# Best Place to Purchase Windows 10 and Microsoft Office



## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

You can always buy an OEM version on EBAY. Just looked and saw them as low as $25 shipping included.


All the places you mentioned are on the higher side.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Colbyt said:


> You can always buy an OEM version on EBAY. Just looked and saw them as low as $25 shipping included.


I've never bought software from eBay. Have you done so? Is it trustworthy? I suppose if it's on eBay, I could always fall back on the "buyer protection" if the seller tried to scam me.


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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

Those student prices tend to be decent. Not spectacular but decent. I've bought from AAFES for my parents' computer since my dad is retired Army and got a pretty good deal there as well.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

stick\shift said:


> Not spectacular but decent.


So I could shop around and possibly do better elsewhere?


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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

Yes. Would it be worth the effort? Don't know.


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

m_ridzon said:


> I've never bought software from eBay. Have you done so? Is it trustworthy? I suppose if it's on eBay, I could always fall back on the "buyer protection" if the seller tried to scam me.





That is where I usually buy it. You do have to be careful. Only buy from established members and read the listing completely. Make sure you buy an auction listing and not a classified ad. Make sure it says buyer protection on the listing page.



In your case for an OS you want an unopened package, with media and COA and if it says fully registerable that is another nice word to hear.


Are you going with Home or Pro?


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Colbyt said:


> That is where I usually buy it. You do have to be careful. Only buy from established members and read the listing completely. Make sure you buy an auction listing and not a classified ad. Make sure it says buyer protection on the listing page.


Understood. Makes complete sense. 



Colbyt said:


> Are you going with Home or Pro?


Not sure. My employer provided Pro on my work PC and it seems to do fine. For light-duty home use, would Home be sufficient, or are there major upsides to Pro that I should lean that way?


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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

Home is fine for most people. Pro is nice if you want to network at all.


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

Personally, OS is one software that I won't skimp on. I buy direct from my MS account that way if anything goes wrong, it's on their site that I have a legit and valid copy. That way they can fix whatever activation problem I'm having no problems, hassle, or questions.


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

My son says unless you want the ability to remote into it that Home is all you really need. It does LAN at home just fine.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Colbyt said:


> My son says unless you want the ability to remote into it that Home is all you really need. It does LAN at home just fine.


Hmm, I might need Pro then. I do occasionally remote into it from other machines. I guess I'll price them both and make a decision.


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

If you have access to a copy of Windows 7, you can still upgrade that to Windows 10.


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

huesmann said:


> If you have access to a copy of Windows 7, you can still upgrade that to Windows 10.





For free with a registered win 7 version. But Home to Home or Pro to Pro only. I just did it on 12-21-19.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

huesmann said:


> If you have access to a copy of Windows 7, you can still upgrade that to Windows 10.


I do have access to Windows 7 Pro, but I thought we were out of the "free upgrade" period. Is that not the case?


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

m_ridzon said:


> I do have access to Windows 7 Pro, but I thought we were out of the "free upgrade" period. Is that not the case?





It is not being advertised but as of Dec it was still an option for registered users.


It must be done as an upgrade. A new install of 10 will not accept the old COA.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Colbyt said:


> It is not being advertised but as of Dec it was still an option for registered users.


Where do I go to take advantage of this? MS website, or is there a button in Windows 7 that I can click to start the process?



Colbyt said:


> It must be done as an upgrade. A new install of 10 will not accept the old COA.


What if I install Windows 7 on this new machine first? (I still have the disk and COA from installing it on my current machine years ago) Would I then be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free? Will that backdoor hack work?


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

I bought a CD with the 10 files which would up being outdated by the time I used it. So I I wound up downloading it direct from MS.



I suggest you start here ahttps://www.theverge.com/2020/1/14/21065140/how-to-upgrade-microsoft-windows-7-10-free-os and follow the links to the MS download page.


Copy down you COA and registration number for 7 before you start


edit: You must install 7 first and then do the upgrade.


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

Just keep in mind that you can't upgrade much of your system with the free win10 update - if I recall right even upgrading my GPU made it throw a hissy. I ended up buying the Pro 64 version and not looking back.


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## user_12345a (Nov 23, 2014)

Colbyt said:


> It must be done as an upgrade. A new install of 10 will not accept the old COA.


Windows 10 accepts windows 7 keys - obviously has to be the same version/type.

oem or retail, pro vs home, etc.

https://www.howtogeek.com/266072/yo...ws-10-for-free-with-a-windows-7-8-or-8.1-key/


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

user_12345a said:


> Windows 10 accepts windows 7 keys - obviously has to be the same version/type.
> 
> oem or retail, pro vs home, etc.
> 
> https://www.howtogeek.com/266072/yo...ws-10-for-free-with-a-windows-7-8-or-8.1-key/





*I read an article like that but it did not work. * I did 2 machines about 6 months apart. Both were full licensed, registered versions. I upgraded both to SSD at the time of the install by cloning the win 7 HD and then installing on the new copy.


