise.

The license has expired and I now want to install Win 10 Home.

I picked up a copy of Win 10 Home but the laptop / installer wont accept the product key...

Any ideas ???

Laptop is a Dell Precision i7 with plenty of hard drive space and Ram.

Thanks.

Are you booting from the disk to install Windows 10, or are you running the installer from within Windows 7? If it's the latter then it won't work, Enterprise editions of Windows can't be converted to Home/Pro, even if you're upgrading. You'll need to boot from the disc (or make a bootable USB) and do a fresh format/install

sworkhard · 10-09-2018, 02:19 PM

A laptop won't come with enterprise on it as it's only available via volume licensing. As such, if it came with windows 8 or newer on it, it probably has the key embedded in the bios and it's trying to use that one (assuming your doing a clean install)

If using that embedded license doesn't work, or there isn't one, you'll need to add your product key for windows 10 home to the install drive. You can do so by adding a file called pid.txt to the sources folder and populating it with the following content:

[PID]
Value=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

where the x's are replaced with your product key.

You can't upgrade a laptop that's on enterprise with a home key, so you'll need to perform a clean install if that isn't what your trying right now.

Nufy · 10-09-2018, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Are you booting from the disk to install Windows 10, or are you running the installer from within Windows 7? If it's the latter then it won't work, Enterprise editions of Windows can't be converted to Home/Pro, even if you're upgrading. You'll need to boot from the disc (or make a bootable USB) and do a fresh format/install

USB install.

Booting from USB and then entering product key when prompted.

Install fails when it says it cant / doesn't recognize the product key.

TorqueDog · 10-09-2018, 02:40 PM

Try this:
https://www.systemcenterdudes.com/ch...-professional/
It tricks Windows into thinking you're running a supported version of Windows for the purposes of upgrading via the Registry. I've used this a few times with good results.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wormius

Stay with Windows 7 is my only advice.

Worst advice in the thread.

Hemi-Cuda · 10-09-2018, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nufy

USB install.

Booting from USB and then entering product key when prompted.

Install fails when it says it cant / doesn't recognize the product key.

But are you trying to upgrade or did you format the drive for a fresh install? The only way to move from Windows Enterprise to Home or Pro is with a full format

Nufy · 10-09-2018, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

But are you trying to upgrade or did you format the drive for a fresh install? The only way to move from Windows Enterprise to Home or Pro is with a full format

Yeah I was hoping to save some of the files on the laptop.

Currently due to the license expiration, I can't access or copy them.

No big loss if I have to format before install. Just a nice to have.

Nufy · 10-09-2018, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Try this:
https://www.systemcenterdudes.com/ch...-professional/
It tricks Windows into thinking you're running a supported version of Windows for the purposes of upgrading via the Registry. I've used this a few times with good results.
.

I only have my Win 10 Home product key...

How do I get this method to work ??

Hemi-Cuda · 10-09-2018, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nufy

I only have my Win 10 Home product key...

How do I get this method to work ??

Ya that method only works if you have a Windows 7 Home or Pro key lying around. And if you login to the machine with unactivated Windows, it doesn't let you access file explorer? In that case if you want to save some files you could boot into a live CD/USB like Ubuntu, that should let you copy stuff from the hard drive

Nufy · 10-09-2018, 11:47 PM

Can I use the Win 7 Pro key from another laptop temporarily ?

Ultimately I will be installing Win 10 anyway right ?

bob-loblaw · 10-10-2018, 12:06 AM

Here's an article on ZD Net about it still working. There's also one on How-to Geek that says you don't need a product key at all. I've upgraded to 10 from 7 Home/Pro without problems but haven't tried one from 7 Enterprise.

Hemi-Cuda · 10-10-2018, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nufy

Can I use the Win 7 Pro key from another laptop temporarily ?

Ultimately I will be installing Win 10 anyway right ?

If the key is on a sticker on the other laptop, it's an OEM key and tied to the hardware. It won't work on any other machine

Nufy · 10-10-2018, 01:20 PM

Gotcha...

Thanks for the info.

I will probably remove the drive and access the info needed via another computer.

Then format the thing and do a clean install of Win 10 home.

Nufy · 10-11-2018, 11:09 PM

So formatting both SSD's in this pc has proven fruitless.

1 @ 500GB and 1 @ 1 TB

Shouldn't i now be able to boot from the USB and install Win 10 home ?

Hemi-Cuda · 10-12-2018, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nufy

So formatting both SSD's in this pc has proven fruitless.

1 @ 500GB and 1 @ 1 TB

Shouldn't i now be able to boot from the USB and install Win 10 home ?

If you boot from USB, select new Windows 10 install and create a new partition on the drive you want to use for the OS, then there shouldn't be any issue with using the Win 10 Home key you have (assuming it's valid)

If it still won't let you use that key at the time of install, you can always skip that part and not enter any key, Win 10 will still install and you can try activating later

Nufy · 10-12-2018, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

If you boot from USB, select new Windows 10 install and create a new partition on the drive you want to use for the OS, then there shouldn't be any issue with using the Win 10 Home key you have (assuming it's valid)

If it still won't let you use that key at the time of install, you can always skip that part and not enter any key, Win 10 will still install and you can try activating later

Agree...but its not working.

Might have to use a bigger hammer to sole this problem.

When I enter the key it says unable to validate.

if I skip entering the key, It wont let me install Win 10 home but will start to install Win 10 pro.

Then it fails after a period of time.

Getting extremely frustrating.