For people still on 7 with retail keys

 

 

Oh, yes. I'm well aware that machines upgraded to Windows 10 and then rolled back are perpetually licensed to receive Windows 10 again absolutely any time. I did this to many machines, both mine and others, way back in the first year of Windows 10's release so those machines could be permanently upgraded to Windows 10 once there was no other choice,

 

FYI:

 

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/cant-activate-windows-microsoft-investigating/

There were many similar reports at tenforums.com and elsewhere of devices that had been upgraded during the "free" period losing their Windows activation. 

 

I don't know if this is still happening or not.

I expect that the majority of folks entitled to the free 7/8/8.1 >>> 10 upgrade path took advantage of doing so during the ~8+ years it was available before the activation servers were shut down in September 2023.

Many/most of the old kits in the hands of regular consumers that were NOT upgraded for free probably may have been retired or replaced by now?

 

This does all seem "moot".

As mentioned several times, legitimate Win10 licenses are still available from reputable sources (with cautious research).

AFAIK The only glitch is that the upgrade needs to be done via clean install.

W7 activation servers are still live

 

less than a month ago i re-installed W7 on my OEM Acer comp which had been upgraded to W10 then W11, obviously using the workaround patches, then to Linus Mint

none of the above were dual booted

 

my re-install automatically went to Non-genuine as i used "retail" install media, after i updated, using Simplex, i then re-installed the OEM validation files 

System became genuine.... confirmed using the now " MS unavailable tool... Mgadiag" --- got a copy of it

 

Activation on W7 compared to W10/W11 is completely different

W7 actually uses the purchased/pre-installed key whether Retail or OEM

 

The free upgrade only used the W7 key as a starting point and is dropped in favour of a machine based component key

the W7 is also NOT blocked and can be used to install the OS on another machine(if Retail) or on its original OEM comp  

It is recommended and highly encouraged that you stop using an insecure operating system like those that are no longer receiving updates. If you want to use your hardware due to costly upgrades, then might I suggest that you switch to something like Linux Mint or another Linux flavor?

@Torchwood:

Thanks for that very helpful info.

After 3 pages & more than 30 posts - to which the Topic Starter has not replied - I think there may be some confusion?

Unless I misunderstood, the issue at hand is not whether Win7 can still be activated, but rather whether a Win7 computer can (or cannot) now, in 2024, be upgraded *for free* to Win10.
Unless all the articles since September 2023 across many computer sites are wrong, I think the answer is: CANNOT.

Apologies to all if I misunderstood or if I am wrong.

In any event, the Topic Starter seems to have abandoned the thread. :-(

Edited for typo

Edited by MoxieMomma, 26 September 2024 - 12:07 PM.

Its true that the free update option has been discontinued

 

BIG however

 

IF you updated to 10/11 using the free upgrade option and then decided to revert back to 7

You can still reinstall to 10/11 with valid activation WITHOUT using the W7 key again

(as i said in my previous post the OS is now activated using the machine based component key on MS server.... there are many caveats so this a basic reply) 

Edited by Torchwood, 26 September 2024 - 01:13 PM.

It is recommended and highly encouraged that you stop using an insecure operating system like those that are no longer receiving updates. If you want to use your hardware due to costly upgrades, then might I suggest that you switch to something like Linux Mint or another Linux flavor?

To my knowledge, I cannot install my compiler of choice: Visual Studio 2008, to any flavor of Linux, and I doubt that it would be capable of compiling programs to run on any flavor of Linux, particularly the myriad of C# programs that I support on vintage systems.  And just because an OS has been abandoned and isn't being upgraded by it's original source doesn't mean that it is a magnet for malware infections.  There are still 3rd party antivirus solutions available for Windows 7.

There is VSCode on Linux and its free: https://code.visualstudio.com/

There is VSCode on Linux and its free: https://code.visualstudio.com/

VSCode is not a compiler.  Just a glorified editor with a similar-sounding name.

My experience in other circles proves otherwise. But hey take it for whats it worth.