Activating Windows 10 with a 8.1 product key - does this work?

[DeeBye]

So I just bought a new Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD to replace my old Kingston 120GB SSD, so I figured that now might be a good time to upgrade to Windows 10. I'm still using Windows 8.1. Browsing around the internet, I see that Windows 7 and 8 keys could possibly work to activate Windows 10. Is this still the case? I'm seeing a little bit of confusion online about it. Some people say it works, some others say it "may" work, and others say it used to work, but not anymore.

My plan is to do a clean Windows 10 install using the Windows 10 media creation tool via a USB flash drive, and then entering my Windows 8.1 product key. The computer in question still has the original motherboard and CPU that would be tied to the Windows 8.1 product key.

Thanks in advance.

[Lissa]

It works IF the Windows 8.1 key has never been used or was upgraded to Win 10 during the time period that it was allowed and IT IS NOT an OEM version.

[DeeBye]

It works IF the Windows 8.1 key has never been used or was upgraded to Win 10 during the time period that it was allowed and IT IS NOT an OEM version.

Thanks for the reply.

I guess the sticking part for me is this is an OEM version. I had the computer built for me by a system builder in Canada. I did do the Win 10 upgrade during the time period, but I never actually installed Win 10. I honestly can't remember how that worked, but I clicked a button to upgrade and then declined to actually install the upgrade.

Should I even bother upgrading to Windows 10? I use 8.1 at home and 10 at work, and they both seem functionally pretty much the same. Are there performance gains with 10 that I'm not aware of?

[Lissa]

If you did it within the time period, it may work, but I have had issues personally where an OEM version key would not be taken by the Windows 10 installer even though I had upgraded the key before the time ran out.

So it's worth a shot, but it may not work.

[DeeBye]

Update!

It worked.