Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1
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Updated the OP to show that Windows 8 isn't a valid option.
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Something worth noting, I think, that helps to make it clearer that this upgrade path is valid not just logically or legally, but from a careful comprehensive planning perspective, is that all other options are carefully avoided.
The EULA, Activation, MCT, and other tools make all other options non-viable.
Some examples:
Why can't you do a non-upgrade installation to new media? Because the only way to get a valid key for Windows 10 installation is from Windows 7 or 8.1. This can be typed in (retail box) or automatic (OEM in UEFI firmware), but must exist and be unused elsewhere. If you don't have an available and applicable key you will violate two provisions of the license (key requirement, activation requirement.)
Why can't you do an upgrade from any OS instead of just the two allowed? Because the MCT states which can be used and checks for them before running the update, and only those keys will work. So you have three places where it stops this (license, key, and activation.)
Why can't you crack the OS? Because the EULA explicitly only applies to unaltered copies of Windows and any cracking of any sort nullifies the entire license.
What if you manage to get it to activate? Activation is a final verification step that is only required by the license. If the license is not already valid, the activation has no purpose as the installation is already not allowed. Activation is required, but will always work (although might require a phone call) under any situation where the license is valid. Activation on its own is meaningless. And any workarounds to the process invalidate the activation and, in turn, the license.
Essentially every scenario is carefully handled, as expected, by the EULA. It invalidates any other kind of install. Only the valid and genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 Upgrade installs make it through the gauntlet of requirements (key, media, license, activation.) The requirements are a mixture of legal (paperwork) and technical (verification) that together make for a holistic approach that is reasonably simple to follow, but completely restrictive to the proper usage.
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@scottalanmiller Is it legal to buy Windows 7 Pro license and install Windows 10 with MCT and key from that Win7Pro without first installing Win7Pro on that PC?
We can buy used Win7Pro licenses for 30EUR/35$ (in EU it is legal to buy/sell used licenses)
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@Mario-Jakovina said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@scottalanmiller Is it legal to buy Windows 7 Pro license and install Windows 10 with MCT and key from that Win7Pro without first installing Win7Pro on that PC?
We can buy used Win7Pro licenses for 30EUR/35$ (in EU it is legal to buy/sell used licenses)
AFAIK, yes. I don't see any issue with that. You can dig into the EULA for the upgrade, but as far as I know, that works for the time being.
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@scottalanmiller I believe part of the legal was that you obtained mct from a valid licensed instal and upgraded from within said install.
Not just using a valid key to install 10 straight.
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@JaredBusch said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@scottalanmiller I believe part of the legal was that you obtained mct from a valid licensed instal and upgraded from within said install.
Not just using a valid key to install 10 straight.
That might be true. If so, just install the Windows 7 first. Annoying, but works.
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@JaredBusch said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@scottalanmiller I believe part of the legal was that you obtained mct from a valid licensed instal and upgraded from within said install.
Not just using a valid key to install 10 straight.
This is exactly how to do it legally, as an upgrade from within the OS first, form 7 to 10. Then, after you do that, you can do a fresh install, but you must upgrade from within 7 first.
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@scottalanmiller Yeah, that's annoying, and Win7 is not easy to install on most new hardware.
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@Mario-Jakovina said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@scottalanmiller Is it legal to buy Windows 7 Pro license and install Windows 10 with MCT and key from that Win7Pro without first installing Win7Pro on that PC?
We can buy used Win7Pro licenses for 30EUR/35$ (in EU it is legal to buy/sell used licenses)
What kind of licenses are these? OEM? Are you following the OEM rules for them? If they are used OEM licenses, you can only use them on the hardware they originally came with.
If they are full box product licenses, then yeah, you can move them between machines.
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@Dashrender said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@Mario-Jakovina said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@scottalanmiller Is it legal to buy Windows 7 Pro license and install Windows 10 with MCT and key from that Win7Pro without first installing Win7Pro on that PC?
We can buy used Win7Pro licenses for 30EUR/35$ (in EU it is legal to buy/sell used licenses)
What kind of licenses are these? OEM? Are you following the OEM rules for them? If they are used OEM licenses, you can only use them on the hardware they originally came with.
If they are full box product licenses, then yeah, you can move them between machines.
He clearly stated he is buying legal licenses. So the only thing he has to do is install it, and upgrade from within Windows.
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@Mario-Jakovina said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@scottalanmiller Yeah, that's annoying, and Win7 is not easy to install on most new hardware.
