That will be a hassle. I really wanted to do  a fresh/ clean install.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_upgrade/reinstalling-windows-10-after-upgrade/578d0b7f-57e4-4893-b9d1-6cfac0d6290a
 
Found this as well.  Gonna be a pain...

 
Clear as mud.

• So.. you have to upgrade from W7/W8 to W10 first with W7/W8 still installed if you want W10 free.
• Once you've done that, you can then download a (I presume) iso file and burn it to make a bootable USB/Disc, and then wipe your drive and install fresh using the bootable USB/Disc. At least that's how I read it. Does that mean you can do so repeatedly on the same system / with a new HD? Not a clue.
• If you change some types of hardware, apparently that makes your bootable USB/Disc useless, so you have to buy W10 new if you want a fresh install. No detailed specifics on what hardware changes trigger this, and what hardware changes do not. Also does not address that if you do make a major hardware change, can you install W7/W8 again and then upgrade to W10 again like you did originally? Probably not. Typically ambiguous and vague from MS.

There must be some identifiable information stored somewhere so that when you do a fresh install using the bootable media, it knows it is the same computer. Anyone know exactly how it knows? Is MS storing identifying information for every working o/s out there? Would that create privacy issues? How does that work?
 
I just don't trust these bastards.
 
 
 
 
copy pasted:
 
Q: Can I clean install (i.e. boot from media and install) Windows 10 on my Windows 7 or Windows 8.x device and still take advantage of the free upgrade offer?
A: No. Clean installs of Windows 10 on a Windows 7 or Windows 8.x device via booting from media are not considered “upgrades”, so the free upgrade offer will not apply. For your Windows 10 installation to be considered an upgrade, you must start installation of Windows 10 while booted in Windows 7 or Windows 8.x
If you attempt to clean install Windows 10 on a device that hasn’t taken advantage of the free upgrade offer and successfully activated Windows 10 online before, you will be prompted to enter a Windows 10 product key to continue installing Windows 10. 
 
 
We understand that you may have some questions regarding what to do if you have to reinstall Windows 10 at some point after you take advantage of the free upgrade.  Here are some basic questions and answers regarding the free upgrade offer:
 
Q: After doing a free upgrade to Windows 10, how do I clean install Windows 10 subsequently?
A: Once your device upgrades to Windows 10 using the free upgrade offer and activates online automatically, you will be able to clean install (i.e. boot from media and install Windows 10) the same edition of Windows 10 that you upgraded to on the same device during and after the free upgrade offer. You will not be required to purchase Windows 10 or go back to your prior down-level version of Windows. 
 
To enable clean installation of Windows 10 on devices that upgraded and activated online using the free upgrade offer

1. You will be able to download and create installation media on a USB drive or DVD for the appropriate Windows 10 Edition 
2. You will be able to skip entering the product key during Windows 10 Setup. Windows 10 will activate online automatically on such devices. The skip option is only available when booting from media and launching setup

The automatic online activation will occur seamlessly after clean installing Windows 10 if the device had previously upgraded and activated online the same Edition of Windows 10. No product keys are required.
 
 
Q: What happens if I change the hardware configuration of my Windows 10 device?
A: If the hardware configuration of your Windows 10 device changes significantly (e.g. motherboard change) Windows may require re-activation on the device. This is the same experience as prior versions of Windows (e.g. Windows 7 and Windows 8.1).   The free upgrade offer will not apply to activation of Windows 10 in such scenarios where hardware changes reset Activation. My read: basically, if you update your computer hardware, you have to pay for W10.

They're saying you have to reactivate your license, not buy a new one. Just like with every previous version of Windows when you change hardware. What's not clear about that? You call and get a new key, you enter it, and off you go.

I have retail licenses that are not machine locked like OEM ones
 
I can also say that Microsoft will allow clean installs, I assume they will let users provide a suitable key check for valid retail users
 
I am on the test team
 

If you are a windows insider tester then this applies:
 
Windows Insiders will be able to perform clean install of any testing build of Windows 10 after RTM is released - just like in the current Insider process.
The RTM version that Insiders will receive will be just like that provided to everyone else expect it will have a time bomb in it that will expire the build unless you install a new Insider build.
 

rjohnson11
As previously posted this is the answer:
 
Q: After doing a free upgrade to Windows 10, how do I clean install Windows 10 subsequently?
A: Once your device upgrades to Windows 10 using the free upgrade offer and activates online automatically, you will be able to clean install (i.e. boot from media and install Windows 10) the same edition of Windows 10 that you upgraded to on the same device during and after the free upgrade offer. You will not be required to purchase Windows 10 or go back to your prior down-level version of Windows. 

To enable clean installation of Windows 10 on devices that upgraded and activated online using the free upgrade offer

1. You will be able to download and create installation media on a USB drive or DVD for the appropriate Windows 10 Edition 
2. You will be able to skip entering the product key during Windows 10 Setup. Windows 10 will activate online automatically on such devices. The skip option is only available when booting from media and launching setup

The automatic online activation will occur seamlessly after clean installing Windows 10 if the device had previously upgraded and activated online the same Edition of Windows 10. No product keys are required.
 
So that means you must upgrade at least one time and make sure you're activated. Once done then you should be able to do clean installs after that.