With the first machine I tried the clean install using the win 7 key and it was not accepted. After format and clone the upgrade went fine.


With the second machine I just took the easy way out and did the upgrade.


So there are articles out there that say it works but for me it did not.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Mystriss said:


> Just keep in mind that you can't upgrade much of your system with the free win10 update - if I recall right even upgrading my GPU made it throw a hissy. I ended up buying the Pro 64 version and not looking back.


Honestly, I have thought about this. There's probably some truth to what you say. For the price of a new certified copy on eBay (@colbyt said there were some as low as $25), the risk might not be worth it, to try the upgrade from Win7. In fact, my old work PC was done as an upgrade a few years ago (when it was publicized as a free upgrade). That PC had quite a few problems with the Win10 software. Eventually, management just replaced the machine for me.


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

I have done this recently, like within the last couple of months. I installed Windows 7 on my computer from old media. Fkin forum software won't let me post a link to the instructions I used but just Google "windows 7 upgrade to windows 10" and you'll see a number of hits that will provide the same instructions.

Windows 7 pro upgraded to Windows 10 pro.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

huesmann said:


> I have done this recently, like within the last couple of months. I installed Windows 7 on my computer from old media. Fkin forum software won't let me post a link to the instructions I used but just Google "windows 7 upgrade to windows 10" and you'll see a number of hits that will provide the same instructions.
> 
> Windows 7 pro upgraded to Windows 10 pro.


Did you encounter any issues, or was it seamless and straightforward? Any cost involved?


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## user_12345a (Nov 23, 2014)

Colbyt said:


> *I read an article like that but it did not work. * I did 2 machines about 6 months apart. Both were full licensed, registered versions. I upgraded both to SSD at the time of the install by cloning the win 7 HD and then installing on the new copy.
> 
> 
> With the first machine I tried the clean install using the win 7 key and it was not accepted. After format and clone the upgrade went fine.
> ...


it's always best do to a clean install.

Windows installer is limited to the type of license, so you can't use a retail iso for a oem key.

for windows 7, there's a way make the installer universal and select the license type.

i don't know if that works for windows 10.


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

m_ridzon said:


> Honestly, I have thought about this. There's probably some truth to what you say. For the price of a new certified copy on eBay (@colbyt said there were some as low as $25), the risk might not be worth it, to try the upgrade from Win7. In fact, my old work PC was done as an upgrade a few years ago (when it was publicized as a free upgrade). That PC had quite a few problems with the Win10 software. Eventually, management just replaced the machine for me.


The free upgrade is an OEM version which is tied to the hardware it was installed on, typically CPU & Motherboard. I've heard that you can call MS and they'll let you upgrade the hardware, but frankly, having called MS in the past for retail versions, it'd probably cost less (Time is money) to just buy the "Retail" version outright. 

** The "retail" version, both upgrade and full, gives you the right to transfer it to your new computer, potentially as many times as you want to upgrade, just you can only have it on one computer at a time.

----

As to the rest, I was very hesitant to upgrade to 10 personally. I really liked 7 Pro and 10 didn't seem to be as ... flexible and yeah all the reported and known software/hardware conflicts were concerning. That said, I did finally upgrade, and I wouldn't go back. 10 Pro is much better with hardware drivers, much better at handling conflicts, 10's registry doesn't crap out from frequent hardware changes but once in a blue moon, and in general, with a few geek tweaks to the registry, it runs far, far smoother than 7 ever did.

I lost one piece of hardware, an old USB microscope, but that was mostly due to the microscope folks not ever putting out a new driver. It worked out for me as my new microscope is way better so... win some, lose some heh


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Mystriss said:


> The free upgrade is an OEM version which is tied to the hardware it was installed on, typically CPU & Motherboard. I've heard that you can call MS and they'll let you upgrade the hardware, but frankly, having called MS in the past for retail versions, it'd probably cost less (Time is money) to just buy the "Retail" version outright.
> 
> ** The "retail" version, both upgrade and full, gives you the right to transfer it to your new computer, potentially as many times as you want to upgrade, just you can only have it on one computer at a time.


This is good discussion and I am learning more and more. I was ignorant and didn't realize there was a difference between OEM and Retail copies, but Google shined a little light on that. So I have a few questions:

I have a Win 7 Pro disk, and it's installed on my other PC. Is there a way to tell from the disk, or the system's Control Panel, or Google, if I have OEM or Retail copy?
My university has Win 10 "education" version for $60. Is there a way to know if it's OEM or Retail. The product description from their website is quoted below, for whatever it's worth.
Where do folks typically shop good deals on Retail versions?

