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Windows 10
Dear all,
I have purchased an ALIENWARE laptop in 2011. I have my original windows 7 CD came along with the laptop. Recently, I have installed Windows 10 insider preview. Later I came to know that Win 10 is free for those who are having Genuine Win 7 or 8.x. Microsoft support told me,as this OS came along with the OEM, I have to contact Dell. Dell advised me to install Win 7 again. So I was trying to re-install Win 7 from my original disk, However, when I tried for a clean installation, it doesn't work. When checked with Support, I was advised to purchase a new copy of Win 10 as the warranty is over. I have an HP laptop and a Microsoft Surface, both, updated with new Win 10 free of cost. Only Dell has this issue of payment for an OS which is already purchased. Can some one help to get my free copy of Win 10?
Mary G
6 Operator
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20095 Posts
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Posted August 26th, 2015 08:00
When you installed the preview, it checked for windows 7 when it activated the preview so you should be able to update the preview version. It is worth a try. You must--be signed into your microsoft acct--the one you used for joining the Insider program and have an activated copy of the preview.
Problem is you might have destroyed the necessary files when you tried to install win 7. When you reinstall windows 7 from disk, it is necessary to boot to the win 7 disk and select Custom Install instead of the usual automatic method that will not recognize windows 10. Then choose the option to delete the partition with windows 10 preview--THEN install 7, do all the many updates rebooting many times until there are no more updates. That will take time. Check that win 7 is activated, reboot and do the win 10 upgrade again by carefully following the directions in the crete media tool. Do NOT do a clean install of win 10. It must be an upgrade or it will not activate.
See this-- Create Media Tool