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Windows 10 initial free OS


Gremlin

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Initially when Windows 10 was given away for free. Is it still possible to login with your hotmail or email account and save it so you can reinstall Windows 10 again?

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Well I'm in trouble than! I choose not to sign in with my email. I didn't want to create a email with M$. So if I ever need to reinstall I'm out of luck I guess.

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Well I'm in trouble than! I choose not to sign in with my email. I didn't want to create a email with M$. So if I ever need to reinstall I'm out of luck I guess.

 

I could be wrong.., But I was under the impression when you activate windows 10, the activation for that device is stored remotely somewhere. Then when you reinstall on the same device, you don't need to enter a product key. (I think it's tied to the motherboard even.., but again, could be wrong)

 

I do know though, that I've reinstalled win10 on an iMac several times now without the original windows 7 key I used for the upgrade. So I don't think your out of luck.

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Well I'm in trouble than! I choose not to sign in with my email. I didn't want to create a email with M$. So if I ever need to reinstall I'm out of luck I guess.

Signing in doesn't change it.

 

It marks your 7/8/8.1 key as upgrade compatible, and marks your hardware signature for activation. Either will work for a reinstall. The former will work on another machine.

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1. You don't need to create a Microsoft email to link the OS to. I used my existing Googlemail one and it worked fine.

 

2. When you reinstall windows 10 using an image created by the Microsoft installation Utility, and log in using the same email, it should find your previous key and it should work fine

 

3. If you have changed your hardware at all the "Invalid Windows" message will turn up in the bottom left corner. If you follow the instruction it gives you, it will give you the option to say "Yes this is the same PC with a different configuration", and will deactivate the previous configuration.

 

I had to do this when I swapped out my CPU/MB, but it was the cleanest re-installation I've ever done. High point of Win10 for me

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I had to reinstall on my HTPC after approximately 4 months of uptime.  Grabbed the original image I made with the Windows Media Creation tool and ran it from a thumb drive.  Re-installation was seamless (I didn't link my MS account with either install - running as a local administrator only).

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