Windows 10 Upgrade - activated with a digital license 1

[goombawaho]

I recently upgraded two Windows 7 PCs to Windows 10. I then went to put in my recently purchased Windows 10 Retail software key code and it wouldn't allow me to change it. It said (paraphrasing) "Windows has been activated with a digital license and cannot be changed". So, I'm wondering if these Windows 7 machines got the free upgrade registered way back when Windows 10 was free. But how can I tell for sure if this is what happened?

 

[DrB0b]

I believe if you use a keyfinder like Belarc and it matches your W7 key then you essentially had your 7 key registered in the MS database for W7 PC's allowed to upgrade. Been a while since I have messed with a 7 to 10 upgrade but I thought that was the case.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[goombawaho]

I'll check it out, but what happened to the end of free Windows 10 upgrades after July 29th, 2016? It's kind of stupid/strange that Microsoft would still let you upgrade for free today (that is being reported all around the internet). That's assuming you didn't accept the offer back in 2016 and have your Windows accepted for the free offer which you could install at a later date.

 

[goombawaho]

Apparently Microsoft is still letting people upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Any legitimately activated Windows 7 or 8/8.1 computer can upgrade for free and be activated with Windows 10. Not sure why they are doing this, but I'm out $400 because of their generosity. I upgraded three Windows 7 Pro computers and one Windows 7 Ultimate recently. The Ultimate went to Windows 10 Pro as did the Win 7 Pro (more obviously).

Link

 

[DrB0b]

That is interesting because I too was under the assumption that had stopped. There was some odd work around you could do to force it to upgrade if I remember. Good to know they are still allowing it.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[goombawaho]

After the July 2016 cutoff, it still used to be free supposedly ONLY if you were using "assistive technologies". But now it seems that all mention of that is gone and it's just free. I don't feel like you're scamming if you get the upgrade at this point.

Probably Microsoft is not mentioning it because PC manufacturers want new PC sales and not people keeping old PCs for another year or two. I certainly wouldn't have upgraded my business customers if I thought that one day the license would be revoked by Microsoft!