Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.

Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
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On 2021-05-17 2:35 p.m., Ant wrote:
> Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
> like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.
>
> Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
>

Worked fine for me and windows 10 self activated.

Rene

Rene Lamontagne <rlamont@shaw.ca> wrote:
> On 2021-05-17 2:35 p.m., Ant wrote:
> > Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
> > like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.
> >
> > Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
> >

> Worked fine for me and windows 10 self activated.

Awesome and thanks. :D
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On Mon, 17 May 2021 14:35:41 -0500, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
>like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.
>
>Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)

You won't need to do an upgrade.
You may need to reenter the key because of the change of HD.

I bought an HP desktop without a hard drive. It has a Windows
7 sticker and I was able to use the key from that.

On Mon, 17 May 2021 14:42:22 -0500, Rene Lamontagne <rlamont@shaw.ca>
wrote:

>On 2021-05-17 2:35 p.m., Ant wrote:
>> Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
>> like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.
>>
>> Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
>>
>
>Worked fine for me and windows 10 self activated.

Windows 10 won't self activate because he changed the hard drive.
He can still use his Windows 7 key by reentering it.

>Rene

>> Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
>> like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.

> You won't need to do an upgrade.
> You may need to reenter the key because of the change of HD.
>
> I bought an HP desktop without a hard drive. It has a Windows
> 7 sticker and I was able to use the key from that.

I didn't have to do a Windows 10 activation after cloning and swapping
my HDD to an SSD.

Lucifer wrote:
> On Mon, 17 May 2021 14:42:22 -0500, Rene Lamontagne <rlamont@shaw.ca>
> wrote:
>
>> On 2021-05-17 2:35 p.m., Ant wrote:
>>> Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
>>> like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.
>>>
>>> Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
>>>
>>
>> Worked fine for me and windows 10 self activated.
>
> Windows 10 won't self activate because he changed the hard drive.
> He can still use his Windows 7 key by reentering it.

Hard drive replace is quite low on the Win 10 activation server as a
reason for not activating.

--
....w¡ñ§±¤ñ
msft mvp 2007-2020

Ant wrote:
> Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
> like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.
>
> Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
>
For the most part a clean install and activation with a valid Win7 key
should work fine.

While one could still clean install Win10, the activation option during
install should be skipped(i.e. don't enter the Win7 key) until Windows
10 is installed and user logon complete.
- Once done use the Change Product key option and enter the Win7
product key. If not in use elsewhere or blocked Win10 should activate.
Once done, activation will also show the device as digitally licensed.
If the Windows logon was a Microsoft Account the device and activation
will also be linked to that MSA. Which if considering a mobo change in
the future, that digital license and MSA link will provide the option to
activate Win10 after a mobo change without the need to 'phone home'

--
....w¡ñ§±¤ñ
msft mvp 2007-2020

....w¡ñ§±¤ñ <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ant wrote:
> > Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
> > like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.
> >
> > Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
> >
> For the most part a clean install and activation with a valid Win7 key
> should work fine.

> While one could still clean install Win10, the activation option during
> install should be skipped(i.e. don't enter the Win7 key) until Windows
> 10 is installed and user logon complete.
> - Once done use the Change Product key option and enter the Win7
> product key. If not in use elsewhere or blocked Win10 should activate.
> Once done, activation will also show the device as digitally licensed.
> If the Windows logon was a Microsoft Account the device and activation
> will also be linked to that MSA. Which if considering a mobo change in
> the future, that digital license and MSA link will provide the option to
> activate Win10 after a mobo change without the need to 'phone home'

Interesting. I was going not to make an online account. :(
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Ant wrote:
> ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Ant wrote:
>>> Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
>>> like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.
>>>
>>> Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
>>>
>> For the most part a clean install and activation with a valid Win7 key
>> should work fine.
>
>> While one could still clean install Win10, the activation option during
>> install should be skipped(i.e. don't enter the Win7 key) until Windows
>> 10 is installed and user logon complete.
>> - Once done use the Change Product key option and enter the Win7
>> product key. If not in use elsewhere or blocked Win10 should activate.
>> Once done, activation will also show the device as digitally licensed.
>> If the Windows logon was a Microsoft Account the device and activation
>> will also be linked to that MSA. Which if considering a mobo change in
>> the future, that digital license and MSA link will provide the option to
>> activate Win10 after a mobo change without the need to 'phone home'
>
> Interesting. I was going not to make an online account. :(
>

It not necessary, a Local Account is fine.
- though it's a bit more navigation to avoid the MSA prompts when
creating that first account(which will always be admin account)

Thereafter only an existing admin account through the usual Win10
options can create another admin account.

