Windows 10 - installation question

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Ozei

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I've downloaded Windows 10 and have burnt the ISO onto a DVD.

My existing setup is Windows 7 Pro SP1 on a Seagate SSD. I've bought a second SSD for Windows 10.

What I want to do is keep Win 7 on one SSD and install Win 10 on the other - that way I can switch between 7 and 10 just by swapping drives.

Here's the question: if I use the Win 7 product key to activate Win 10, will Win 7 itself remain activated - or does it become deactivated/unusable?

TIA.
 
Think you are stuffed after a month:oops: :$
 
Mikesphotaes said:
Think you are stuffed after a month:oops: :$
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Really?

If that's true I won't bother with Windows 10.

Windows 7 works fine - I'm not going to risk it becoming unusable just to try Windows 10 for so-called 'free'. :mad::mad::mad:
 
It is free but if you don't like it (or it gives problems), you have a month to go back to original.
 
Assuming you have space for both drives to be installed at the same time, set your system up to dual boot Windows 7 & 10.
 
Actually, thinking about it - maybe you only have 30 days to reverse a Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade (i.e. where the Win 7 hard drive was overwritten by Win 10).

I'm not going to use the Windows 7 drive for Windows 10 - I'll do a clean install of Win 10 on a second SSD. There'll be no need to reverse anything - all it needs is the Windows 7 key to remain usable.
 
According to this page, Windows 10 automatically deletes the Windows 7 files after 30 days - it can't if they're on a different drive.
 
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If it's something you want to try, then take out you current SSD and install the new one alng with Windows 10. Don't use any key and use it unactivated for the trail period to see how you get on!

I completely skipped Windows 8 and 8.1 because I found no need for them compaired to Windows 7. Windows 10 is a good step up from all previous versions and at this point I would find it hard to go back to 7..
 
Not 100 % sure of your intention, if you have managed to download a separate win 10 without over writing win 7 then your idea should work.
If you have upgraded from win 7 to 10, ie you now no longer have win 7 but just 10 on you hd then you only have 30 days from the upgrade to revert back to win 7.
 
Strictly speaking, to have Win 7 (or 8) coexist legally alongside Windows 10 you need a licence for each O/S according to Microsoft. However, there is plenty of evidence on the WWW to suggest dual boot can be achieved with only one licence key.

I have successfully switched 2x laptops, 1x tablet, and 3x PCs from Windows 7 to Windows 10, I skipped Windows 8 & 8.1.
 
keenan said:
If it's something you want to try, then take out you current SSD and install the new one alng with Windows 10. Don't use any key and use it unactivated for the trail period to see how you get on! ..
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Good idea. I'll try that.

PS. I don't want dual boot.
 
retrosi said:
....... if you have managed to download a separate win 10 without over writing win 7.....
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I just downloaded the Win 10 ISO - it's a 3.38GB file.

Before the download I made an image of Win 7 drive using Macrium Reflect (I plonked the ISO on a 3rd hard drive).

After the download I rolled the Win 7 drive back using the image. That got me back to where I started but now I have the Win 10 ISO.
 
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A few things..

Its a free upgrade. Not intended to run concurrently.

The win 7 files do not get overwritten, they're retained in a windows.old folder for 30 days after which they're removed by an automated clean up. Or you can revert back before this. Or you can force the cleanup at any point.
 
neil_g said:
A few things..

Its a free upgrade. Not intended to run concurrently.

The win 7 files do not get overwritten, they're retained in a windows.old folder for 30 days after which they're removed by an automated clean up. Or you can revert back before this. Or you can force the cleanup at any point.
Click to expand...

But if the Win 7 files aren't on the same drive, they can't be removed. The question is still, does using a Win 10 free upgrade (as a clean install on another drive) invalidate the Win 7 key, thereby rendering the Win 7 drive useless.
 
Ozei said:
does using a Win 10 free upgrade (as a clean install on another drive) invalidate the Win 7 key, thereby rendering the Win 7 drive useless.
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No. Even if the automatic activation fails you can still phone the automated Microsoft activation system and activate it that way. As long as you are only using one copy of windows at a time you are OK.
 
redsnappa said:
No. Even if the automatic activation fails you can still phone the automated Microsoft activation system and activate it that way. As long as you are only using one copy of windows at a time you are OK.
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Ok, thanks.

I'll only be using one of the drives at any one time - it's a bit of a nuisance if I have to phone the automated Microsoft activation system every time I want to switch between them.
 
