RIP Windows 7-Time for an upgrade.

[Tera Byte]

Due to Microsoft ending support for Windows 7 in 2020 I have started looking into upgrading. If I were to upgrade to Windows 8.1 would I need to purchase a Product license key? What about Windows 10?

[MSWindowsinside]

For Windows 8.1 you would need a new license key. For Windows 10 you can use your Windows 7 key for activating AFTER installing. This method is not on Microsoft's website anymore, but it still works and has no ramifications.

[MrPerson0]

1 minute ago, campy said:

What changes when they end support for it?

Other than you no longer getting anymore Windows Updates, not much. Of course, just like with XP, it's possible that software (Firefox, Chrome, Steam, etc.) will stop supporting it down the road.

[mariushm]

Pretty much nothing. They just won't publish security patches and critical updates anymore.

Everything you have will still work fine, until you update to some version that will refuse to run on Windows 7. For example, Google Chrome may at one point say "you can't update to the newest version because Windows 7 is no longer supported".

 

btw. Windows 7 is still so popular that Microsoft will continue to create patches and security updates until 2023 or something like that, but those will only be available to businesses under some kind of subscription.

 

This guy explains it better than me

 

 

[Guest]

Jeez time goes fast. I remember testing Windows 10 6 months before release running Windows 7 on my main machine, now I am running Windows 10 on my main machine and Windows 7 went to the dump...

[Phas3L0ck]

Windows 7 has become the XP of Windows 10. The only reason I ever bothered with W7 was for feature support on graphical production, more RAM, and some CPU features you may or may not use... Oh, and W7 is good for virtual environments (host and guest)

[Phas3L0ck]

Initially I thought W7 would be cool... turns out anything above XP is only great for easier management.

[SolarNova]

Personaly ill stick with W7 for as long as possible. W10 is to full of BS 'features' and 'changes', and has to much data collection as standard.

[Tera Byte]

17 minutes ago, MSWindowsinside said:

For Windows 8.1 you would need a new license key. For Windows 10 you can use your Windows 7 key for activating AFTER installing. This method is not on Microsoft's website anymore, but it still works and has no ramifications.

Thank you I appreciate it very much. That's good news.

[Tera Byte]

21 minutes ago, MSWindowsinside said:

For Windows 8.1 you would need a new license key. For Windows 10 you can use your Windows 7 key for activating AFTER installing. This method is not on Microsoft's website anymore, but it still works and has no ramifications.

If it's still works why is it not advertised by Microsoft anymore. Just curious.

[MSWindowsinside]

10 hours ago, Tera Byte said:

If it's still works why is it not advertised by Microsoft anymore. Just curious.

Microsoft still needs to make money, so they likely want you to buy a new license instead.

The free upgrade was mostly a marketing stunt, if everyone had to pay to upgrade many people wouldn't have done the upgrade. They made it seem like a limited offer, because they can't just give out free software while the company needs to make profit too.

[Pasi123]

11 hours ago, Netivity said:

Jeez time goes fast. I remember testing Windows 10 6 months before release running Windows 7 on my main machine, now I am running Windows 10 on my main machine and Windows 7 went to the dump...

I remember testing Windows 10 8 months before release. I'm still running Windows 7 on my main machine.

[Koeshi]

I am still considering replacing my W10 partition with a W7 one and just dealing with the lack of updates   Seems like it may be easier to do that than find an LTSB license key that doesn't cost a kidney.

[SkilledRebuilds]

I recently went from 8.1 to 10.

Once it got setup how I want,.. I don't mind.

 

I was always doing new builds with either W7 or W8.1 and letting the customer make that choice given they can use the W7/8 key.

 

I was always against W10Beta (after retail that's what I still called it) because I tried it early on for Gaming and had memory leaks and extra worries I didn't want to fix... Then reverted, hearing of broken W10 updates... Thank god I said...

 

But now, 1.5 years later, its much better, enough to be my daily.

 

[Koeshi]

4 minutes ago, SkilledRebuilds said:

Then reverted, hearing of broken W10 updates

 

4 minutes ago, SkilledRebuilds said:

But now, 1.5 years later, its much better

The 1809 update might disagree with you there

[Delicieuxz]

My Windows 7 hasn't been updated since 2015 and it still runs solidly. It's by been far more reliable, consistent, and smooth-performing than my Windows 10 install. So, after 2020 will be no different to my Windows 7 install than the past few years have been.

 

Regarding Windows 10, if you want to keep the Windows 7 experience in Windows 10, with as little data-harvesting as possible, no feature update, but with security updates, then get Windows 10 LTSC. You can buy a license for it cheap on eBay. It's Windows 10 without the bloat, without feature updates but with security updates, and with the possibility to set data-harvesting to the lowest possible amount. IMO, it's the only version of Windows 10 that's worth having.

 

 

2 hours ago, Koeshi said:

I am still considering replacing my W10 partition with a W7 one and just dealing with the lack of updates   Seems like it may be easier to do that than find an LTSB license key that doesn't cost a kidney.

 

I've been running Windows 7 without updates since 2015 without an issue. That said, $13 USD for Windows 10 LTSC doesn't seem expensive to me: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Windows-10-Enterprise-LTSC-2019-Activation-Key-License/382716568185

[Koeshi]

52 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

That said, $13 USD for Windows 10 LTSC doesn't seem expensive to me

I'll have to give that a go then.  Whenever I search for keys online I come across respectable looking places that are selling at $2-300 a pop or places that I would not want to risk giving any amount of money to.

[soulreaper11207]

On 2/19/2019 at 9:26 AM, Koeshi said:

I'll have to give that a go then.  Whenever I search for keys online I come across respectable looking places that are selling at $2-300 a pop or places that I would not want to risk giving any amount of money to.

Paul's hardware as a video for a site where you can buy keys for like 30 bucks. I've personally used that site and never had any issues.

His video

[Tera Byte]

On 2/19/2019 at 2:27 AM, MSWindowsinside said:

Microsoft still needs to make money, so they likely want you to buy a new license instead.

The free upgrade was mostly a marketing stunt, if everyone had to pay to upgrade many people wouldn't have done the upgrade. They made it seem like a limited offer, because they can't just give out free software while the company needs to make profit too.

Makes sense I just didn't wanna be doing some sketchy stuff. Thanks!

[Koeshi]

On 2/21/2019 at 6:26 AM, soulreaper11207 said:

Paul's hardware as a video for a site where you can buy keys for like 30 bucks. I've personally used that site and never had any issues.

His video

Sadly they do not sell LTSB licenses which is what I am looking for.

[soulreaper11207]

On 2/24/2019 at 2:23 PM, Koeshi said:

Sadly they do not sell LTSB licenses which is what I am looking for.

Eh, I'm used to stripping down a Windows install. Plenty of walk throughs for powershell commands to do just that. And if I remember, can't you just change the edition inside of the registry anyways.

[Koeshi]

On 2/26/2019 at 4:38 PM, soulreaper11207 said:

And if I remember, can't you just change the edition inside of the registry anyways.

I could be wrong, but I think that only works for the various desktop versions (Home, Pro, Enterprise), you can't go from one of them to a server or LTSB version.