The reason for the MSA linkage to the digital license and mobo replacement.
-> Only with an linked MSA does Windows 10 provide a Activation
Troubleshooting option without the activation servers seeing it as
different device.
You can find more info here:
<https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reactivating-windows-10-after-a-hardware-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665>
See/Read the section titled:
'Reactivate Windows 10 after a hardware change'

--
....w¡ñ§±¤ñ
msft mvp 2007-2020

....w¡ñ§±¤ñ wrote:
> Ant wrote:
>> ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Ant wrote:
>>>> Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7
>>>> HPE SP1? I would
>>>> like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra
>>>> tedious steps.
>>>>
>>>> Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
>>>>
>>> For the most part a clean install and activation with a valid Win7 key
>>> should work fine.
>>
>>> While one could still clean install Win10, the activation option during
>>> install should be skipped(i.e. don't enter the Win7 key) until Windows
>>> 10 is installed and user logon complete.
>>> - Once done use the Change Product key option and enter the Win7
>>> product key. If not in use elsewhere or blocked Win10 should activate.
>>> Once done, activation will also show the device as digitally licensed.
>>> If the Windows logon was a Microsoft Account the device and activation
>>> will also be linked to that MSA. Which if considering a mobo change in
>>> the future, that digital license and MSA link will provide the option to
>>> activate Win10 after a mobo change without the need to 'phone home'
>>
>> Interesting. I was going not to make an online account. :(
>>
>
> It not necessary, a Local Account is fine.
> - though it's a bit more navigation to avoid the MSA prompts when
> creating that first account(which will always be admin account)
>
> Thereafter only an existing admin account through the usual Win10
> options can create another admin account.
>
> The reason for the MSA linkage to the digital license and mobo replacement.
> -> Only with an linked MSA does Windows 10 provide a Activation
> Troubleshooting option without the activation servers seeing it as
> different device.
> You can find more info here:
> <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reactivating-windows-10-after-a-hardware-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665>
>
> See/Read the section titled:
> 'Reactivate Windows 10 after a hardware change'

You create a local account first, so your home directory will
have the correct name.

For example, my email account used for the MSA, does not
have my first name as part of the ID, so the home directory
ends up with a strange choice of name.

Paul

Paul wrote:
> ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ wrote:
>> Ant wrote:
>>> ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Ant wrote:
>>>>> Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7
>>>>> HPE SP1? I would
>>>>> like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra
>>>>> tedious steps.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
>>>>>
>>>> For the most part a clean install and activation with a valid Win7 key
>>>> should work fine.
>>>
>>>> While one could still clean install Win10, the activation option during
>>>> install should be skipped(i.e. don't enter the Win7 key) until Windows
>>>> 10 is installed and user logon complete.
>>>>   - Once done use the Change Product key option and enter the Win7
>>>> product key. If not in use elsewhere or blocked Win10 should activate.
>>>> Once done, activation will also show the device as digitally licensed.
>>>> If the Windows logon was a Microsoft Account the device and activation
>>>> will also be linked to that MSA.  Which if considering a mobo change in
>>>> the future, that digital license and MSA link will provide the
>>>> option to
>>>> activate Win10 after a mobo change without the need to 'phone home'
>>>
>>> Interesting. I was going not to make an online account. :(
>>>
>>
>> It not necessary, a Local Account is fine.
>>  - though it's a bit more navigation to avoid the MSA prompts when
>> creating that first account(which will always be admin account)
>>
>> Thereafter only an existing admin account through the usual Win10
>> options can create another admin account.
>>
>> The reason for the MSA linkage to the digital license and mobo
>> replacement.
>>  -> Only with an linked MSA does Windows 10 provide a Activation
>> Troubleshooting option without the activation servers seeing it as
>> different device.
>> You can find more info here:
>> <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reactivating-windows-10-after-a-hardware-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665>
>>
>> See/Read the section titled:
>> 'Reactivate Windows 10 after a hardware change'
>
> You create a local account first, so your home directory will
> have the correct name.
>
> For example, my email account used for the MSA, does not
> have my first name as part of the ID, so the home directory
> ends up with a strange choice of name.
>
>    Paul

Hi, Paul

Yes, creating the Local first will use the name given in the account
creation.

