The Free Upgrade to Windows 10 for Windows 7 OEM, Windows 7 Retail, Windows 8.1 OEM and Windows 8.1 Retail Users

Sorry to Necro but this is a GREAT post

Do we have an answer on these yet?

A question I would like to have answered.  I do not want to do any upgrades, whether it is Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 OEM or retail.  Will users have an option to do a clean install? 

We have some more information but not all the necessary information (so moderators don't mark this as an answer). I have put all I have gathered on installation (clean installation here):

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-10-technical-preview-iso/

It appears Microsoft have promised to provide a .iso according to their upgrade matrix:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/WinHEC/2015/OWD100

There has been no statement for product keys, how they will be issued and whether they be linked to a Microsoft Account for future clean installation with the .iso. This is particularly important after the first year upgrade as otherwise almost everyone will lose their product key. Microsoft could make the key one use only or remove the .iso and force users to pay for a new product key or/and a download link for reinstallation (its unlikely they would do this but due to the broken Microsoft Software Recovery Tool and previously flawed Windows 8 and 8.1 digital distribution I remain highly skeptical until I hear for certain otherwise).

There is still the issue that the Windows 7 Digital River .isos have been removed and repalced with the non-functional Microsoft Software Recovery Tool at least 6 months too early and users are feeling forced to install Windows 10 Insider in hope that Microsoft still deems their system as eligible for a free upgrade because they don't have a working Windows 7 recovery partition or Windows 7 installation media. These users concerns are still unanswered and there is also the number of users who will attempt the upgrade break their recovery partition and end up with an unbootable installation and essentially be in the same scenario.

There have been rumours about Windows 10 being free for Windows 10 Insiders to combat this however there has been BBC news articles stating it'll be free for pirates also. Again I'm skeptical.

There has been much support for this discussion on Windows Uservoice so also vote it up if you haven't already:

https://windows.uservoice.com/forums/265757-windows-feature-suggestions/suggestions/7236772-windows-7-oem-to-windows-10-retail

My laptop came with Vista. In order to get them to sell, Toshiba offered an update dvd as soon as Windows 7 was released. I was having problems with the windows 10 upgrade notification icon, so I did a clean install from the upgrade dvd. The conclusion is, point 2 above is not only valid, but offers another question. I purchased the laptop with the upgraded operating system in mind. Apparently all commands see it as either unknown or as Vista. I wonder if this has been thought out and dealt with.

A question I would like to have answered.  I do not want to do any upgrades, whether it is Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 OEM or retail.  Will users have an option to do a clean install? 

We have some more information but not all the necessary information (so moderators don't mark this as an answer). I have put all I have gathered on installation (clean installation here):

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-10-technical-preview-iso/

It appears Microsoft have promised to provide a .iso according to their upgrade matrix:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/WinHEC/2015/OWD100

There has been no statement for product keys, how they will be issued and whether they be linked to a Microsoft Account for future clean installation with the .iso. This is particularly important after the first year upgrade as otherwise almost everyone will lose their product key. Microsoft could make the key one use only or remove the .iso and force users to pay for a new product key or/and a download link for reinstallation (its unlikely they would do this but due to the broken Microsoft Software Recovery Tool and previously flawed Windows 8 and 8.1 digital distribution I remain highly skeptical until I hear for certain otherwise).

There is still the issue that the Windows 7 Digital River .isos have been removed and repalced with the non-functional Microsoft Software Recovery Tool at least 6 months too early and users are feeling forced to install Windows 10 Insider in hope that Microsoft still deems their system as eligible for a free upgrade because they don't have a working Windows 7 recovery partition or Windows 7 installation media. These users concerns are still unanswered and there is also the number of users who will attempt the upgrade break their recovery partition and end up with an unbootable installation and essentially be in the same scenario.

There have been rumours about Windows 10 being free for Windows 10 Insiders to combat this however there has been BBC news articles stating it'll be free for pirates also. Again I'm skeptical.

There has been much support for this discussion on Windows Uservoice so also vote it up if you haven't already:

https://windows.uservoice.com/forums/265757-windows-feature-suggestions/suggestions/7236772-windows-7-oem-to-windows-10-retail

absolutely pointless when one wants to transfer the license to a NON test machine or VM .....

We have all (MOSTLY) used non final machines - we need a private full key for 10 Pro for ANY machine we chose to install it one. Without that - the Insider program is utterly pointless and degrading to users.

My laptop came with Vista. In order to get them to sell, Toshiba offered an update dvd as soon as Windows 7 was released. I was having problems with the windows 10 upgrade notification icon, so I did a clean install from the upgrade dvd. The conclusion is, point 2 above is not only valid, but offers another question. I purchased the laptop with the upgraded operating system in mind. Apparently all commands see it as either unknown or as Vista. I wonder if this has been thought out and dealt with.

Your system is Windows Vista OEM but Windows 7 RETAIL (Upgrade) so point 4 applies to you opposed to point 2.

Theres been some more information given out and I've put it together here which might help.

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/preparing-for-windows-10/ 

Do you have the notification icon now?

will my Windows 10 32bit (OEM) licence key work for Windows 10 64bit (downloaded iso)..if I want to clean install and upgrade my architecture ... which key i need to put in order to activate Windows 10? 

well, since Windows Vista, MS allows interchangeable licenses between the two architectures of the same version and edition of windows. Even i had a Windows Ultimate original Dvd, but it was 32 bit, i used the same key with an equivalent MSDN copy of Windows Ultimate 64 bit(downloaded iso), and it got activated successfully and automatically without any flaws. But if you have no idea, whether the key provided to you was a MAK key or just Single time use key, in that case its better to take a backup of your license activation using "Microsoft Toolkit" or "Advanced Token's Manager" softwares. (Both have not been developed for Windows 10 as of now, but are expected to be released by the end of August).