Doesn't have to work, only get installed. If loads of crap breaks, that's okay.
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@scottalanmiller said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@Mario-Jakovina said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@scottalanmiller Yeah, that's annoying, and Win7 is not easy to install on most new hardware.
Doesn't have to work, only get installed. If loads of crap breaks, that's okay.
as long as you can get on the internet to download MCT, you should be golden.
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@Dashrender said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
What kind of licenses are these? OEM? Are you following the OEM rules for them? If they are used OEM licenses, you can only use them on the hardware they originally came with.
He said he is in the EU. OEM restrictions are illegal there. He can freely transfer licenses of any type. This isn't the US where software sales can be restricted.
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@scottalanmiller said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@Dashrender said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
What kind of licenses are these? OEM? Are you following the OEM rules for them? If they are used OEM licenses, you can only use them on the hardware they originally came with.
He said he is in the EU. OEM restrictions are illegal there. He can freely transfer licenses of any type. This isn't the US where software sales can be restricted.
aww - I kinda gathered that from JB's slap down a min ago.. didn't know OEM licensing wasn't legal there.
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@Dashrender said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
What kind of licenses are these?
There are all kinds of licenses on sale Volume, Retail... Those Win7 is Retail, but we can also buy, for example Win10 Enterprise 2016 VL for 65 euros.
@scottalanmiller said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
He said he is in the EU. OEM restrictions are illegal there. He can freely transfer licenses of any type. This isn't the US where software sales can be restricted.
This is completly correct - OEM restrictions are illegal, as any restrictions to resell used license.
@Dashrender said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
aww - I kinda gathered that from JB's slap down a min ago.. didn't know OEM licensing wasn't legal there.
OEM restriction in original sale is legal I think (you need to buy it with new HW), but after that, the buyer have all rights to resell that license to anybody
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@Mario-Jakovina said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
This is completly correct - OEM restrictions are illegal, as any restrictions to resell used license.
This is why Microsoft 365 is such a big time.
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@Mario-Jakovina said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
OEM restriction in original sale is legal I think (you need to buy it with new HW), but after that, the buyer have all rights to resell that license to anybody
That should mean that the original seller (OEM) can sell it to anyone, too. lol
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@scottalanmiller said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
That should mean that the original seller (OEM) can sell it to anyone, too. lol
I'm not sure, because the "first sale" did not occur yet.
The judgement of Court of Justice of EU said this:
"An author of software cannot oppose the resale of his ‘used’ licences allowing the
use of his programs downloaded from the internet
The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is
exhausted on its first sale"This is the quoted document/judgement that made precedence in this matter (the case of UsedSoft Gmbh vs Oracle corp.):
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2012-07/cp120094en.pdf -
@Mario-Jakovina said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@Dashrender said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
What kind of licenses are these?
There are all kinds of licenses on sale Volume, Retail... Those Win7 is Retail, but we can also buy, for example Win10 Enterprise 2016 VL for 65 euros.
@scottalanmiller said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
He said he is in the EU. OEM restrictions are illegal there. He can freely transfer licenses of any type. This isn't the US where software sales can be restricted.
This is completly correct - OEM restrictions are illegal, as any restrictions to resell used license.
@Dashrender said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
aww - I kinda gathered that from JB's slap down a min ago.. didn't know OEM licensing wasn't legal there.
OEM restriction in original sale is legal I think (you need to buy it with new HW), but after that, the buyer have all rights to resell that license to anybody
I supposed I can understand that. Though when it comes to VL - MS doesn't really have a transfer mechanism, so I'm not sure how you go about transferring those licenses to another owner.
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@Mario-Jakovina said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
@scottalanmiller said in Free Upgrade to Windows 10 in 2019 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1:
That should mean that the original seller (OEM) can sell it to anyone, too. lol
I'm not sure, because the "first sale" did not occur yet.
The judgement of Court of Justice of EU said this:
"An author of software cannot oppose the resale of his ‘used’ licences allowing the
use of his programs downloaded from the internet
The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is
exhausted on its first sale"This is the quoted document/judgement that made precedence in this matter (the case of UsedSoft Gmbh vs Oracle corp.):
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2012-07/cp120094en.pdfI wonder - does this also mean that Cisco's iOS is transferable? As I understand it - the licensing for Cisco gear state that the OS on said gear does not transfer to the new (secondary, etc) owner of a device. That this non first owner must purchase the software themselves to legally use it.
Scott - or anyone - know if that's still the case?
