Why not simply go to download site to get it?

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

It's still free till July 29th

Yes. While running Windows 7, navigate to the DVD and run setup.exe.

Creating a Bootable DVD for Windows 10

Thanks all. Aputernut, I just didn't want to repeat the download which took 6 hrs(!) on my cheap dsl connection.

bugs, yes, I read MS's page on how to do that w/the media creation tool & did it. The reason I asked is the instructions always repeated "if you want to upgrade another computer" with the finished DVD & never said you could do it on the same machine you downloaded from.

The thing to remember is that to upgrade, don't boot the DVD . Boot Windows 7, insert the DVD and run setup.exe.

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If you boot the DVD, it expects a valid Windows 10 serial and does a clean install, not an upgrade.

Thanks, chugger. That's what I thought, too, given the instructions on the MS site for a "clean" install.

Sometimes there could be an advantage for a "clean" install, given I could quickly restore all my personal files from my weekly backup to thumbdrive. But of course I'd lose installed third-party programs.

Yes, and even if you did decide you'd rather have a clean install, you can do that during the upgrade by clicking "Change what to keep" and selecting "Nothing". (Or optionally, after upgrading, by doing a "Remove everything" "Reset") Either way you take advantage of the free upgrade offer.

.

But as far as I know, booting to the DVD and doing a clean install costs you the price of a Windows 10 key. Far from free.

chugger, you seem to be right. Look at the below site & expand all the text to see:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

" ... If you want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, follow the instructions in the Upgrade to Windows 10 using the tool
section. If you haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 yet and perform a clean
installation, you’ll need to enter a qualifying product key for Windows
7, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 or buy a license in order to activate
Windows 10. ..."

.

Honestly, the first sentence seems clear but then the second sentence confuses me (conflicts with the experience I had).

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It sounds to me like a person can do a clean install by entering a qualifying product key for Windows 7 etc. but at the time I tried that (installing by booting to the DVD), I didn't have any luck getting it to accept the Windows 7 key from the sticker on my machine. I suppose it's possible that I repeatedly misread a character of the key? Or that Microsoft has made a change?

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Personally, for now at least (as long as Windows 7 etc. will boot up), I'll stick with the first sentence...

" ... If you want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, follow the instructions in the Upgrade to Windows 10 using the tool
section. ... "

Save my eyes a little strain not having to read a sticker.

I tried to Boot from a DVD to do a Clean Install of Windows 10 to a Windows 8.1 Laptop yesterday. This is one of the Newer Windows 8.1 Computers that doesn't have a Sticker with a Key Code, the Key Code is supposedly Embedded into the CPU. Well, it still prompted me for the Key Code which I was unable to supply. My Laptop and My Wife's are both the same way, No Sticker with a Key Code, just and Windows 8 Sticker.

I also tried using the Same DVD Disk to Upgrade once I was Booted into Windows 8.1 on this Laptop. I received some kind of message telling me it was unable to install this Version onto this computer. They both (the DVD and the Laptop) had Windows Home Premium 64-bit, so it should have worked!

" ... it still prompted me for the Key Code which I was unable to supply ... "

Assuming you're sure you can get it to activated once installed (using the embedded key), can't you just click "Skip" and let it finish the install?

Personally, I'd almost bet it would activate, but I'd have an image to fall back to... just in case. (I'm cautious)

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"... They both (the DVD and the Laptop) had Windows Home Premium 64-bit, so it should have worked!"

Yeah, I would have thought so too.

Truthfully though, I have a 32bit English image and a 64bit English image, both made using the respective media creation tool. Neither claim to be either Home or Pro. They seem to be universal, upgrading to the appropriate version.

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Here you go, I just tried it in a virtual machine...

(That's booting to the DVD to do a clean install)

chugger, you see why I was a bit confused and asked the question originally. I'm STILL not sure. MS is trying to prevent pirating, understandably, but fouling up people who might have a HD failure, etc.

When I earlier had a HD issue & had to do a clean install using a downloaded Win7 DVD, I indeed skipped the activation code initially, and did it later w/the code on the tower-side (which was accepted).

Bugspop, in Win8.1, if you right-click your desktop computer icon & select properties, can you see your product code?

Richard,

That was what I was expecting to see! What I saw when it was asking for the Key Code was a Purple Window. After looking around for a Skip Button I didn't see anything that would let me install without a Key Code, so I cancelled the install!

Not sure if it prompted me for Home Premium or Professional, don't think I got that far with the install before Cancelling. Guess I really just meant a 64-bit Version! I finally just Ended Up Downloading it again.

I'm going to Download Windows 10 again and try Burning another DVD. Not sure why this didn't work right this time. I've got Windows 7 and 8/8.1 DVD's I made in the same manner and they work just fine! I think something went wrong either with the Download, Extract or Burn? BTW, my Flash Drive works fine!

