Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Bootcamp help - Win 8.1 or win 10?

noobinator

noobinator

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 19, 2009
7,335
6,998
Los Angeles, CA
I have a MB 12 and want to install windows on bootcamp. I own a license for windows 8 and that was upgraded to windows 10,which has it's own product key.

-The license i legally purchased for my computer was a full version of win 8.1 and recently upgraded to win 10. The computer is junk and I won't be using it any longer. Can i somehow deauthorize windows on this one to use on bootcamp on my new MB? I plan on trashing this computer.

-If yes, to last then do I install win 8.1 or win 10 on my MB? Meaning the key i purchased is for 8.1 but I now have a key after i upgraded to win 10. Perhaps I'm asking this wrong but hopefully you get the point.

Or do I just need to buy an all new product key for windows?
 
You need to buy a new product key.
Windows 10 licenses are machine specific, and the Windows 8.1 license was probably invalidated for other machines after the machine it was installed on got upgraded to Windows 10.
 
noobinator said:
That's what I figured. Now I just need to find the cheapest way to get windows 7, 8 (free upgrade to 10), or 10.
Click to expand...

You can purchase the Windows 7 Pro key for £16.16
from http://www.kinguin.net/category/13816/windows-7-professional-oem-key-sp1/
remember this is just the key and is OEM so you won't be able to transfer the licence to a different machine. You will of course need to download Windows 7 Pro yourself. I don't know if it is still available from MS. The Windows 10 Pro key is available for £20.01 from
http://www.kinguin.net/catalogsearch/result/index/?q=windows+10
same site but that's a different search. I have no idea how legit it is though but I did search for cheap Windows licences and that site came up.
 
Unless I'm misunderstanding the request, Windows 10 is a free upgrade and you can use your windows 8 license to load win10 on your MB without needing to load windows 8 (which is unsupported on such a new computer).

I was able to do that on my iMac
 
Looks like there's quite a bit of conflicting info so I'll try again.

I have a $99 Asus computer that came with an Asus version of Windows 8.1 installed. I purchased separately a full version of windows 8.1 and did a clean install onto this Asus computer. When Windows 10 released I did the free upgrade. I now have access to the original 8.1 key and a windows 10 key. I plan to never use this computer again, actually going to destroy it.

I just got a Macbook and want to install Windows in bootcamp. What is the best way to get Windows 10 on my new computer? The post above says Windows 8 is unsupported on my Macbook so I can use the product key that generated on my Asus when it upgraded to 10 or?
 
The full version of Windows 8 that you bought should be transferable. You should be able to install Windows 10 using that key. You may get an error during activation and you may have to call the toll-free number but legally and ethically you should be ok.
The unused key that originally came with the Asus should also work although that one is definitely not transferable so you've got an ethical dilemma that you'll have to wrestle with.
Use the most recent Windows 10 installer and it should accept Windows 8 keys -- no need to install 8 first.
 
Gjwilly said:
The full version of Windows 8 that you bought should be transferable. You should be able to install Windows 10 using that key. You may get an error during activation and you may have to call the toll-free number but legally and ethically you should be ok.
The unused key that originally came with the Asus should also work although that one is definitely not transferable so you've got an ethical dilemma that you'll have to wrestle with.
Use the most recent Windows 10 installer and it should accept Windows 8 keys -- no need to install 8 first.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I don't even have the original key that the Asus came with. I found out the long and hard way that the key was unique to the laptop since it was an "asus" version of windows 8. I originally had purchased the full version of windows 8 after I had trouble with the asus' version of windows 8. The only way I could get my computer to work was to buy the full version of windows 8 so originally I had spent more on windows 8 than I did on the actual laptop haha
 
Gjwilly said:
Use the most recent Windows 10 installer and it should accept Windows 8 keys -- no need to install 8 first.
Click to expand...

Is this a new thing? Originally the Win 10 installer wouldn't accept my 8.1 key. I quite literally had to install 8.1 first, then update to Win 10.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back