Wiping and reinstalling Win 10 (Solved)

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Fitzy
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Wiping and reinstalling Win 10 (Solved)

Post by Fitzy »

I have an odd situation with my Win 10 PCs. Essentially they are the result of upgrades over many years from free Windows operating systems I got while attending the University of Washington for grad school.

I'd like to wipe one of our PCs and reinstall, but I'm no longer certain of the activation codes. I have a bunch of keys written down and I'm fairly certain I know which ones are the latest, but I don't recall getting a key for Win 10 when they were in the free update period.

So my question is, does anyone know if I reinstall Win 10 on the computer, if I use the old key (which I'm fairly certain is the current one and legal one) will it still count for Win 10, despite the end of the free update period?

I almost think it'd be less of a headache to buy a new license.

PS

The reason for the wipe is my wife's work is going to allow a remote desktop app for the first time. She wants to switch to her Mac for her everyday personal stuff anyway, but wants the old computer wiped before allowing her work any access to the PC.
Last edited by Fitzy on Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Carpet_pissr
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Re: Wiping and reinstalling Win 10

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Fitzy wrote:I have an odd situation with my Win 10 PCs. Essentially they are the result of upgrades over many years from free Windows operating systems I got while attending the University of Washington for grad school.

I'd like to wipe one of our PCs and reinstall, but I'm no longer certain of the activation codes. I have a bunch of keys written down and I'm fairly certain I know which ones are the latest, but I don't recall getting a key for Win 10 when they were in the free update period.

So my question is, does anyone know if I reinstall Win 10 on the computer, if I use the old key (which I'm fairly certain is the current one and legal one) will it still count for Win 10, despite the end of the free update period?

I almost think it'd be less of a headache to buy a new license.

PS

The reason for the wipe is my wife's work is going to allow a remote desktop app for the first time. She wants to switch to her Mac for her everyday personal stuff anyway, but wants the old computer wiped before allowing her work any access to the PC.
You don’t need keys anymore AFAIK. You can wipe and reinstall if windows was already activated. Just need to click on activate after the wipe, and there is a link that says something like “don’t have your key? Click here” and it will use the hardware or bios to retrieve the code.
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LordMortis
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Re: Wiping and reinstalling Win 10

Post by LordMortis »

I'd verify before testing that theory.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... roduct-key

Your results may vary.

If I read your post correctly
Free upgrade to Windows 10. If you upgraded to Windows 10 for free from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you should have a digital license instead of a product key. For more info about digital licenses in Windows 10, see Activation in Windows 10.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... activation
A digital license (called a digital entitlement in Windows 10, Version 1511) is a method of activation in Windows 10 that doesn't require you to enter a product key.
But don't trust me. Make sure I'm reading you correctly as well. ;)
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Fitzy
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Re: Wiping and reinstalling Win 10

Post by Fitzy »

That looks right, thanks guys.

Also, by adding a Microsoft account linked to the PC, it will save the license for certain. In theory.

Thanks!
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Carpet_pissr
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Re: Wiping and reinstalling Win 10 (Solved)

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Fitzy wrote:That looks right, thanks guys.

Also, by adding a Microsoft account linked to the PC, it will save the license for certain. In theory.

Thanks!
Not a theory. I just recently did this several times. Never once needed to enter a key.
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