Notes to figure out what version of Windows you have, and what combos can be upgraded.
Q. What version of Windows am I running?
A. Settings / System / About
On the same screen you can find if you've got a 32 or 64 bit version.
Q. How do I know if my Windows is OEM or Retail?
A. Open a Command Prompt or PowerShell, type in:
c:\> slmgr /dli
or
c:\> slmgr /dlv
So, combining the two options above will probably be enough to tell you you have something like:
Windows 11 Pro
Retail
Version 22H2 64 bits
By the way, slmgr reports Windows 11 Home as Windows 11 Core... duh.
Q. How to retrieve the product key
A. Try:
c:\> wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey
The above doesn't always work (WMIC is no longer installed by default). If it does not then try the registry:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform
Look for
BackupProductKeyDefault
Q. Can I reinstall my OEM license on another machine?
A. No (but see below, you just might if you have an older retail key laying around somewhere, though I can't predict what happens when you move the resulting license to a new machine)
Q. Can I reinstall my OEM license on another machine?
A. Yes. Well, no, but maybe, as sometimes it works.
Contact Microsoft. They'll sometimes offer a dial in number, a voice response system, or something similar to bypass the online activation. It shouldn't work, but in rare cases it does.
Q. Can I reinstall my Retail license on another machine?
A. Maybe. You should be able to, if you have a valid Windows 11 boxed retail, but things get quite complicated when you took another path...
If you bought a retail version of 7, 8, or 10, and upgraded it to 10 or 11, you may have turned your retail license into a 'digital non transferable retail license'. I'm not sure what the official term is, but that's what it boils down to. Now Microsoft may allow you to transfer the resulting license to a new machine... or it may not.
To make things even more complicated, everything these days is assigned a digital license, once you link your machine to your MS account, so even if your PC was a retail and slmgr still reports it as such, it may no longer be so.
So, in general you SHOULD be able to... If it doesn't work, contact Microsoft and simply ask.
Q. Do you need a Microsoft account to install Windows 11?
A. Yes, these days you do (too stupid for words) but once done add a new local account, give it admin rights, then delete your original install account and you're no longer bound to Microsoft... for now.
Q. Can I upgrade Windows x Home to Windows x Pro?
A. Yes, you can.
But... did you know you can use an old Windows 7 or 8 Pro Retail key to do so? First I upgraded my Windows 10 Home OEM to Windows 11, simply online, then did a clean re-install, then then changed the key to a Windows 7 Pro key, and it now reports Windows 11 Pro Retail. Euh...
Q. Can you still upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10 (and 11)?
A. You shouldn't be able to, BUT if you had an activated Windows 7 and do a full and complete reinstall with windows 10 or 11, it might simply use the old hardware ID and activate without a problem.
I haven't tried this yet with Windows 7 to Windows 11, or Windows 10 to Windows 11.
Q. Can you run Windows 10 in a VM?
A. No problem on VirtualBox 5 and upward.
Q. Can you run Windows 11 in a VM?
A. You can and you can't. You'll have to try it. Windows 11 without any TPM bypass requires VirtualBox 7. It won't run on VirtualBox 6.
Q. Should you run updates?
A. Yes. Of course you should! But not OPTIONAL ones...
Q. Should you run OPTIONAL updates?
A. No, unless they are required because you have certain issues with your machine.
Many optional updates offer new features or specific drivers that you don't really need or use, but if there are problems those will typically first show up in 'optional' updates. So don't run them if you have to. Here are two examples of optional updates. Note that Windows itself is perfectly happy ('You're Up to Date') and doesn't need them.
Q. Should you use default Windows drivers?
A. If your PC runs fine, then yeah, don't install other stuff. Although... sometimes the default Windows driver are slower or cause problems.
For example, I have a few Brother MFC printers, but the default Windows drivers don't support all features and sometimes behave a bit odd. In those cases, you have to look for the right drivers on the manufacturer's website.
Never download drivers from weird sites though. Better to stick to the offical Windows stuff than risking nasty virusses and spyware.
Q. I have older hardware
A. Buy newer hardware 😇
Joking aside, It can be a pain getting some older kit to work. I have a Hercules Jogwheel, which actually is a Contour Shuttle Pro, and Contour removed the drivers for older models from their webpage. My second screen is a Wacom UX1200 series 1, which would only work with a specific set of drivers.
Also, if you have a real GFX card, get the original drivers from NVida or AMD.
On some motherboards, you may miss some audio options unless you install the manufacturer's drivers. In that case, first try the mainboard manufacturer's website before trying the chipset manufacturer's website.
If you need to install older drivers (sometimes they might be Win7 (!)) you may have to do so after logging in with an account with admin rights. Simply elevating during installation may not always work.
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