[Windows Central Question]

My desktop is an older eMachine 1360G with Acer motherboard with 8 GB ram. I had upgraded it from 7 to 10 in July with the 500GB hard drive that was in the machine at that time. I had downloaded Win10 to a thumb drive and used it to do the upgrade. Then the drive died and it sat at a tech's worktable for a couple of weeks. When I got it back it had a new 1TB drive in it, but with the Win7 that originally came with the machine. I still have the thumb drive with the Win10 install on it.

So my question is - Can I use that thumb drive to do the free upgrade or am I frozen out of free Win10?

[worldspy99]

Might want to chat online with a MS rep and see what your options are.

[sinime]

I believe the upgrade should still work as upgrading a drive shouldn't void your Windows Installation. I think (not 100% sure though) the W10 license is tied to the motherboard. Worst case, as Worldspy mentioned, you might have to call MS and explain what happened.

[BluWarrior]

Yes as long as windows 10 activated and the repair shop did not significantly change your hardware, or change your motherboard it will still activate. Also if you for some reason you have an issue, you can still use your windows 7 product key to activate windows 10.