Clean Install of Windows 10 - What OEM Product Key to Use

Same problem here. Has Dell gotten around to test Windows 10?

   I asked a similar question and I will tell you what I have heard to date. You cannot Install Windows 10 from the boot media. To be more specific you can't boot the boot media and install it. You must upgrade it. Upgrade only. You have to have a legit Windows 7 or Windows 8 installation running and than put the media in and "upgrade".

   I think this is whack. I don't want to upgrade. Microsoft Updates have never worked. I want to boot from the media, wipe out my hard drive and install from ground zero. I was told I would have to purchase a copy of Windows 10 with a Product Key to do this. That this is not "upgrading" in the true sense and thus I need to purchase. I hope Microsoft didn't do something that stupid but only time will tell.....

I've sorted out Windows 10 on 2 other machines (not Dells) and they've been really straight forward. You do HAVE to do an upgrade from Win 7 or 8.1, however once that's done you can do a full format and reinstall (as long as the hardware isn't changed). The upgrading seems to be needed to link the old key with the new Windows 10 licence. I've done that twice already and both are 100% fresh installs now and fully activated.

However saying all that my Dell laptop is being a pain and when I run the installer it keeps asking for a product key when neither of the others did.

do the silly upgrade, make sure your copy is activated.  Use the media creation tool, select other PC, put it on a usb.  reboot making sure it boots from the usb.  You may have to hit F12 or delete on boot to select boot from usb.  the setup runs.  when you get the the part where it shows all your partitions, i had 6, delete them ALL.  hit next.  that is a CLEAN install

I forgot, skip anywhere that asks for a key, don't enter anything.  It will auto activate since you did the upgrade earlier.

your product key will not work directly like that, you need to reinstall win8 and do what is in my post above

You need to upgrade first to windows 10. Once upgraded, check activation status  If it's activated, you can do clean install. No need to enter product key when you do clean install, because the system will remember it (I think it's tied to hardware and microsoft account you're using). Just skip that step and windows will be activated. That worked for me.

I have exactly the same question.  I just bought a refurb E6420 with 4G memory and Windows 7 Pro on it.  I bumped the memory to 8G and installed Windows 10 via the .iso download.  Now that Windows 10 is running I can't activate it, because of error code 0xC004C003, meaning "The activation server determined the specific product has been blocked."  Just like JYB3, I tried to use the product key under the battery.

Prior to installing Windows 10, I confirmed that my Windows 7 was genuine.  The information I have from Microsoft indicates that I should contact Dell.

According to Microsoft Activation Support hotline you would need to downgrade your Dell system back down Win 7 or 8 then do the upgrade since the OEM product key won't work for the clean install of Win 10. 

IF you were able to get beyond that and activate your Win 10 system on your Dell please let us know how you were able to do it. Thanks!

I have 3 dell latitudes E6410, E6320, E6420 ALL have failed! Error 0xC000000F. What is this , says it cannot access a device? On 3 Machines! Ridiculous! I did a Lenovo and HP no issues at all, whats the story Dell?!

It just means that Dell doesn't want to bother providing the drivers for windows 10 for your laptop.  They may have used a manufacturing date cutoff point, who knows.  It also means they won't provide tech support for win10 on your laptop.  That doesn't mean win10 won't work it just means you may have to search around for the drivers or try the win8 drivers from dell.  Intel is a good place to find drivers.

If you find something out, can you please let me know?  I also have an e6420 and just assumed, since it well exceeds all of the system requirements, that I would be able to upgrade to 10.  I was really surprised not to see it on the list and would also like to know why it's not supported.  It wasn't exactly a "cheap" laptop!!

Thanks!

Just a followup and probably just the way it works.

You are not able to do a clean install without a specific Windows 10 product key that you purchased.  If all you have is the OEM product key, you will need to:

1. Install your original OS (Windows 7 Pro in my example)
2. Fully patch the OS, so it is up to date (a day long process with Win7)
3. Use your Win10 media to upgrade your existing system by launching setup from within your OEM OS
4. If you are prompted for a product key, skip it
5. Once you are upgraded to Win10, hit [WindowsKey]+I
6. Click on "Update & Security"
7. Click "Recovery"
8. Click "Get started" under the "Reset this PC" section
9. Choose "Remove everything"
10. Choose "Remove files and clean the drive" (this does take a while)
11. You system will come up with the prompting for Language, keyboard, time zone, etc.

This is all that I have found to be as close to "clean" install you can get and have the resulting Windows 10 installation activated with just an OEM OS, Win10 media, without any specific Windows 10 Product Key.

Not optimal, but there it is as I see it.

The 10 key is encrypted so it cannot be read clear text from the system.

Clean install will require you to reinstall win7 or win8 and then do the refresh and erase everything after upgrade of windows 10.

Well, see the problem is that I have an e6420 as well and because it was infected by the nastiest firmware rootkit in the history of computing I was forced to replace the hard drives, blast the bios, flush the nvram and reinstall windows. 

The whole situation was made possible by the use of extended memory allocated in my bios (GPU/NVRAM etc) to where the malicious entity was able to make the infection so persistent there was no other way short of going "office space" on the thing.   But I let Dell off the hook on that, because they meant well and were only trying to make my computer safe from thieves and unauthorized access..... unfortunately much like Microsoft they in fact gave the same thieves the means to take control of my computer, my router, my phone, and almost every friend and family's computer that came in contact with me.  

So I finally got it fixed, after over a month and was very close to being institutionalized over it.   But the kicker is, Dell did not provide media with my computer.  There is no CD rom so I can only assume that is why.... but never the less I am UNABLE to REINSTALL win7/8 with an official OEM version because I don't have one.  Thanks Dell.  You really thought this one out.  Good thing I got the cheap $1800 laptop and not the discounted one.   It has really paid off.

So I did what everyone who as been through this type of ordeal does.... I switched to Linux.   It wasn't the easiest task, but after several weeks I'm good.  I like it better and my computer runs so much faster it isn't even funny.  But back to the problem.

MS said my system was compatible and good to go.    Dell gave no warnings on the site, that I should not upgrade..... and even worse THERE IS NO PRODUCT KEY LISTED ON THIS COMPUTER.  Not under the battery.  Not on the bottom.  Not on the motherboard.   Although, I guess at this point it becomes humorous because it seems even I had the key.... I wouldn't effin work anyway.

Shoot me in the face...... and then please send a video of it to the entire product management team at Dell so they can understand how completely frustrating their lack of information, communication, planning, and generally incompetent design and manufacturing process is.