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I was able to get my Windows 10 home x64 iso finally working on VMware by using the ctrl+G command at boot. Everything loaded fine and I logged into windows, however it showed me that I have to activate windows which is the core problem I am asking about on here.

Is it possible to make this go away if I never had a product key to begin with for Windows 10 since I used my Windows 8.1 key to upgrade my Windows 10 I am using now as native? My Windows 10 I guess counted as a digital copy after upgrading. It is telling me in settings that "Windows 10 is not activated"

This is what I tried so far:

  • I tried to google a similar answer.
  • I tried to press the button/link that says "troubleshoot" in settings under " Windows update & security > Activation" to troubleshoot the key.

  • I tried to enter in my Windows 8.1 key which I did on my native Windows years ago when I first upgraded, but it told me the key wasn't valid. Any ideas? Is it even possible to be running two Windows 10(s) at the same time as native and as a VM?

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  • @ctrl-alt-delor yea i know this but can it hurt to ask incase someone knows? Also i figure if people know linux/unix, then they probably know alot about windows as well. I find that its difficult to get the right questions answered these days, even from microsoft. I can always try reddit if someone doesnt know. I saw a post saying that we have to treat each vm and host as a separate copy of windows, thus separate key for each, but i wanted to verify. Sep 18, 2018 at 11:15
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    This is a Microsoft licensing issue, a question better and more accurately answered by a Microsoft customer support representative
    – Fox
    Sep 18, 2018 at 11:19
  • Sorry if we are not helpful. I have flagged a moderator to move it to the correct version of this site. I don't agree in there being multiple sites, we should use tagging. But that is the way it is. You could read the text of the licence agreement. It is not the easiest read (and designed that way), but it should tell you the legal side of what you are allowed to do (though there will be some un-enforceable stuff in there). Sep 18, 2018 at 11:24
  • I do not believe Windows 10 accepts activation keys for previous versions of the OS anymore; that was a push to get more people to upgrade. You asked if two Windows systems can run with the same key; in addition to a technical question, that is also a legal question (as in, does the license allow it). Hence, you should be talking with a Microsoft representative, not unaffiliated strangers on the internet
    – Fox
    Sep 18, 2018 at 11:27
  • @Fox true, shouldnt really be asking here, however i will say on my behalf it is a pain to call to english support from Japan due to time difference and potential technical difficulties. When I contact them via chat it usually works better, but honestly they dont help me much whenever i have a windows problem. They usually just have me reinstall rather than figuring out the underlying issue because its "easier". Also, I think i might have actually figured out my issue, Simply i can not have a copy of my current windows 10 running on a vm, they will want a separate key.. greedy, but makes sense Sep 18, 2018 at 11:32

1 Answer 1

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It's no longer possible to activate a Windows 10 installation using a Windows 8.1 key.

There are reports that it is still possible today to freely upgrade a Windows 8.1 activated installation to Windows 10, but I have no idea how long this will last.

So the way to do that is to create first a Windows 8.1 installation, activate it, then upgrade to Windows 10. I repeat that this might stop working at some time in the future.

This is very inadvisable if this Windows 8.1 key is still installed on a physical computer, since if detected by Microsoft then the key is black-listed and both installations will become inactivated.

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  • how do i close the post? Sorry im a noob here Sep 19, 2018 at 12:17
  • There's no real reason to close it. It might be instructive for some future reader.
    – harrymc
    Sep 19, 2018 at 12:52

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