As many people, I have the icon in the task bar offering me to register for the upgrade to Windows 10. However, I plan to build a new machine later this year and I'm concerned that if I upgrade to Windows 10 when it's release, is my free year going to be tied to my current motherboard/CPU (or however the machine is identified)?
Windows 10 – Is Windows 10 Upgrade Offer Tied to One Machine?
licenselicense keywindows-10-upgrade
Related Solutions
In your case, it seems there are only three machines and you're happy to temporarily change their domain status, which you've already tried to do by changing this setting:
<EnableDomainJoined>false</EnableDomainJoined>
But as you've found, this doesn't cause the upgrade offer to pop up in the system tray.
Instead, simply remove each machine from the domain, and re-add it to the domain once you've registered for your upgrade.
First check you have the relevant Windows Update installed (KB3035583) by typing the following at a command prompt:
wmic qfe | find "3035583"
You should see some output showing that you have KB3035583 installed:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=3035583 XXXXXXXXX Update
KB3035583 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM 5/24/2015
If the command returns nothing, you don't have KB3035583 installed and until you do have it installed, there's no point proceeding with the rest of these steps.
Assuming you have KB3035583 installed, now remove your computer from the domain by putting it in a workgroup, and reboot. (Before removing it from the domain, remember to make sure you have the credentials of the local administrator, as you'll need able to log on to the local machine after the reboot.)
Directly on rebooting, the Windows 10 notification appears obligingly in the system tray:
Now you can click the notification and go through the dialogs...
...to reserve your upgrade.
Once you're done with the Windows 10 dialogs, re-join the computer to the domain.
EDIT for July 29: don't forget, all GWX does initially is the compatibility check on your computer. Regardless of whether you use GWX, you are still eligible for the free upgrade anytime during the first year per the MS terms. If you don't want to wait for the automatic phased download by GWX to complete (or the automatic download by Windows Update, for those who didn't run GWX or are no longer running it), you can download Windows 10 now:
From Microsoft Community, Frequently Asked Questions: Windows 10:
I have multiple computers, do I have to download Windows 10 on each computer?
You can download a .ISO file and upgrade each computer offline. The ISO should be available by the time Windows 10 launches.
However, from How to: upgrade from previous versions of Windows using Windows 10 ISO file on the same Microsoft Community:
Please be aware that you cannot use the free upgrade offer to perform a clean install on first attempt. You must first upgrade from the qualifying version of Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 (whether you do it through Windows Update or using the .ISO file). Ensure the upgrade is completed successfully and then ensure that it is activated. You can then proceed to do a clean install by using recovery media or using the Reset function in Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC (Get Started).
(Note that Microsoft Community posts are in general not written by Microsoft employees.)
Best Answer
This entirely depends on what type of license you have. OEM machines that came with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 are tied to that machine. Once you upgrade to Windows 10, that installation also, is tied to the machine. Microsoft considers the "machine" to be the motherboard.
If you have Retail license of either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 this provides you the right to transfer the license, a reasonable amount of times ( i.e. not unlimited ) to other machines, rights remain unmodified and continue through to Windows 10 per the Windows 10 EULA.
Windows 10 EULA