Dark Knight
September 8th, 2015, 02:20 PM
About a week ago I decided to do a clean install of my free upgrade to Windows 10 that I got and activated back in the end of July.
Seeing as I had seen and read in a lot of places that one could do this, provided that the upgrade was activated, I thought it would not be a problem ....... NOT.
Now, just to make myself clear, in my mind a "clean" install is when you format your drive and perform an install on that formatted drive.
The clean install itself went seamlessly, the activation is what is the problem. I waited, and waited and waited, no activation ever came, I tried to "force" activation also like recommended on most tech sites, this did not work either, so I decided to call Microsoft themselves to see what the problem was and this is the reply I got ......
"Users of the free upgrade cannot perform a "clean" install of Windows 10 without a product key, Windows 10 will not activate automatically per the users hardware just because they previously installed and activated the upgrade. If one wants to perform a clean install of Windows 10 they must purchase a product key."
That statement tells me being as it came straight from Microsoft is that Windows 10 clean install does not activate per the users hardware, everyone who upgraded did so with a generic key given by Microsoft BUT will require a purchased product key if they want to do a clean install, your hardware has absolutely nothing to do with it unless you change something on your system and whish to perform the upgrade again, meaning that the upgrade and upgrade only takes a snapshot of your systems hardware on install so Microsoft can verify the install being as this is the only way they can verify install because everyone who upgraded is using the same generic key so your hardware is the next best fingerprint for verification.
My question is then, why are all these tech sites touting clean installs from Windows 10 upgrades? Is this something that Microsoft did not foresee happening and made a mistake on which they are now closing the loophole? Will all of these users who performed a clean install and just happened to get their product activated, will those licenses be revoked?
I am guessing that the ones lucky enough to get their "clean installs" activated will not be so lucky the next time they try, if Microsoft does not revoke the licenses before then.
THIS guys and girls is how Microsoft is going to make their money on Windows 10. An operating system based on shareware technology.
Anyway, at the moment I am now sitting with a familiar friend, Windows 8.1 which by the way I DO have a product key for, with my HUD Machine White theme installed, for now anyway, trying to decide whether to go through the upgrade process again, I mean I have a copy of 10 and all I have to do is slip the usb key in and do it, but being as that I cannot do a clean install, is it really worth it? a refresh sometimes just doesn't get the job done and am worrying if I do a reset after the upgrade activates if it is the same as a clean install and more importantly ....... will it activate again?
:sigh: :anger:
Seeing as I had seen and read in a lot of places that one could do this, provided that the upgrade was activated, I thought it would not be a problem ....... NOT.
Now, just to make myself clear, in my mind a "clean" install is when you format your drive and perform an install on that formatted drive.
The clean install itself went seamlessly, the activation is what is the problem. I waited, and waited and waited, no activation ever came, I tried to "force" activation also like recommended on most tech sites, this did not work either, so I decided to call Microsoft themselves to see what the problem was and this is the reply I got ......
"Users of the free upgrade cannot perform a "clean" install of Windows 10 without a product key, Windows 10 will not activate automatically per the users hardware just because they previously installed and activated the upgrade. If one wants to perform a clean install of Windows 10 they must purchase a product key."
That statement tells me being as it came straight from Microsoft is that Windows 10 clean install does not activate per the users hardware, everyone who upgraded did so with a generic key given by Microsoft BUT will require a purchased product key if they want to do a clean install, your hardware has absolutely nothing to do with it unless you change something on your system and whish to perform the upgrade again, meaning that the upgrade and upgrade only takes a snapshot of your systems hardware on install so Microsoft can verify the install being as this is the only way they can verify install because everyone who upgraded is using the same generic key so your hardware is the next best fingerprint for verification.
My question is then, why are all these tech sites touting clean installs from Windows 10 upgrades? Is this something that Microsoft did not foresee happening and made a mistake on which they are now closing the loophole? Will all of these users who performed a clean install and just happened to get their product activated, will those licenses be revoked?
I am guessing that the ones lucky enough to get their "clean installs" activated will not be so lucky the next time they try, if Microsoft does not revoke the licenses before then.
THIS guys and girls is how Microsoft is going to make their money on Windows 10. An operating system based on shareware technology.
Anyway, at the moment I am now sitting with a familiar friend, Windows 8.1 which by the way I DO have a product key for, with my HUD Machine White theme installed, for now anyway, trying to decide whether to go through the upgrade process again, I mean I have a copy of 10 and all I have to do is slip the usb key in and do it, but being as that I cannot do a clean install, is it really worth it? a refresh sometimes just doesn't get the job done and am worrying if I do a reset after the upgrade activates if it is the same as a clean install and more importantly ....... will it activate again?
:sigh: :anger: