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MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
3,900
382
UK
Son becoming more and more into games on my iMac. Don't have boot camp with windows on, did in the past with XP, but now it mighty be an idea to get Win 10 on for him.

So looks like OS X 10.11 is compatible with Win 10, but I currently don't have a free way to upgrade took Win 10. I believe you need Win 7 or 8 for a free Win 10 upgrade, so anyone knows best way to get it here in UK?

Bit wary of buying off eBay as not sure on licenses etc.
Thanks
 
Here in the US, I keep an eye on Amazon and Newegg, looking for sales on OEM copies. They are not transferable to new hardware, but can be a fair amount cheaper than standard retail copies.

The. Again, when I bout a copy of Win8, the retail version on Amazon was only a few dollars more than OEM, and is transferable, so, bonus there for the slightly higher price.

Guessing something similar to Newegg in the UK/Europe.
 
If anyone have access to dreamspark, that is the cheapest way to get Windows 10, including core, pro, and education. Reason is simple, they are free for personal use.

Other than that, you can consider more on Windows 10 core. It is cheaper than Pro. But if you want to get more feature to help limiting computer use of your son, go Pro.

Unfortunately, Windows 10 Enterprise, which is the version I am using (90 days free trial), is only available for volume licensing. It provides the most feature to manage Windows user and your computer, however.
 
Unfortunately, Windows 10 Enterprise, which is the version I am using (90 days free trial), is only available for volume licensing. It provides the most feature to manage Windows user and your computer, however.[/QUOTE]

Can Win 10 Enterprise edition be used with bootcamp? I downloaded the iso for the 90 day trial and bootcamp could not recognise it.
 
Unfortunately, Windows 10 Enterprise, which is the version I am using (90 days free trial), is only available for volume licensing. It provides the most feature to manage Windows user and your computer, however.

Can Win 10 Enterprise edition be used with bootcamp? I downloaded the iso for the 90 day trial and bootcamp could not recognise it.
Hmm. Windows 10 enterprise is fully compatible with BootCamp. The reason it is not recognized should be because Mac OS X BootCamp assistant does not recognise Windows 10. As a workaround, you might use Windows 8.1 enterprise image to create install disk, and replace install file to Windows 10 enterprise. In my experience, I can even install BootCamp Windows server 2016 technical preview 3 without issue.

But if you want a faster way, uh, it appears that Apple has just formatted install media to a single FAT32 drive. And I couldn't find an alternative way to create BootCamp install disk without using assistant.
 
Well I can't get enterprise or dreamspark so still trying..
Enterprise trial only requires an active Microsoft account. Dreamspark, however, is a different story.
You say you are using BootCamp assistant in Mavericks? That would probably not possible to support this.
 
Amazon is probably your best bet. Otherwise have a look in PC world etc for a sale on Windows.
Looked on amazon UK and there's some bizarre sales of windows 7 and 8. Some are "refurbished"? Looking at picture it shows Dell windows disk etc. Not kean on getting something like that.
 
That's a reinstall disk that is provided with laptops. I'd avoid at all costs.
Yeh how they allowed to do that I'm unsure, I just want a genuine disk, I bought Vista years ago full price but Win 10 only allows upgrade from 7 and 8. If you see any on Amazon please link
 
Yeh how they allowed to do that I'm unsure, I just want a genuine disk, I bought Vista years ago full price but Win 10 only allows upgrade from 7 and 8. If you see any on Amazon please link
You can buy Windows 10 on the Microsoft store. It comes as an ISO download or you can pay a bit more and get and install USB.
 
You can buy Windows 10 on the Microsoft store. It comes as an ISO download or you can pay a bit more and get and install USB.
You can your right but it's full price, was hoping to be a cheap skate, get a legal windows 7 or 8, then get the upgrade to 10, but not looking like it's possible now
 
Looking at picture it shows Dell windows disk etc. Not kean on getting something like that.

There's nothing wrong with those branded discs as long as they do also come with a CD key.
Some don't but still work with their corresponding PC hardware because they extract the CD key from the PCs bios.
That obviously won't work with a Mac so you definitely need a CD key.
 
If you have any old/used PC with Window 7 on you can deactivate it from there and then bootcamp it on the iMac.
 
Here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Home-Bit-English/dp/B010S3UIG4/

Also an 8GB USB drive.


Borrow someone's PC to create an installer boot disk. Use the product key you bought. Done.
That's just normal full price for Windows 10 though, was hoping to get it cheaper with a legit code though.

That looks better, so £30 and then free upgrade to Win 10.

So I presume I'd be able to download Win 10 ISO from Microsoft and keep that ISO safe, then just directly install Win 10 and use the Win 7 product ID?
 
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So I presume I'd be able to download Win 10 ISO from Microsoft and keep that ISO safe, then just directly install Win 10 and use the Win 7 product ID?

I heard that Microsoft was adding this capability but I'm not sure whether they have yet.
At launch you still had to install Windows 7 first and then do an upgrade because Windows 10 wouldn't accept previous product IDs.
 
That's OEM pricing which is cheaper than retail pricing.

That link looks a bit sketchy to me. I wouldn't advise doing it. ("Refurbished" Windows? What does that mean exactly?) Broken English in the description too, another red flag.

Activation drama with Windows is an incredibly frustrating time-wasting experience. I'd go with a guaranteed drama-free install even if it costs more.
 
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