Gabe tweeted that everyone can do a clean install about 3 weeks ago, this in response my inquiries as many were unclear
 
https://hardcore-games.azurewebsites.net/wp/win/10.php

Better to download copyrighted code from Microsoft websites.
 
Please don't mention torrent downloads as torrents don't have the manufacturers permission to distribute the copyrighted material. 
 
That torrent post has been deleted

I could have used a free upgrade from Windows Vista. I had nothing but problems with it and jumped on using the Windows 7 RC which worked perfectly. After the trial period ran out on 7 RC I literally blew a gasket when they told me I had to pay full price for a copy of Windows 7 three months after I paid over $1000 for a Dell with Vista.

Is it possible to keep it as a dual boot? On different drives?

bdary

AzN-SoLjA
Is it possible to keep it as a dual boot? On different drives?

Only if you purchase a copy of Win10 with it's own license can you have two active OS's for dual booting .  Otherwise, when you "upgrade" from 7 or 8.1, that license will now be your license for Win10.  The version of Windows you used for the upgrade will no longer have a license.
 
That's my understanding of it...

From what I understand you have 30 days to decide. After that there is no going back.

Nereus

WgregB

bdary

AzN-SoLjA
Is it possible to keep it as a dual boot? On different drives?

Only if you purchase a copy of Win10 with it's own license can you have two active OS's for dual booting .  Otherwise, when you "upgrade" from 7 or 8.1, that license will now be your license for Win10.  The version of Windows you used for the upgrade will no longer have a license.
 
That's my understanding of it...

From what I understand you have 30 days to decide. After that there is no going back.

 
LOL no way - they do not kill the W7/W8 license you already have, at least this is the first time I have heard anything like that, and that can't be legal - you have paid for and own that W7/W8 license so they can't just kill it.
 
When you first want to install W10, you HAVE to upgrade from your existing W7/W8 installation (unless you want to buy a stand-alone W10 separately). Once you have upgraded to W10, you can then create an .iso file to burn to a CD, and use that to install W10 fresh again on an empty drive on that same system. I would think at that point you could then also install W7/W8 for a dual boot system, but no earlier.. HOWEVER,  what may be happening here is that, as BDary said, when you do the free upgrade, W10 piggybacks on your W7/W8 licence, so that in the same way that you can't have the same W7/W8 installation running on 2 computers at the same time now, maybe their system wont allow W7/W8 to work at the same time as a W10 installation that is linked to that W7/W8 license... in which case you'd need to buy a separate W10 license in order to have dual boot.
 
If MS are telling people that once they go to W10 they can't go back unless they buy another new copy of W7/W8 when you've already paid for one.. hell no, they'd be sued to oblivion. I'm guessing what will happen is that if you wanted to reinstall your old W7/W8 license, the W10 installation linked to that old W7/W8 license won't work anymore (or won't be validated).
 
 
 

You can read the downgrade rights here:
 
http://www.zdnet.com/arti...ndows-10-no-surprises/

AzN-SoLjA
Is it possible to keep it as a dual boot? On different drives?

 
FOUND THE ANSWER:  [link]

Can I dual boot the free upgrade of Windows 10 with my previous version of the operating system?

No. Upgrading to Windows 10 doesn't free up your previous license, so you cannot install your previous version on another machine or in a dual-boot configuration. The upgrade requires installing Windows 10 on top of a valid version of Windows 7 or Windows 8 installation to continue with the upgrade process.

Can I roll back to Windows 7 or Windows 8 after upgrading to Windows 10?

Yes. You can roll back to the previous version of the operating system from the recovery partition or by using the recovery media that came with your system. Alternatively, Microsoft will offer the "Go back to the previous version of Windows" option in the Recovery settings. The setting will only be available when the system was upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8.
 
 
So BDary had it right - with the free upgrade to W10, the W10 license piggybacks to your old W7/W8 license, so you can't install your old W7/W8 license elsewhere (or dual boot), unless you uninstall W10 first. The only way around this is to buy a stand-alone version of the W10 installation separately.
 

Microsoft's policy is one PC, one license, one OS. It's a free upgrade of an existing licensed OS not a free gift.

notuptome2004

Zuhl3156
Microsoft's policy is one PC, one license, one OS. It's a free upgrade of an existing licensed OS not a free gift.

 
yes   that is true  but the fact is  most of us  i assume are running a legitimate Windows  OS   we paid and bought so this free upgrade to windows 10 is Free  and it tided from my understanding to yout Microsoft account so    if you change somthing big and reinstall you are still activated  and if liek currently  your activation  some how gets De-active you just call microsoft like always to help with that   

Do you work for MS or something? I see you posting on multiple threads appearing to defend MS without actually addressing the issues people have with it. We hear over and over how it's a 'free' upgrade, but that's totally a matter of perspective. it stops you using a W7/W8 version you paid for, so it's more of a swap.. "Here we'll give you this, and in return we'll take away what you already have." That's not free. Free means it's costs you nothing. This costs you the use of your existing PAID FOR o/s. Plus, they get to shove anything they want down your throat via Windows Updates. This isn't even an equal trade when you take that into consideration, lol.
 
Yeah.. no thanks, you can take your 'free' and rotate on it.