Microsoft's latest Windows 10 Insider build offers alt activation approach
Monday's build, tagged as 10565, was the first issued by Microsoft to the Insider ring -- the public preview of all Windows 10 changes -- since Sept. 18.
Build 10565 also made significant changes to how Windows 10 is activated, Microsoft's term for proving that it's a legitimate license.
"We have received a lot of feedback from Insiders on making it easier to activate Windows 10 on devices that take advantage of the free upgrade offer to genuine Windows by using existing Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 product keys," wrote Gabriel Aul, engineering general manager for Microsoft's OS group, in a Monday post to a company blog.
When Aul said, "a lot of feedback," he wasn't kidding: Microsoft's Windows 10 support forum dedicated to activation, among other topics, sports some threads with hundreds of thousands of views and hundreds -- in one case more than a thousand -- of posted messages.
Not all of those users complained about trouble activating Windows 10 outside of the OS's new process -- which originally did not rely on actual product keys, the alphanumeric codes issued with legit licenses -- but many were stymied if Windows 10 didn't do its job, or if they had done an install-from-scratch without first upgrading a Windows 7 or 8.1 device. They were mystified why there wasn't a way to enter a product key from their previous edition of Windows, as had been possible with pre-10 versions.
According to Aul, that's now possible in build 10565. Assuming it meets the grade with the Insider guinea pigs, it will likely be pushed to all Windows 10 users at some point.
"If you install this build of the Windows 10 Insider Preview on a PC and it doesn't automatically activate, you can enter the product key from Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 used to activate the prior Windows version on the same device to activate Windows 10," said Aul [emphases added]. Aul told users to call up Settings from the Start menu, then select "Update & security" and "Activation." Clicking the "Change product key" launches an app that lets users type in the product key from their earlier edition.
"If you do a clean install of Windows 10 by booting off the media, you can also enter the product key from prior Windows versions on qualifying devices during setup," Aul added.
Microsoft will roll out an update/upgrade to the non-Insider crowd on Windows 10's "Current Branch" (CB) -- mostly used by consumers -- this year. Although it has said that CB updates will appear about once every four months, which would mean it would debut at the end of November, or four months after the July 29 launch -- that three-times-yearly cadence is flexible. If the company wanted to put the latest version of Windows 10 on devices aiming for the year-end sales season, it would probably release the update before the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.
Build 10565 can be downloaded via Windows Update on Windows 10 devices that have been set to the Fast ring.