There's also some variation if subsequent MSA's are created on the device.
e.g. two separate devices with the same three Windows logons(One Local
created first, then two MSA)
Device 1 - Local name(same as entered on creation), two MSA's(each using
the 5 letters in the respective online MSA account profile both lacking
the'_' underscore character, a common Win10 naming for MSA profile names
longer than 5 characters and the additional Win10 created numeric suffix.
Device 2 - Same Local name, same two MSA's. Local name same as entered,
one MSA using the same 5 character name as Device 1, the other MSA the
same name with an added underscore.

Later, one desires, that MSA profile name can be changed and will show
up in Win10 as the account name post sync thought the user folder name
will remain as created.

Optionally, one can create that local account, then flip it to an MSA
retaining the name used for the local account.

If the MSA in the online profile has more than 5 characters in the first
name, then creating an account may use the first 5 characters plus an
underscore. Creating an account with that same MSA on another device may
use that same 5 letter + undescore + random characters.
-i.e. if the that MSA first name is only 5 characters, then one might
find that use of that MSA(created first or later)will the same without
the extra characters, the user folder named the same, and exactly the
same on another device.

In the above case, even though a Local was created first those
subsequent MSA's on both those devices get linked with the activation
and will provide the 'Activation Troubleshooter' option if necessary for
a hardware change and permitting activation without the product key or
phone home.
Note: Two take-aways
- If building your own device and following a practice of replacing
the mobo in the future, then a linked MSA regardless of the order
created/used as a logon on the device remains a benefit and alleviates
some of the nuisance allowing re-activation easier.
- The activation server does remember thus continually replacing
mobo's on the same hardware printed device might still require those
extra steps for activation using that same MSA(thus if the case, another
linked MSA on the device might warrant being presenct)

--
....w¡ñ§±¤ñ
msft mvp 2007-2020

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Mon, 17 May 2021 14:35:41 -0500,
ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>Or does it really require an upgrade over the installed 64-bit W7 HPE SP1? I would
>like to start clean on a new drive without going through extra tedious steps.
>
>Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)

How does whagt you ask and the rest of the thread compare to
https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/
From fall of 2017, it says "You Don’t Need a Product Key to Install and
Use Windows 10". Was this true? Is this still true?

Howtogeek is not a crackpot website, and it says iiuc you can dl the
windows image, for 32 or 64 bit, as I have done, install it, and MS just
does the mildest nagging to get you to activate it. And if you don't,
you can't change the wallpeper. If that obstacle is not a deal breaker,
what is wrong with this plan?

....w¡ñ§±¤ñ <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote:
....
> > You create a local account first, so your home directory will
> > have the correct name.
> >
> > For example, my email account used for the MSA, does not
> > have my first name as part of the ID, so the home directory
> > ends up with a strange choice of name.
> >
> >    Paul

> Hi, Paul

> Yes, creating the Local first will use the name given in the account
> creation.

> There's also some variation if subsequent MSA's are created on the device.
> e.g. two separate devices with the same three Windows logons(One Local
> created first, then two MSA)
> Device 1 - Local name(same as entered on creation), two MSA's(each using
> the 5 letters in the respective online MSA account profile both lacking
> the'_' underscore character, a common Win10 naming for MSA profile names
> longer than 5 characters and the additional Win10 created numeric suffix.
> Device 2 - Same Local name, same two MSA's. Local name same as entered,
> one MSA using the same 5 character name as Device 1, the other MSA the
> same name with an added underscore.

> Later, one desires, that MSA profile name can be changed and will show
> up in Win10 as the account name post sync thought the user folder name
> will remain as created.

> Optionally, one can create that local account, then flip it to an MSA
> retaining the name used for the local account.

