Windows 10 not accepting pre-installed Windows 7 key

wrlynn
wrlynn Member Posts: 2 New User
I have an Acer laptop which came with windows 7. I installed Windows 10 from an ISO provide by the Microsoft web page due to the length of time I was waiting for my  upgrade notification. The Install went fine but I am concerned that Windows 10 is now refusing to accept the Windows 7 license key I got with my pre-installed laptop. If I had waited for the upgrade notification I'm sure the upgrade would not have asked for the key and the OS would be happy.
 
   So, what can I do now?

Best Answer

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    if you had windows 7 installed and done the upgrade, windows will not ask for a key.

     

    if you did a clean install from windows 10 iso, you can skip the product key steps (only windows 10 keys will work)....but you will loose the free upgrade, because windows 10 must switch your windows 7 product key to windows 10 product key checking windows 7 installation.

    I'm not an Acer employee.

Answers

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    if you had windows 7 installed and done the upgrade, windows will not ask for a key.

     

    if you did a clean install from windows 10 iso, you can skip the product key steps (only windows 10 keys will work)....but you will loose the free upgrade, because windows 10 must switch your windows 7 product key to windows 10 product key checking windows 7 installation.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    It is confusing.  I took the safe route and just went through Windows update.  But the article in Link below says you can use iso.  I don't know because I didn't try it and didn't want to risk it......because I didn't want to cough up $100 for windows 10 license if things went bad.

     

    https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/5008/windows-10-tip-associate-your-pc-with-your-free-windows-10-license

     

    Maybe try creating a Microsoft account????? and it will activate???

     

    I guess you could always use your Windows 7 recovery discs that you made prior to updating to Windows 10 and just start over. Or is erecovery still availble on your computer????

     

    http://community.acer.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/Windows-7-Recovery-options/ta-p/59667

     

    worst case scenario is you can buy erecovery from acer store (if you forgot to make recovery discs) to get windows 7 back on your computer and then go through windows update to get Windows 10 (and save $50).  But I would exhaust all other methods before I went down the worst case scenario path.

     

    http://store.acer.com/store/aceramer/html/pbPage.globalStoreSelector/ThemeID.35703000

     

     

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • wrlynn
    wrlynn Member Posts: 2 New User

    Wow! There is no worning about this before you get started. Microsoft only advises you to save the license key prior to starting so you can enter it when the installation asks (after re-partitioning). This should not be the case. If a Windows 7 key is sufficient then it should be sufficient under all conditions.

       I believe Microsoft, even considering there generosity with the free 10, has made a mistake here.

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    I'm not disagreeing with you as I found it confusing too.  But you should always make a USB or DVD recovery drive of your original Acer factory default recovery partition...especially before you do something like an OS upgrade.....  With Windows 7, you never really know what might happen that you'll need your recovery discs....e.g. hard drive failure, MBR rootkit infection, sell your computer, etc...

     

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • jim2
    jim2 Member Posts: 3 New User

    it says:  Activation  Connect to the internet to activate Windows

    i stayed online for a good 5 days straight and it still says that

    i tried manually activating by clicking the activate key

    it says:  Windows can't activate. Try again later.

     

    what to do next?

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    This article says you must re-install your windows 7 first in order to get free windows 10 upgrade.

     

     "To fix this, you'll need to go back to your previous version of Windows, make sure the previous version is activated, and then upgrade to Windows 10."

     

     

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • jim2
    jim2 Member Posts: 3 New User
    It is an OEM. First time I powered it up I already activated it, and that's 5 years ago.
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    My interpretation of that sentence is:

     

    1. You must re-install your previous OS. In your case, it's windows 7

    2. The second step would be to verify the OS that you re-installed in step 1 is activated. 

    3.  After steps 1 and 2 are completed, then you can get your free upgrade of windows 10 using the proper upgrade procedure. Obviously doing a clean install is not a proper upgrade procedure.  As you unfortunately found out. 

     

    Anyway, that's my interpretation. I'm just a regular computer user like you.  So I guess you could get on chat with Microsoft to see for sure. 

     

    If you need to order your windows 7 recovery discs from acer, you can order them with their online order form. Or I guess you could call acer to order your recovery discs. 

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • jim2
    jim2 Member Posts: 3 New User
    Restoring now...it's rebooting for more than 10 times already...not yet done