Quote from my university's software site...


> Windows 10 Education is only available for education customers in volume licensing programs. Windows 10 Education includes features from Windows 10 Enterprise that are ideal for advanced security, and the comprehensive device control and management needs of today's educational institution. Windows 10 Education also enables simplified deployment in the education space; this edition provides a direct path for many devices to upgrade from Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro.
> 
> Windows 10, version 1909 is the most recently released version available. When media is updated after its original release to include additional security & non-security fixes, the month/year of the update will be reflected in the file name of the download.


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

m_ridzon said:


> Did you encounter any issues, or was it seamless and straightforward? Any cost involved?


Simple and straightforward. Just followed the instructions and off it went. 
Zero cost, other than my time.



m_ridzon said:


> I have a Win 7 Pro disk, and it's installed on my other PC. Is there a way to tell from the disk, or the system's Control Panel, or Google, if I have OEM or Retail copy?


If it's OEM it's usually gonna have a label on the disc that says something like "intended for distribution only with a new PC."


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

"Education" version is another flavor. They use MAKs (multiple access code or something like that) which is a single key that applies to multiple computers. I would /never/ buy EDU version online, only from a school I was actually attending.

-----

To check what version you have type CTRL+R - type CMD and click okay in window that pops up. (You can sometimes right click on start button and choose Command Prompt directly.)

In the command prompt window (after C:\Users\**your name or computer name**>) type slmgr -dli and hit enter.

In the Windows Script Host window that comes up look at the second line for your version.

"VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel" is educational version
"RETAIL channel" is retail version
"OEM channel" is OEM version


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Mystriss said:


> To check what version you have type CTRL+R - type CMD and click okay in window that pops up. (You can sometimes right click on start button and choose Command Prompt directly.)
> 
> In the command prompt window (after C:\Users\**your name or computer name**>) type slmgr -dli and hit enter.
> 
> ...


I checked. I have two Win7 machines, as well as their installation discs. One is Retail, other is OEM. The Retail is an "upgrade" disc (i.e., WinXP must be installed first before upgrading to Win7, and YES I still have the old WinXP disc). So with the Retail version, what are your thoughts about installing XP, then upgrading to 7, then upgrading to 10? But an earlier statement (cited below) said the Win10 free upgrade only applied to the OEM version, which could be a problem for a new-build since OEM is tied to specific hardware it was created for. Am I reading that correctly?



Mystriss said:


> The free upgrade is an OEM version which is tied to the hardware it was installed on, typically CPU & Motherboard.


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

> In the command prompt window (after C:\Users\**your name or computer name**>) type slmgr -dli and hit enter.



I know for a fact:
that my win7 CD was label as OEM
that I installed win 10 as an upgrade to a registered version of Win7
that I paid zero $ for the upgrade

that when I ran the command above that *win10 now reports as the retail branch ver 1909.x*

*Rather than all this endless speculating *what do you have to lose by installing your 7 , doing the upgrade and see what you wind up with. If you aren't happy format the HD and MBR and move on.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Colbyt said:


> *Rather than all this endless speculating *what do you have to lose by installing your 7 , doing the upgrade and see what you wind up with. If you aren't happy format the HD and MBR and move on.


What I have to lose is the access to the Education version at my university. I'm graduating soon and won't be able to buy that copy, and would kick myself later if it turns out that I should have bought it, since it would have been the best option. But I don't want to buy it, if there's a better, cheaper option that I'm sure will work. So that's why I'm digging into this to really see what my best option is.

You've been very helpful and have provided some good feedback, but if you're worn out from the ongoing discussion, you can certainly unsubscribe from the thread.


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

m_ridzon, are you wanting to perform a fresh install, or just upgrade an existing installation to Win10?


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

huesmann said:


> m_ridzon, are you wanting to perform a fresh install, or just upgrade an existing installation to Win10?


Either one. Doesn't matter. Whichever ends up with a stable system at the least cost. This is a new PC build, but I have no qualms about first installing old systems to then upgrade to where I want to be, Win10. Conversely, I have no qualms about doing a new install of Win10 without going through the upgrades first. Whichever is more cost effective.


