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There's a lot of detail below but I'll ask my question at the top: How do I upgrade to Windows 10 from an installation of Windows 8 downgraded to Windows 7, assuming the product key is accepted by the Microsoft activation servers? I'm also finding a Windows 8 installation that won't boot and a Windows 7 installation that works fine but in which I cannot retrieve the product key, and if possible I'd like to know if this is normal.

Details:

I have inherited a user with a desktop workstation that is bound to a domain in a business environment. I have administrative access with a local account and with a domain account.

The computer is originally a Windows 8 system but it has been downgraded to Windows 7. I don't have experience with downgrades, nor do any of the professional contacts that I've reached out to. I want to upgrade this system to Windows 10. I don't have the product key (no media, no sticker) and I don't have useful information from the previous administrator.

I don't fully understand what I'm seeing. There is a Windows 7 installation on C: and a Windows 8 installation on D:. I don't know if this is normal for a downgrade. I cannot boot the Windows 8 installation. Attempts to do so show the Dell splash screen as I pass the BIOS, then a blank, black screen. Attempts to select Windows 8 to boot from safe mode result in a message that Windows cannot boot and I need to repair it with installation media (which I have not tried). CHKDSK finds and fixes problems with the installation but finds the same problems again on the next pass. The Windows 7 installation works perfectly. I don't know whether or not this is normal and I'm just not supposed to boot the original OS since it's been downgraded.

Although Microsoft officially states that free Windows upgrades to 10 have ended, I know that the Media Creation Tool has been working and resulting in valid licenses as recently as less than two weeks ago. When I run the tool from the Windows 7 installation it fails during setup stating that it has failed to validate the product key. I do not have a physical copy of the product key and when I attempt to retrieve it in CMD or Powershell I receive error messages indicating that it cannot be found. The same commands succeed on a separate computer.

Thank you.

EDIT 1: I found the product key using a third-party script named get_win8key: https://github.com/christian-korneck/get_win8key

At this point I need to manually pass this product key to the Windows 10 Update Assistant or the Windows Media Creation Tool, and I don't know how to do that. I'm trying to figure it out but guidance is welcome. I also need to know whether or not it's safe to run this from the downgraded Windows 7 installation.

MasterOfNone
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  • CHKDSK has nothing to do with either of the Windows installations. CHKDSK is not an OS repair tool. At this point wouldn't it be simpler for the business to just purchase Windows 10 and install it from scratch? – joeqwerty May 17 '18 at 11:51
  • I was thinking the Windows 8 installation may be damaged by physical disk issues, which CHKDSK would discover. – MasterOfNone May 17 '18 at 12:07
  • After the chkdsk operation I'm able to boot the Windows 8 environment in Safe Mode, though not normally. It looks like it did something useful. Unfortunately, that installation has an account and password that I don't know and I have no password reset disk for it. This is just a bunch of stupid hurdles. – MasterOfNone May 17 '18 at 15:01

1 Answers1

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Starting from Windows 8 the product key of the original preinstalled OS is embedded in the BIOS, replacing the OEM sticker that used to rub out. The product key can be obtained using command:

wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey

It might be that this product key is recognized as Windows 8 product key while you are running the installer on Windows 7, causing the mismatch. Your have two options:

  • Try to get an installation media that accepts the OA3xOriginalProductKey.
  • Perform a clean install, either using a retail license or Microsoft Volume Licencing.

It might be that all these options require a clean install, but at least you don't need to worry about losing the original OEM license. The OA3xOriginalProductKey gives permission to upgrade to any current Windows version using Volume Licensing, just like the sticker did before. A clean install (and recovering data from a backup) also removes all the possible problems caused by the (repeated) downgrades and upgrades, so it is actually less of an effort.

Esa Jokinen
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  • Thank you. That's actually the command I tried and the command produced an error. I can reproduce this and provide the exact error message later, but it sounds like an error means I don't have any choice but to get a new license. – MasterOfNone May 17 '18 at 12:06
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    If you don't have any information on the license you should treat this like you didn't have one. – Esa Jokinen May 17 '18 at 12:09
  • Thanks. So there's one thing before I mark yours as the answer. Technically my question is how to upgrade if you do have a good license and you have downgraded 8 to 7. In order to mark this as the answer, could you edit to say whether it should be performed from the 7 installation or from the 8 installation (which would imply that my 8 installation should be booting correctly)? – MasterOfNone May 17 '18 at 12:22
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    @MasterOfNone AFAIK you'd have to do it from Windows 8, or a clean install, but not from Windows 7. It never supported product keys in the BIOS. – Michael Hampton May 17 '18 at 12:33
  • @MichaelHampton This suddenly explains the results of the wmic command. I'm trying a command from 7 to get the key from the BIOS, but 7 doesn't have the key and 8 won't boot (I'm still not sure if that's normal for a downgrade). So of course I can't get the key with the command. I just get: Node - ERROR: Description = Invalid query – MasterOfNone May 17 '18 at 14:21
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    @MasterOfNone You can get the product key from a live Linux system, by running `acpidump -n MSDM` (e.g. boot a CentOS installation media in rescue mode, and then `yum install acpica-tools` in the live environment to install the command). – Michael Hampton May 17 '18 at 14:32
  • @MichaelHampton I almost used your method with the live CentOS environment. While I was downloading the installer on my laptop I gave this tool a try from the Windows 7 installation and it successfully found the key! I found the product key using a third-party script named get_win8key: https://github.com/christian-korneck/get_win8key Unfortunately, the update failed when I supplied the Media Creation Tool with this key, meaning it was never registered with the Windows 10 activation server. I finally bit the bullet on a new Win10Pro license. Do I upgrade from the Win7 installation? – MasterOfNone May 17 '18 at 18:19
  • If you now have a valid key you can begin the upgrade from 7 BUT with the cruft it sounds like you have on that install, I'd probably boot from the install media and start clean. Your old files will end up in windows.old. – Jim B May 17 '18 at 19:01