Windows activation constraints

Question

All versions Pro x64

A couple days ago I did a Win 10 21H1 fresh install on a virgin NVMe and was surprised to see it it is approx 27 Gigs. To test my aging memory I did a Win 7 install (retail -- up-to-date through Nov 2020) in Virtualbox then upgraded using the 21H1 ISO downloaded from Microsoft. Ignoring windows..old and driver/driver store folder variances the upgrade approach is approx 17 gig, or roughly 30% smaller than a fresh install. The size of the "upgraded on VM" is consistent with the size found in my Macrium Reflect backup image taken of a physical SATA SSD immediately after a Win 7 to Win 10 1909 upgrade performed last Nov.

Question #!: why is a fresh install larger? My expectation was for it to be smaller given the absence of Win 7 leftovers ...

Assuming a fully functional Win 10 21H1 using the upgrade approach I'm seriously considering wiping the NVMe and doing the upgrade approach. One option is to create a Reflect image of the attached/mounted VHD from the VM. Unfortunately, since I expected the VM test to a quickie I was not as careful as I'd be for a "live" install on a physical drive/partition and prefer to completely start over.

I seem to recall a couple of anti-piracy constraints on too fast a turn around when reusing a Win 7 retail license:
[1] deactivating the Win 7 VM instance (which is reverted from Win 10 upgrade to Win 7 immediately post-activation snapshot) using

slmgr.vbs /upk

doesn't actually do anything on Microsoft servers to flag deactivation of a particular key; it just puts the local instance into a non-activated/non-genuine state

and
[2] there must be at least ?60?/?90? between activations of the key on different H/W (a vBox VM machine ID when it's created; it is unrelated to the host H/W profile as far as I know).

Question #2: if either [1] or [2] above true? (Obviously I've attempting searching for an answer before spending time writing this; nothing I found discusses this level of detail).

Any assistance will be appreciated.
Art

Answer 1

1. There's no waiting period.
2. without seeing both there really no way for us to know. You can report this experience via the feedback hub https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/send-feedback-to-microsoft-with-the-feedback-hub-app-f59187f8-8739-22d6-ba93-f66612949332 or the other option is to start a case here with product support. https://support.serviceshub.microsoft.com/supportforbusiness

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Answer 2

I tried using the satisfaction rating but it doesn't seem to be linked to the provided responses (I gave 24hrs just to be sure) so following is a combined repeat ...

At present I'm unable to mark either response as "accepted answer" since neither answered:
[1] is there a required "waiting period" between initial use of a retail activation key and subsequent use on a different "machine"? i.e., after successfully testing a concept on a VM can I immediately reuse the same key on my physical machine or must I wait some specific period of time?
[2] Why is a Win 10 instance built via a Win 7 to Win 10 upgrade smaller in size than a fresh install (after deleting windows.old on the upgrade approach)?

@Anonymous - thx for confirming MS servers are not updated when an instance is de-activated ... which seems like pretty sloppy (or maybe just greedy) design on Microsoft's part.

Answer 3

Just checking if there's any progress or updates?

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Answer 4

@Art Hansen
Hi,

This is because the installer needs to download the updates packages first. Starting from scratch also takes longer than doing a plain in-place upgrade because you'll need to reinstall and reconfigure any software you previously had. It also requires that you have the applications installation files and products keys.
The command slmgr.vbs /upk would have removed the key and restored a trial key and activation status.

Hope above information can help you.

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Answer 5

Yes, /upk does nothing outside of local machine. After installation you should be able to do
slmgr /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
slmgr /ato

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