Windows Insider Product Key and Eligibility to use as Retail

The answer is in your Settings App under Activation:

You might possibly have noticed that even if you do a clean install of the public build of Windows, without logging in with a Microsoft Account, it will still auto-activate. The section shown above would then read the same, except for the phrase "linked to your Microsoft account". This is because it is your device that has the Digital License for Windows. That license can be linked to your Microsoft Account, but it does not depend on that link. If you were to sell your computer to someone else it would still auto-activate Windows 10 Pro if they were to clean install it.

So there is no dependence of your digital license on the Insiders Program at all. In fact Insider Builds would not activate if you did not already have a digital license for Windows 10 for that device. There is nothing stopping you from never using Insider Builds again if you so choose.

What linking to your Microsoft Account does provide is a means to look up your license and activate Windows if you were to make a major hardware change, such as changing the motherboard, which would prevent the auto-activation process from seeing it as the same device. In that case, the Activation Troubleshooter can help to find the Windows 10 Pro license and re-assign it to the new hardware.

Sounds like you are asking 2 questions here.  First, activation.

Sounds like you properly came over from a qualifying W7 or W8.1 license and your PC is permanently activated.  Should not be an issue here.  Product keys are no longer used for digital licenses.  The PC gets the W10 activation.

Insiders is an option to the public build.  I wiped my hard drive recently on an activated W10, due to issues with recent Insider builds.  I installed public build from BIOS and got the public build back up and running.  When I saw a new and latest Insider release, I just went to Settings and signed up again to join Insiders on the fast lane.  I got build 15014 within 24 hours.

You should be good to go with facts given.

Mel (the other one)

Thanks for the info guys and I totally understand the deal with the insider builds and hardware changes ect, but what I want to confirm is that I believe to have been given a Key for W8 Pro when I signed up for insider, as the computer I installed from fresh with the key did not have any previous OS's installed I actually entered the key during installation when I first downloaded and insider build in July 2015 not online activation.

So basically have I been given a Key for free? this is whats confusing me as the key was sent within an email when I first signed up.

And if so has this now been attached to my account as a full W10 licence, additionally what would happen if I was to buy more licence keys for W10 for VMs, would these attached to my account also and be able to be viewed and set to machines of my choice?

Your activation is not to the OS but to the computer.

Meaning that it is not retail and you do not have a key.

You can reinstall Windows 10 and when asked for a key all you have to do is to go to the bottom ob the page and click on the note that says Skip, Do this later, or I do not have one.

Do you have this email still? Prior to July 2015, there were Insider Builds that used a generic Product Key to activate. But the final few builds prior to the public release ceased to use Product Keys for activation. They were instead activated by detecting that an activated qualifying OS (Windows 7, 8.1 or 10) was detected at the beginning of the upgrade.

Since the first public release of Windows 10, upgrades that were activated for free, based on a detected, qualifying activated OS, have a generic Product Key (one for Pro and another for Home) but the Product Key is never used to activate Windows 10. The generic Windows 10 Pro (Free Upgrade) Product Key is VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T.

With the November, 2015 (version 1511) of Windows 10, it became possible to activate a clean install of Windows 10 without first upgrading from Windows 7 or 8. In these cases, it became possible to enter the Windows 7 or 8 Product Key to activate a clean install of Windows 10. The Product Key would have been the Key previously in use on that same device (when it was running Windows 7 or 8).

My PC shipped with Windows 7, but I upgraded to Windows 8 for a nominal fee ($15) because of having purchased the PC just prior to the Windows 8 release. They did e-mail me a Windows 8 Product Key at that time.

I do not have the exact email but I do have to code I was given saved from the email, I did not upgrade from W7 or 8 it was a fresh install on a new system with the code I used.

I have called MS support and had the key checked and came back each time as a Windows 8 Pro Key, or so they say, this is what makes me think there is more to it than that so right now I am lead to believe I have been given a full legit key at the time.

Here's a couple of snips to do with activation from my machine.

If you run slmgr /dlv from a command prompt, you get all information you need.

If your Partial product key shows 3V66T, it means your system had a free upgrade from W7, W8 or 8.1.

If your Partial product key shows a different value, your system came with W10 But whatever this value, your system is now permanently activated with a digital license linked to your MSA

.

Ok so it shows as 3V66T and I suppose I can accept that I am fully activated and can choose to use insider build if I wish and never have to worry about buying a licence for this machine ever again.

Im just confused seeing as though the key I was given was completely different to the generic upgrade key.

last questions though

If I wanted to use this licence on another machine I would choose the changed hardware option right? but what if I had another machine I wanted to have Windows 10 on? I would obviously have to buy another key but when it came to activating does that mean I would have the ability to register two devices on my account when reinstalling them? and if I was to add a third would it ask for another licence?