> If the MSA in the online profile has more than 5 characters in the first
> name, then creating an account may use the first 5 characters plus an
> underscore. Creating an account with that same MSA on another device may
> use that same 5 letter + undescore + random characters.
> -i.e. if the that MSA first name is only 5 characters, then one might
> find that use of that MSA(created first or later)will the same without
> the extra characters, the user folder named the same, and exactly the
> same on another device.

> In the above case, even though a Local was created first those
> subsequent MSA's on both those devices get linked with the activation
> and will provide the 'Activation Troubleshooter' option if necessary for
> a hardware change and permitting activation without the product key or
> phone home.
> Note: Two take-aways
> - If building your own device and following a practice of replacing
> the mobo in the future, then a linked MSA regardless of the order
> created/used as a logon on the device remains a benefit and alleviates
> some of the nuisance allowing re-activation easier.
> - The activation server does remember thus continually replacing
> mobo's on the same hardware printed device might still require those
> extra steps for activation using that same MSA(thus if the case, another
> linked MSA on the device might warrant being presenct)

In the past, I never make online account and activated them with keys
for W10 VMs. If I wanted to use my retail key in a old non-activated W10
installation, I make and use an online MS account and activate with it?
--
"Cheerios: Hula-hoops for ants." --unknown
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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Ant wrote:

> In the past, I never make online account and activated them with keys
> for W10 VMs. If I wanted to use my retail key in a old non-activated W10
> installation, I make and use an online MS account and activate with it?

The "making of accounts" is separate from "activation"
as far as issues go.

The purpose of an MSA, is to link your cloud activities
to the machine.

A secondary purpose of MSA, is for potentially solving
OS move problems later on. The MSA can be used as a form
of ID, and because an email address is associated with it,
there's a means for them to communicate with you.

If the Microsoft activation server has an entry on it
for your machine (based on, say, the NIC MAC address value),
then during future installations of Windows 10, it can
log to the server and the server will note that "the
machine is already activated". That's why there is no
need in that case, for a fancy license key value.

"If I wanted to use my retail key in a
old non-activated W10 installation,"

For that, entering the key is sufficient to
drive activation. Associating an MSA with the
installation (at some later date) is gravy.

slmgr /dlv # display activation status

"...
Partial Product Key: 3V66T <=== generic Pro key value from free upgrade
License Status: Licensed
"

Examples of generic/auto-assigned keys.

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T (Windows 10 Professional) <--- Desktop
YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 (Windows 10 Home - multi language) <--- laptop!
BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT (Windows 10 Home - single language)

If you reinstall Windows 10 on a machine that previously
had Windows 10, then they can auto-fill the key value with
one of the generic ones if they want. Stuff like the 3V66T
is no good for any practical purpose (can't resolve disputes
with it, can't use it during OS installation as a "magic"
key). What gets stored in the key field, might serve
as a jog for someones memory later as to "how did we get here",
but the key value no longer has the "star power" it once did.

If you bought a box of Win10 software and installed
the key provided with it, that would likely show
up in the "slmgr /dlv" output. Then if you looked
at that value later, and noticed the key value "wasn't 3V66T",
then you might suspect "oh, yeah, I burned a license here".
That's the kind of value the key field has now.

There can be cases where a machine has two licenses. Say:

Win7 Home Premium ==> Win10 Home free upgrade 6F4BT
Win10 Pro (User "buys a box") 12345

If you were reinstalling the machine later, if you did
nothing, the Microsoft activation server has to decide
which activation record applies in this case. If the
user reinstalled Home, then the 6F4BT would be suitable.
If the user enters the Pro key, then the second activation
record would be assumed to be a duplicate of the current
attempt.

There are all sorts of permutations, test cases for licensing,
for which I don't have first hand experience and can't predict
what will show.

But none of that "requires" an MSA, just so you can fill
out the key field. The machine works perfectly well in all
respects, with nothing other than a local account. We can't
go around conflating "must MSA..." with this process. The
MSA might serve as an identifier, of "which machines I own",
a way of associating property, but strictly speaking,
a license is a license. You don't "buy an MSA and buy a license",
you just buy a license.

Paul

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
> Ant wrote:

> > In the past, I never make online account and activated them with keys
> > for W10 VMs. If I wanted to use my retail key in a old non-activated W10
> > installation, I make and use an online MS account and activate with it?

> The "making of accounts" is separate from "activation"
> as far as issues go.

