Well, the Free upgrade uses generic Serial Number too.... I downloaded the official ISO and upgraded my VM manually. (The Window Update refuses to install Windows 10 saying that VMWare SVGA isnt supported.) I'm going to try to upgrade my old laptop without Reservation to see what happens..
Let us know how it goes! AFAIK, you should have no issues upgrading, but I think you may need the licence key if it doesn't match the version your notebook came with originally.
So what happens if you install a new VM installation? Can you use the same generic serial number? Since your original Win7 or 8 is already using original serial number, the upgrade check is probably not that important anymore.
I will find out... On my VM with reservation, all I need to do is run the upgrade. No key asked. I ran on a fresh blank VM, it will ask for a key. Attached screen shot below: No reservation, generic key, fresh VM.
Interesting... Looks like Microsoft is trying to make sure Windows 10 is adopted as widely as possible...
My guess is that the generic key is valid for activation for one year. After one year, you might not be able to activate windows with it anymore. I believe that you should be able to backup your activated that is stored into the BIOS, so that in case you need to reinstall, you should be able to restore the activation.
Hmm.. But once it's activated, it should stay activated forever. At least, that's what Microsoft has said.
Stay activate forever assuming you did not change your motherboard I think. Activation should be stored in BIOS if I'm not wrong.
I don't think it is stored in the bios. Need to research to understand better. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Read that the Windows update delivery system has changed a bit: You can do a "torrent style" of the delivered updates to other PCs in the internet. The even strange thing is, if you have other Windows 10 computers at your place, the updates will be streamed to the other computers within the wifi/LAN area. Sure beats downloading the same old updates for other computers. (of course, shut off that feature if you have a metered connection!) Windows 10 updates being delivered P2P style.
Yeah, Windows 10 can now download its updates from the other computers on your network. That should help reduce the bandwidth required for a large network of computers.
