MS Media Creation Tool- W 10 still possible to update for free?

[jenny2017]

  Hi,

 

   I've read some posts about the Creation Tool, which I had been used to upgrade my PC and notebook a while ago.

 

        I've now downloaded the image from a MS webpage and want to upgrade a PC with a genuine Windows 7 Ultimate.

 

     So far, so good. The file is downloaded and I do have my W 10 pro license. But thinking about the whole process, it looks like the same tool i was using before, which upgraded my two computers.

 

  Will I have to type in my activation number in the process, or will it just install, because it's  a genuine version of W 7? Thanks for any hints.

 

    And will I receive the version with all the new(er) updates that can take forever? Please help me out. Thanks and bye. 

 

  The link: https://www.microsoft.com/th-th/software-download/windows10 ( Please right click, if it's in Thai!)

 

  

 

    

Edited October 7, 2017 by jenny2017

[RichCor]

Microsoft installer apps will usually try to automatically determine the license and authenticate with their servers automatically, or ask you to enter a valid license code to proceed.  Some of the older installer would complete loading the OS and ask for license info during first time startup.

 

So what it does really depends on what you do. If you do an UPGRADE from an authentic Win7Ult where the license is embedded in BIOS or matches a license on the Microsoft License Authentication Server then everything should be automatic.

 

And once Win10 is loaded and successfully started, it will have created a digital entitlement key, and Win10 can be installed or reloaded on that device for the life of the device*. 

 

(*so long as the digital 'fingerprint' created by the OS matches that stored on the Microsoft Digital Entitlement/License Server). 

 

If the upgrade has issues, you should be able to 'roll back' to the previous OS from within the OS.

Though, if it were me I'd download Macrium Reflect and use it to create an 'image' of the entire hard drive saved to an external USB hard drive before trying an upgrade or fresh install, so to have an unadulterated full image to recover to if there are any issues ....and there's no guarantee there won't be issues on a Windows 10 OS upgrade.

[jenny2017]

1 hour ago, RichCor said:

Microsoft installer apps will usually try to automatically determine the license and authenticate with their servers automatically, or ask you to enter a valid license code to proceed.  Some of the older installer would complete loading the OS and ask for license info during first time startup.

 

So what it does really depends on what you do. If you do an UPGRADE from an authentic Win7Ult where the license is embedded in BIOS or matches a license on the Microsoft License Authentication Server then everything should be automatic.

 

And once Win10 is loaded and successfully started, it will have created a digital entitlement key, and Win10 can be installed or reloaded on that device for the life of the device*. 

 

(*so long as the digital 'fingerprint' created by the OS matches that stored on the Microsoft Digital Entitlement/License Server). 

 

If the upgrade has issues, you should be able to 'roll back' to the previous OS from within the OS.

Though, if it were me I'd download Macrium Reflect and use it to create an 'image' of the entire hard drive saved to an external USB hard drive before trying an upgrade or fresh install, so to have an unadulterated full image to recover to if there are any issues ....and there's no guarantee there won't be issues on a Windows 10 OS upgrade.

Superb post, thanks a lot. You gave me really ALL needed information and that's not happening so often.

 

   I'll do that next week and upgrade the W 7 Ulti OS and see what it does during the installation/ upgrade.

 

P.S. I was using Macrium Reflect many times, a super good program for free, but might give Aomei, the technician pro version, a try. 

 

   Thanks again and a lovely weekend for you and your loved ones. 

Edited October 7, 2017 by jenny2017

[bendejo]

6 hours ago, RichCor said:

if it were me I'd download Macrium Reflect and use it to create an 'image' of the entire hard drive saved to an external USB hard drive before trying an upgrade or fresh install, so to have an unadulterated full image to recover to if there are any issues

 

Indeed, I recommend it before doing even the monthly updates.

I do one every weekend (or try to ).  If you have a large HD you can save your backup to another partition, then copy it over to a flash drive or an external HD.  The system on my C: drive is app. 40Gb, takes about 20 minutes to run the backup, after maybe 10 minutes to cleanup, defrag and config Reflect.  Get it running and take a shower or go out for the day (you can tell the program to shut the machine down when the bu is done).  Much better to make a bootable Reflect flash drive and run it from that, takes a lot less time than running the bu from Windows.

 

 

[jenny2017]

11 hours ago, bendejo said:

 

Indeed, I recommend it before doing even the monthly updates.

I do one every weekend (or try to ).  If you have a large HD you can save your backup to another partition, then copy it over to a flash drive or an external HD.  The system on my C: drive is app. 40Gb, takes about 20 minutes to run the backup, after maybe 10 minutes to cleanup, defrag and config Reflect.  Get it running and take a shower or go out for the day (you can tell the program to shut the machine down when the bu is done).  Much better to make a bootable Reflect flash drive and run it from that, takes a lot less time than running the bu from Windows.

 

 

My system back up is 104 GB, because I'm running a lot applications that I need. I've just used the AOMEI technician plus to clone the hd of my notebook which shows eight bad sectors.

 

  The 500 GB drive was cloned in about 6 hours. But I'm also a fan of Macrium and if there's something that's not convenient I'll go back to Macrium.

 

 Macrium had just updated some bugs that could cause some problems. And that's a free tool. I've got four PC's backed up, which I do every four weeks.

 

  I've also got a bootable flash drive with the 64, and the 32 version of W 10. Thanks 

Edited October 8, 2017 by jenny2017

[JamJar]

There are a number of routes to the free upgrade. The one most used likely; http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/accessibility/windows10upgrade

 

Often you can just enter your Windows 7 key qualify for the free upgrade.

 

Personally I always run a clean install as opposed to an upgrade, so prefer using the Genuine Ticket XML file route to a clean install, without the need to run an upgrade install over the top.

 

I'm not sure why you have a Windows 10 Pro licence. Did you buy it?