I am sorry to have to ask this question, but I do not have the points to just comment on some of the similar questions:
Windows 10 Clean Install and Windows 8.1 Product Key [duplicate]
Can I install the free Windows 7/8 -> 10 upgrade on a new empty drive?
Also, those might be outdated because Moab commented that with W10 build 1511, things might have changed a bit
Starting with W10 build 1511, you can use the W7 or W8 key on a clean install.
So, I have a Windows 8 Pro install DVD with a valid key and am trying to use that key on a new Windows 10 installation.
I used the Windows 10 Media Creation to create a bootable Windows 10 (I was not given an option for Windows 10 Pro) USB and I used that to install fresh Windows 10.
The windows installation let me use my Windows 8 Pro key when I was first prompted at the install, but after the install was done and I tried to activate the new Windows 10 installation I was told that the key is not working...
Can I skip upgrading Windows 8 Pro to Windows 10 and just install Windows 10 and use the key I have from my Windows 8 Pro?
EDIT:
After an update now I am getting this message:
This product key is already being used on another PC. Error code: 0x803FA071
TL;DR
The long story.
Something happened, and my Windows 8.1 Pro stopped working and I had to reinstall it. I have a Windows 8 Pro installation DVD that I got from Amazon a few years back. I used it and installed Windows 8 Pro on my PC. Ultimately I wanted to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro, but it was taking too long to update Windows 8 to 8.1, so I installed Windows 10 Media Creation and created a bootable Windows 10 USB. Using the bootable USB, I installed Windows 10 Pro on my PC, and that is where the pain started. I did some googling and found that with Starting with W10 build 1511, you can use the W7 or W8 key on a clean install
, but I could not find how to actually activate the fresh Windows 10 installation. After several tries to activate I finally called support and they helped me out.
Note: A side effect of skipping the Windows 7/8 upgrade to Windows 10 is that support had to invalidate my Windows 8 product key and give a new key.
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