ill keep this short its really very very easy to do. you need to have an iso of the matching version to your previous os i.e. home or pro and x86 or x64. extract the iso (or you can mount it if you know how) go to \Windows\x64\sources and copy gatherosstate.exe to your desktop. run this file (may have to select run as admin) it will create the file GenuineTicket.xml on your desktop. SAVE THIS somewhere like a usb drive or otherwise YOU NEED IT LATER. now install windows 10 clean once done copy the file you saved GenuineTicket.xml to the folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\ClipSVC\GenuineTicket now reboot the machine. you should now be activated.
Is this a Microsoft approved process or is this a workaround discovered by someone? If it is an MS process, why did they not mention this from the start? It would have saved me a lot of time if I had known about it.
it is a workaround but i assure you ms knows about it as i have verified with my contacts there and while they do not technically support it i was told it does work fine by them directly. they knew about it working before releasing the os and later some people figured it out and now its posted online. i was told they had no intention of telling people this would work it just happens people always look for workarounds and someone found it.
Nice. I wasted hours and hours on failed upgrading attempts until I was somehow able to upgrade. Wish I knew it that time.
according to my searches on google windows 8 was only available as an upgrade and windows 8.1 was available as a complete OS (upgrade not needed) as well as an upgrade
