Hypothetical question.

[Bastet]

Long story so bear with me.
I previously has a Vista premium/pro laptop which was retired & I bought a Win 7, this came with the Win 8 upgrade on CD with a key - invoice containing the key says it's win 8 pro yet CD is for both home & pro but honestly I don't know, before I could install win 8 on win 7 laptop, it failed so received a refund, I installed Win 8 over Vista & eventually installed Win 10.
Now I have a Win 10 home laptop as old one died, can I use the win 8 pro key to upgrade win 10 to pro or was it absorbed into Windows 10 upgrade on the old laptop.
I just want to make sure before I throw the CD & key away that it cannot be used again to install Win 8 or upgrade Windows.

 

[ubuysa]

When you get a copy of Windows (and a bundled upgrade) they are licensed to you under the OEM terms, these limit you to using that copy of Windows (or the bundled upgrade) on that specific computer only. You are not licensed to use these copies of Windows on any other computer. So the answer is probably no, legally you cannot use them to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro on another computer. Had you bought a copy of Windows from a store (online or High Street) you would have a retail license, this will allow you to install that copy of Windows on any computer, but only one one computer at a time.

Since your Windows 8 disk is almost certainly OEM licensed you can safely throw it and the key away, they can only legally be used on the computer they came with.

Incidentally, upgrading to Windows 10 Pro on a home computer is a largely pointless exercise, the Pro version is designed for a business environment so contains software for connecting to domain controllers and the like. It doesn't run faster or better than the Home edition.

 

[Bastet]

Thanks Ubuysa, that's what I thought. Will dispose of both disc & Windows key.