Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

I thought this might help some that needed it, I sure do.

http://photographylife.com/how-to-upgrade-to-windows-10

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

This author went through some convoluted method to convert his PRODUCT KEY. However, the damn product key is clearly printed on the label you were instructed to put on the rear of your machine when you installed the old OS. Some of us might need a magnifying glass to read it but the PRODUCT KEY is marked on that label along with the product ID CODE. The KEY is also inside the documentation packaging you received with the old OS, unless it was a machine that had a manufacturer's OEM version pre-installed, in which case you have no OS label and no media.

WINDOWS 10 saves a copy of everything that was on your old OS partition and hard drive programs, settings, files and folders so doing a full backup is not really necessary but is probably an excellent idea anyway, just in case. If you loose your IP connection or power during the upgrade, this could really screw the pooch so having a full backup is suggested. With the millions of people who are doing this upgrade off of the Microsoft servers in the next few weeks and months, there's bound to be some server crashes and down time.

This article does show all of the screens and option choices you will see during this upgrade but read them carefully so you don't make the wrong choices. The screen shown here is only shown for the X64 version of the upgrade and there's a slightly different screen for the 32 bit version and the dual 32/64 bit version of the installation that can be downloaded to a USB flash drive which is probably the safest means of storing the INSTALLATION ROUTINES.anyway.

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Expanding on your thoughts I found Recover Keys program for $29.95 that just recovered all my important programs and their product keys and then printed them very nicely. Ya, it's a cost but calms my mind that I might not have written all the product keys down or saved the boxes/on-line order sheets for all my goodies.

Sarge69

davefales Loc: Virginia

Take a look at ProdUKey (free). Also, I believe Dell does not put the key on their equipment.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

singleviking, thanks for your detailed input, I will probably delay the install just a little longer because it kind of scares me for now lol.

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

BTW, even if your machine did come pre-loaded with the OS from the factory and has no WINDOWS PRODUCT LABEL, according to MS, the PRODUCT KEY should be recognized as being valid and allow the FREE UPGRADE.

Nelson.I Loc: Monument, Colorado, USA

You can find most/all product keys without spending a penny. davefales mentioned ProdUKey. I'll mention Belarc Advisor

jpendasulo Loc: TN

I 've been in the Windows Insider program since last fall and used many of the pre-release builds. Windows 10 is now very stable and MS is fixing minor bugs daily. If you have more than one computer, I would recommend installing it on a non-critical machine first to try it. It is better than 8.1 many ways but a bit different and requires a little effort to learn what's changed. You can roll it back if you don't like it but currently there is a time limit of a year for the free upgrade.

The upgrade from Win 7 thru 8.1 works well. All I did was uninstall programs I don't use anymore and did a file clean-up.

The Windows product key is imbedded in the bios of newer PCs that don't have the old style Windows label so it is picked up during the install and activates reliably. In my experience, Microsoft is good about fixing activation issues over the phone if you have any problems. There are free utilities that can read the product key directly from bios if you really want to know what it is.

hopthecop Loc: salisbury md

my virus program ,avira, said this program contains a virus..........it removed it from the download list.....