BTW, I did try and Clone the Hard Drive to my New 64GB PNY Flash Drive (not much on their computer). My new 64GB Flash Drive was only showing 32GB, not the 64GB I paid for. Yesterday I sat down to see if I could figure out why it was only showing 32GB. PNY had partitioned the Drive into 2 x 32GB Drives. The second 32GB drive wasn't allocated so didn't show up. I couldn't Allocate the drive in Disk Management, had to use third party software to Allocate this partition.

I now have a 64GB Flash Drive I could have used to make the Clone I wanted, but I've already got the laptop upgraded, too late now! I never even though about a brand new Flash Drive not showing the correct amount! I did back up all of their Files onto a 32GB Flash Drive, just in case. I didn't have any DVD's with me to make an Image.

" ... What I saw when it was asking for the Key Code was a Purple Window. ..."

Did it look like this version then?

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I don't know for sure but I suspect mine looked different because I was using an older version of the install DVD?

I reckon I should download it again and see. :-)

Edit 1: No, a fresh download still gives me the white box. It was a little different this time though. Instead of "Skip", it was "I don't have a product key". That was 32 bit. Maybe the 64 bit gives the purple box?

Edit 2: No, 64 bit is still giving me the white box. I have no idea why. :-)

That looks more like what I had but, there was nothing there (Where your arrow is at)! I've never tried this method before, but I did know it should have been there and I did look for it! For some reason there was nothing there! The Privacy Statement wasn't even showing up there! The Next Button Was Grayed Out and Unusable until you entered a Valid Password. The Clock Looking thing was in the corner, never tried pressing it!

I am going to try this disk again before scraping it! Maybe there is a file missing even after verifying the disk. I just wanted to have a good copy, been upgrading a lot of computers for people lately and downloading every time is getting to be a pain! If needed, I will again download the files and try them again! Maybe this was the computer I was working on that was causing the difference?

I did Upgrade 7 devices in my own House and didn't have any problems what so ever. But I did Download the Windows 10 File onto every one of them! I do have a couple more I could play around with that are eligible for the upgrade. Think I'll try that disk on one of those, one needs RAM before I can Upgrade it though!

Well, I replaced my pre-November ISOs with the newer ones.

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A couple paragraphs from http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-reverses-course-restores-downloads-of-windows-10-november-update/:

----------

"The Windows 10 media creation tool, which allows Windows users to
download installation files for clean installations and upgrades, will
once again allow anyone to obtain build 10586, a full installation
package that incorporates the November Update.

The biggest benefit of the new installation files is that it allows Windows 10 to be activated using a product key from Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1."

----------

If I'm reading that right, that would explain why my older ISOs would not accept my Windows 7 key when doing a clean install. Also, again if I'm reading correctly, the newer ISOs should accept any valid 7, 8, 8.1 key.

The dark blue/purple image I posted above was obtained through a search. The screens I was getting are the white ones. Why the difference? I don't have a clue.

This is a more recent image using the 64 bit ISO I just downloaded:

Clicking "I don't have a product key" allows me to continue with the install.

Richard,

How can I tell from my download if I have the most recent ISO Download. I just downloaded Windows 10 Home 64-bit ISO about 10 minutes ago using the Media Creation Tool, will this be the newest version? Any way to tell without running it first?

Just not ready to Reinstall Windows 10 on my Old Laptop. I want to make sure I have everything I want removed before reinstalling it! If I had 4GB of DDR2 RAM I would use a desktop computer I have lying around. I have plenty of RAM (DDR2 and DDR3) for Laptops, just no DDR2 for a Desktop Computer at the present time.

If you just downloaded it I would think it would have to be the newest one?

If it matters, probably doesn't, I downloaded the ISO using my Linux machine, which sort of skips over the Media Creation Tool.

If it helps, my ISO is named Win10_1511_English_x64.iso and has an md5sum of a0d4271b7537732a060909fd39d54829 ( in case you have a checksum tool). I don't have one in Windows but I know they exist.

This is a link to the exact one I downloaded. (Expires in 24 hours) http://software-download.microsoft.com/pr/Win10_1511_English_x64.iso?t=4a53c9d2-c159-48aa-802d-33077698b3f5&e=1454047671&h=63ab125aa5786185547efe4ea96affff

Thanks for the detailed discussion.

chugger, interesting, my iso file is simply named windows.iso -- size is 3.25 GB (3,499,884,544 bytes). When I look at the burned installation DVD, the dates on root files are:

setup.exe 7/10/15

MediaMeta.xml 7/10/15

bootmgr.efi 7/10/15

bootmgr 7/10/15

And folder dates:

support 9/10/15

sources 1/24/16

boot 9/10/15

efi 9/10/15

So looks like some stuff has been updated recently.

I think it does simply get named windows.iso if you use the media creation tool. I grabbed mine from a non-windows machine so the download page didn't offer the media creation tool. What I seen looked more like this: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/techbench

The difference in size, I don't know. Maybe pre-November vs. post-November? Or the way I selected edition and language? I selected "Windows 10" and "English". My 64 bit is 4,017,000,448 bytes, my 32 bit is 3,033,683,968 bytes.

Thanks for the Links Richard

You're welcome.

I've got both Downloads Downloaded and will Burn them Both to DVD's to try them out!