Removing Windows (10), get/keep key for later reinstall?

Question

I've been dual booting Linux (Kubuntu) and Windows for a couple of months now, and I'm thinking of making a full switch, since I haven't booted Windows since I started dual booting. However, I don't want to forsake Windows, in case I were to need it later for a specific application.

Is it possible to delete Windows, but keep the product key so that you can reinstall Windows later?

"s it possible to delete Windows, but keep the product key so that you can reinstall windows later?" - Yes; Your Windows 10 license will automatically activate when you install it on the same machine you have now. You will be unable to use this license within a Virtual Machine though. — Ramhound, Jan 11 '17 at 16:01
Thanks for your answer! So it's 'safe' to remove windows completely? How exactly does windows know which machine this is? — Spurious Eigenstate, Jan 11 '17 at 16:05
"How exactly does windows know which machine this is?" - Your Windows 10 license is handled through a digital entitlement. The documentation on Microsoft's website explains how and what the Windows 10 digital entitlement is exactly. "So it's 'safe' to remove windows completely?" - Of course it is. — Ramhound, Jan 11 '17 at 16:06
How did you buy Windows 10? Retail box? OEM? Online Upgrade? — Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Jan 11 '17 at 17:14
Windows 8 was preinstalled, I upgraded to windows 10 as soon as it released. — Spurious Eigenstate, Jan 11 '17 at 17:20
Possible duplicate of Can I install the free Windows 7/8 -> 10 upgrade on a new empty drive?. Also maybe check out Windows 10 Clean Install and Windows 8.1 Product Key, Skip upgrading W8 Pro to W10 and install W10 and use key from W8 Pro?, etc. — Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Jan 11 '17 at 17:26
Hasn't the policy changed somewhat since the upgrades aren't free anymore? — Spurious Eigenstate, Jan 11 '17 at 17:31
"How exactly does windows know which machine this is?" Microsoft hasn't actually released that info. "Hasn't the policy changed somewhat since the upgrades aren't free anymore?" Nope. You got your license to use Windows 10 on that machine during the time you were entitled to get it for free, so you now own that license. How much they're charging now doesn't change the existing licensing agreement you already have in place with them. — Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Jan 11 '17 at 17:36
Thank you! I approved the duplicate mark since the other post did answer some questions — Spurious Eigenstate, Jan 11 '17 at 17:39

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

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You could always take an image of Windows; I'd certainly recommend that since you may lose stuff you forgot about.

Or if you just prefer to get the key you can check out this PCA article.

Finally, for iTunes, you can actually run iTunes on many versions of Linux including Kubuntu. This article has a good deal of information on how to do it!

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

Community

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answered Jan 11 '17 at 16:02

Jeff F.

4,413

Thank you! I think I'm going to take an image anyway, and as for iTunes, I've already tried a couple of ways to install with wine, but it won't sync with my iDevices properly. – Spurious Eigenstate Jan 11 '17 at 16:11
You could also use Virtualbox(https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads) if you really wanted to. It may be tricky getting the USB working properly but it should work just fine. – Jeff F. Jan 11 '17 at 16:13
Yes, I also read something about VM's and iTunes... Going to look into it! – Spurious Eigenstate Jan 11 '17 at 16:21

Removing Windows (10), get/keep key for later reinstall?

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