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

@m_ridzon

If it's no biggie, I do a clean install rather than an upgrade. There's a thing with windows I've always called "registry bloat" - old hardware entries, old software entries, etc. - that makes stuff slow down (probs not enough for typical users to notice, unless you're constantly plugging USB gadgets into different USB ports then they "randomly" "stop working" - basically the registry gets confused about the devices and pulls up the wrong driver for said item being plugged. Happens with SATA data ports and PCI-e slots too)


Also most of the time with retail Windows upgrade versions you do /not/ have to install your prior windows version first (MS did do something right there.) During the install it'll ask you to enter your prior key. ** Its been a while since I paid attention, but I think it asks for the new win 10 key first, then the prior version key before install gets serious... or it asks for the prior key after the entire install when you do validation/authorization process... or it asks for the prior key, then your new key straight off. One of the three, but I don't recall which versions had which order anymore lol

I am uncertain if that applies to an OEM Update install, but I would assume it did.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Mystriss said:


> @m_ridzon
> 
> If it's no biggie, I do a clean install rather than an upgrade. There's a thing with windows I've always called "registry bloat" - old hardware entries, old software entries, etc. - that makes stuff slow down (probs not enough for typical users to notice, unless you're constantly plugging USB gadgets into different USB ports then they "randomly" "stop working" - basically the registry gets confused about the devices and pulls up the wrong driver for said item being plugged. Happens with SATA data ports and PCI-e slots too)


Again, great feedback. You've been very helpful. Thanks again. The pitfalls you mentioned are certainly valid and I've run into them before myself. I'm leaning more towards a fresh install. So the question is whether or not I buy this Educational version for $60. After poking around Google, it appears Education is merely a variant of Enterprise with a few revised default settings. I'd like to price check other retail versions. Where do you shop them?


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

MicroCenter?


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

m_ridzon said:


> Again, great feedback. You've been very helpful. Thanks again. The pitfalls you mentioned are certainly valid and I've run into them before myself. I'm leaning more towards a fresh install. So the question is whether or not I buy this Educational version for $60. After poking around Google, it appears Education is merely a variant of Enterprise with a few revised default settings. I'd like to price check other retail versions. Where do you shop them?


I actually don't price shop on OS because it typically saves $50 or less and that's just not worth the loss of peace of mind for a product I'm libel to keep for 5 to 10 years (I don't upgrade OS easily heh) I only buy direct from MS personally.


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## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

There is a lot of wrong information out here, so I'm getting straight to the Point:

YES, you CAN do a clean install of Windows 10 with the Windows 7 Key.

The End.


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## Tymbo (Jan 18, 2018)

I bought a license off ebay for $1.50 for windows 10 pro. You download the OS directly from Microsoft, and plug in the # when prompted. Easy Peasy.


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## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

Tymbo said:


> I bought a license off ebay for $1.50 for windows 10 pro. You download the OS directly from Microsoft, and plug in the # when prompted. Easy Peasy.


$1.50? 

Can't be legal.


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## Tymbo (Jan 18, 2018)

I've bought them this way for my last three computers. Never an issue. There are dozens for sale, as low as $1.20. Would ebay allow them if it weren't legal?
:confused1:


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Tymbo said:


> I've bought them this way for my last three computers. Never an issue. There are dozens for sale, as low as $1.20. Would ebay allow them if it weren't legal?
> :confused1:


Are they OEM or Retail keys? Pro or Home?


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## user_12345a (Nov 23, 2014)

Tymbo said:


> I've bought them this way for my last three computers. Never an issue. There are dozens for sale, as low as $1.20. Would ebay allow them if it weren't legal?
> :confused1:


The licenses usually cost hundreds of dollars.

Your keys may have been produced by illegal key generator.

Sometimes you can buy a oem license sticker from a scrapped pc and technically they are not legal either, oem licenses can only be used with the hardware they were purchased with.

Usually, for older programs - pcs sold with windows 10 are mostly too new to be scrapped.


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

I just bought the Win10 Education version from my university. They gave me a key with the purchase. Unbeknownst to me, it's an "upgrade" version. That is, it seems I have to first install XP, Win7, Win8, Win10Home, or Win10Pro. Having the Win10 Education key, is it possible to just install fresh and skip the installation of an earlier version?


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## diyorpay (Sep 21, 2010)

2 things to try:

1) Start install and see if prompted to enter Win7 key or
2) Leave Win7 CD in CD/DVD player when running install


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## m_ridzon (Sep 29, 2017)

Quick update: I talked to the software distributors at the university. Their paperwork issued with the software purchase isn't completely accurate. Turns out that I can install the Win10 software as a fresh install, without needing to first install an older version. So I'll give it a shot and see what happens.


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## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

m_ridzon said:


> Quick update: I talked to the software distributors at the university. Their paperwork issued with the software purchase isn't completely accurate. Turns out that I can install the Win10 software as a fresh install, without needing to first install an older version. So I'll give it a shot and see what happens.


See post # 39.

:vs_cool:


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## user_12345a (Nov 23, 2014)

Years ago you used to be able to use an upgrade version to do a clean install - it just prompts for the key of the previous os version you have.

But with being to install directly with win 7 key, the upgrade version is not really needed. just need the iso with matching version.


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