> The purpose of an MSA, is to link your cloud activities
> to the machine.

Will I be able to customize these cloud activites like ONLY keep my
activated retail key? I don't want it to be synchronizing my personal datas
and others.

> A secondary purpose of MSA, is for potentially solving
> OS move problems later on. The MSA can be used as a form
> of ID, and because an email address is associated with it,
> there's a means for them to communicate with you.

> If the Microsoft activation server has an entry on it
> for your machine (based on, say, the NIC MAC address value),
> then during future installations of Windows 10, it can
> log to the server and the server will note that "the
> machine is already activated". That's why there is no
> need in that case, for a fancy license key value.

> "If I wanted to use my retail key in a
> old non-activated W10 installation,"

> For that, entering the key is sufficient to
> drive activation. Associating an MSA with the
> installation (at some later date) is gravy.

> slmgr /dlv # display activation status

> "...
> Partial Product Key: 3V66T <=== generic Pro key value from free upgrade
> License Status: Licensed
> "

> Examples of generic/auto-assigned keys.

> VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T (Windows 10 Professional) <--- Desktop
> YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 (Windows 10 Home - multi language) <--- laptop!
> BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT (Windows 10 Home - single language)

> If you reinstall Windows 10 on a machine that previously
> had Windows 10, then they can auto-fill the key value with
> one of the generic ones if they want. Stuff like the 3V66T
> is no good for any practical purpose (can't resolve disputes
> with it, can't use it during OS installation as a "magic"
> key). What gets stored in the key field, might serve
> as a jog for someones memory later as to "how did we get here",
> but the key value no longer has the "star power" it once did.

> If you bought a box of Win10 software and installed
> the key provided with it, that would likely show
> up in the "slmgr /dlv" output. Then if you looked
> at that value later, and noticed the key value "wasn't 3V66T",
> then you might suspect "oh, yeah, I burned a license here".
> That's the kind of value the key field has now.

> There can be cases where a machine has two licenses. Say:

> Win7 Home Premium ==> Win10 Home free upgrade 6F4BT
> Win10 Pro (User "buys a box") 12345

> If you were reinstalling the machine later, if you did
> nothing, the Microsoft activation server has to decide
> which activation record applies in this case. If the
> user reinstalled Home, then the 6F4BT would be suitable.
> If the user enters the Pro key, then the second activation
> record would be assumed to be a duplicate of the current
> attempt.

> There are all sorts of permutations, test cases for licensing,
> for which I don't have first hand experience and can't predict
> what will show.

> But none of that "requires" an MSA, just so you can fill
> out the key field. The machine works perfectly well in all
> respects, with nothing other than a local account. We can't
> go around conflating "must MSA..." with this process. The
> MSA might serve as an identifier, of "which machines I own",
> a way of associating property, but strictly speaking,
> a license is a license. You don't "buy an MSA and buy a license",
> you just buy a license.