Ozei said:
But if the Win 7 files aren't on the same drive, they can't be removed. The question is still, does using a Win 10 free upgrade (as a clean install on another drive) invalidate the Win 7 key, thereby rendering the Win 7 drive useless.
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but doing the install to a separate drive, then thats not an upgrade, thats a fresh install :)

id question whether after 30 days your original W7 install will still activate.

like i say, its intended as a one off upgrade. not a way to keep swapping between OS.
 
neil_g said:
but doing the install to a separate drive, then thats not an upgrade, thats a fresh install :)

id question whether after 30 days your original W7 install will still activate.

like i say, its intended as a one off upgrade. not a way to keep swapping between OS.
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Microsoft's page here isn't clear on the matter - it doesn't say that performing a fresh install using the W7 key will render W7 useless. It just says this (see point 3):
  1. Follow these instructions to perform a clean installation of Windows 10.
  2. If you want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, follow the instructions in the Upgrade to Windows 10 using the tool section.
  3. If you haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 yet and perform a clean installation, you’ll need to enter a qualifying product key for Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, or buy a licence in order to activate Windows 10.
  4. Click here for info about qualified editions.
 
Neil,

This Microsoft page describes what to do if you want to go back to W7 if it's been less than a month, or more than a month, since upgrading to W10.
  • If it’s been less than a month since you upgraded to Windows 10, you can go back to your previous version of Windows by going to Settings > Update & security > Recovery and selecting either Go back to Windows 7 or Go back to Windows 8.1. This won’t affect your personal files, but it will remove any apps that you installed after the upgrade to Windows 10. Learn more.
  • If it’s been more than a month, this option won’t be available in Settings and you’ll need to use a different recovery option.

I followed the 'different recovery option' link, which goes here. The 3rd paragraph up from the bottom of page says this:

If you have a product key for your previous version of Windows, use the media creation tool to create installation media for Windows 8.1 or Windows 7, and use it to do a clean install.​

That implies that the W7 key will still work even after it's been used for W10.
 
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Here's a direct link to the Win10 ISO download page (no need to use Microsoft's media creation tool) - LINK - see 'Select edition' section at foot of page.
 
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The Windows 7 key will not work to activate Windows 10 - you have to have windows 7 installed and then upgrade that.

An easy solution for you would be to let Windows 10 upgrade on one of your hard discs. Once it has done that you can do a fresh install later as no product key is then required. That gives you a copy of Windows 10.

When you want to use Windows 7, just replace the Windows 10 HDD with the system image disc you did earlier using Macrium Reflect, but don't let it upgrade.
 
I did the W10 upgrade on top of W8.1, the reverted:

First make an install 'disc' (i.e. a bootable UBS stick) for your existing W7. Make sure you have all you software available for install too. and backup/copy ALL DATA you will want in the future (check you can actually read the data too - don't assume it's there just because a file has the right name).

Do the W7-10 upgrade. W10 will phone home to register your machine as upgraded and will create a new registration key so your version of W10 is activated based on your actual hardware.

Download W10 and create an install disc (bootable USB stick). Install your new hard drive or wipe your old one and install this + all software & data on the drive.

To revert, make sure all your data is still copied/backed up, wipe the W10 drive & reinstall W7, software, data.

I did try reverting AFTER a W8-W10 ugrade, and a few things didn't work/were unstable, so I wiped & restarted.
 
Ploddles said:
The Windows 7 key will not work to activate Windows 10 - you have to have windows 7 installed and then upgrade that.

An easy solution for you would be to let Windows 10 upgrade on one of your hard discs. Once it has done that you can do a fresh install later as no product key is then required. That gives you a copy of Windows 10.

When you want to use Windows 7, just replace the Windows 10 HDD with the system image disc you did earlier using Macrium Reflect, but don't let it upgrade.
Click to expand...

The only (potential) snag with that is Macrium might not like it - it can get a bit finicky when restoring an image made on one drive to a different drive.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I did the W10 upgrade on top of W8.1, the reverted:

First make an install 'disc' (i.e. a bootable UBS stick) for your existing W7. Make sure you have all you software available for install too. and backup/copy ALL DATA you will want in the future (check you can actually read the data too - don't assume it's there just because a file has the right name).

Do the W7-10 upgrade. W10 will phone home to register your machine as upgraded and will create a new registration key so your version of W10 is activated based on your actual hardware.

Download W10 and create an install disc (bootable USB stick). Install your new hard drive or wipe your old one and install this + all software & data on the drive.

To revert, make sure all your data is still copied/backed up, wipe the W10 drive & reinstall W7, software, data.

I did try reverting AFTER a W8-W10 ugrade, and a few things didn't work/were unstable, so I wiped & restarted.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to avoid reinstalling W7 and all software - if I need to revert to W7 from W10 I just want to be able to swap the drives over.
 
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I have recently installed Win 10 and haven't had any problems up to now.
 
Ploddles said:
The Windows 7 key will not work to activate Windows 10 - you have to have windows 7 installed and then upgrade that.

An easy solution for you would be to let Windows 10 upgrade on one of your hard discs. Once it has done that you can do a fresh install later as no product key is then required. That gives you a copy of Windows 10.

When you want to use Windows 7, just replace the Windows 10 HDD with the system image disc you did earlier using Macrium Reflect, but don't let it upgrade.
Click to expand...

That used to be the case when windows 10 first came out but now you can download the ISO onto a memory stick and do a clean install of 10 using the 7 key. I have just did this but didn't like 10 so I'm now doing a clean install of 7.
 
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