Well, I just want to activate W10 with my currently used W7 retail key on
the same and future PCs (motherboard changes). I hope I can still use W7
with its activated key and activated W10 with the same retail key as dual
boot setup in the same PC.
--
"Cheerios: Hula-hoops for ants." --unknown
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/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
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Ant wrote:
> Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
>> Ant wrote:
>
>>> In the past, I never make online account and activated them with keys
>>> for W10 VMs. If I wanted to use my retail key in a old non-activated W10
>>> installation, I make and use an online MS account and activate with it?
>
>> The "making of accounts" is separate from "activation"
>> as far as issues go.
>
>> The purpose of an MSA, is to link your cloud activities
>> to the machine.
>
> Will I be able to customize these cloud activites like ONLY keep my
> activated retail key? I don't want it to be synchronizing my personal datas
> and others.
>
>
>> A secondary purpose of MSA, is for potentially solving
>> OS move problems later on. The MSA can be used as a form
>> of ID, and because an email address is associated with it,
>> there's a means for them to communicate with you.
>
>> If the Microsoft activation server has an entry on it
>> for your machine (based on, say, the NIC MAC address value),
>> then during future installations of Windows 10, it can
>> log to the server and the server will note that "the
>> machine is already activated". That's why there is no
>> need in that case, for a fancy license key value.
>
>> "If I wanted to use my retail key in a
>> old non-activated W10 installation,"
>
>> For that, entering the key is sufficient to
>> drive activation. Associating an MSA with the
>> installation (at some later date) is gravy.
>
>> slmgr /dlv # display activation status
>
>> "...
>> Partial Product Key: 3V66T <=== generic Pro key value from free upgrade
>> License Status: Licensed
>> "
>
>> Examples of generic/auto-assigned keys.
>
>> VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T (Windows 10 Professional) <--- Desktop
>> YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 (Windows 10 Home - multi language) <--- laptop!
>> BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT (Windows 10 Home - single language)
>
>> If you reinstall Windows 10 on a machine that previously
>> had Windows 10, then they can auto-fill the key value with
>> one of the generic ones if they want. Stuff like the 3V66T
>> is no good for any practical purpose (can't resolve disputes
>> with it, can't use it during OS installation as a "magic"
>> key). What gets stored in the key field, might serve
>> as a jog for someones memory later as to "how did we get here",
>> but the key value no longer has the "star power" it once did.
>
>> If you bought a box of Win10 software and installed
>> the key provided with it, that would likely show
>> up in the "slmgr /dlv" output. Then if you looked
>> at that value later, and noticed the key value "wasn't 3V66T",
>> then you might suspect "oh, yeah, I burned a license here".
>> That's the kind of value the key field has now.
>
>> There can be cases where a machine has two licenses. Say:
>
>> Win7 Home Premium ==> Win10 Home free upgrade 6F4BT
>> Win10 Pro (User "buys a box") 12345
>
>> If you were reinstalling the machine later, if you did
>> nothing, the Microsoft activation server has to decide
>> which activation record applies in this case. If the
>> user reinstalled Home, then the 6F4BT would be suitable.
>> If the user enters the Pro key, then the second activation
>> record would be assumed to be a duplicate of the current
>> attempt.
>
>> There are all sorts of permutations, test cases for licensing,
>> for which I don't have first hand experience and can't predict
>> what will show.
>
>> But none of that "requires" an MSA, just so you can fill
>> out the key field. The machine works perfectly well in all
>> respects, with nothing other than a local account. We can't
>> go around conflating "must MSA..." with this process. The
>> MSA might serve as an identifier, of "which machines I own",
>> a way of associating property, but strictly speaking,
>> a license is a license. You don't "buy an MSA and buy a license",
>> you just buy a license.
>
> Well, I just want to activate W10 with my currently used W7 retail key on
> the same and future PCs (motherboard changes). I hope I can still use W7
> with its activated key and activated W10 with the same retail key as dual
> boot setup in the same PC.

My dual boot is running off the one key. Win7, Win10,
and some Linuxes, are all on my 3TB drive.

*******

You can find procedures for some of what you want.

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-ca/000124539/how-to-disable-onedrive-in-windows-7-8-and-10-operating-systems-and-in-all-applications

But in general, no, Windows 10 will do whatever it
feels like, most of the time. It doesn't have to tell
you what it's doing.

For example, a 100MB download will happen, and you'll be
looking at the flashing router box LED and asking "what is
doing that?". And it will be the Metro.App section getting
update versions.

Or, if can be a collection of background pictures being
fetched, for the login screen background.

Or, it could be advertising bumpf, unless the slider
switch to turn it off has been used.

Every so often, it'll be a Windows Defender definition update.

It's an opportunity-rich environment. So many subsystems,
so little time.

Count the number of slider switches in Windows 10 some time.
(For days when you're bored.)

Paul

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
....
> But in general, no, Windows 10 will do whatever it
> feels like, most of the time. It doesn't have to tell
> you what it's doing.

> For example, a 100MB download will happen, and you'll be
> looking at the flashing router box LED and asking "what is
> doing that?". And it will be the Metro.App section getting
> update versions.

> Or, if can be a collection of background pictures being
> fetched, for the login screen background.

> Or, it could be advertising bumpf, unless the slider
> switch to turn it off has been used.

> Every so often, it'll be a Windows Defender definition update.

> It's an opportunity-rich environment. So many subsystems,
> so little time.

> Count the number of slider switches in Windows 10 some time.
> (For days when you're bored.)

Ugh, this is why I still prefer older Windows. I only wanted to use W10 for
stuff that require it. :(
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