Posted June 11, 2013 Hey my friend just spent every last dime he has building a beast PC, and then realized he never bought Windows. He'd have to have to wait another 3 months just to get money for the OS and start using it and is wondering if their is an easier way. Any tips? (I have a copy of Windows 7 but I've used the product key, if that helps.) (Also I'm not looking to "Yar-har-har" if you know what I mean) Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/ Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 11, 2013 If not looking for a yar har solution, you'll have to use Linux (try Ubuntu) until you can buy a Windows license...http://www.ubuntu.com/download You won't be doing much gaming, but it'll do web browsing etc. just fine :) Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-320605 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 11, 2013 Guessing thats the yar har solution you don't want. Work Desktop | CPU: Intel Core i7 4770k | GPU: Quadro K1200 | Motherboard: EVGA Z97 Classified | RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3-2133Mhz | PSU: Seasonic 750W SS-750KM3 80 PLUS Gold | STORAGE: WD 1TB Se Enterprise Grade Drive & Corsair Neutron NX500 400GB NVMe PCIe | COOLER: Enermax Liqtech 240 - 5x Noctua NF-F12 iPPC 2000 PWM | CASE: Corsair 600C | OS: Windows 10 Pro | Peripherals: Logitech MX Master 2S -- Logitech K840 -- INTEL X520 10Gb NIC -- 3x Acer H236HL -- Build Log | Work Server | CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2650 v3 | Model: Cisco UCS C220 M4 (SFF) | RAM: 64GB (4x16GB) Cisco (Samsung) DDR4 2133Mhz | STORAGE: 4x Cisco (Seagate) 900GB 10K 2.5" (RAID 10) - 2x 32GB Cisco FlexFlash Boot Drive (RAID 1) | OS: vSphere 6.7 Enterprise Plus U3 | Laptop | CPU: Intel Core i7 6700HQ | GPU: Nvidia GTX 960M 2GB GDDR5 | RAM: 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400Mhz | STORAGE: 512GB Hynix NVMe | OS: Windows 10 Pro | Gaming Desktop | CPU: Intel Core i7 9700K | GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2080 WINDFORCE 8G | Motherboard: ASRock Z390 PHANTOM GAMING-ITX | RAM: Ballistix Elite 32GB Kit (16GB x 2) DDR4-3000 | PSU: Silverstone SX700-LPT 700w 80 PLUS Platinum | STORAGE: 2x Samsung 970 PRO 1TB NVMe | COOLER: Noctua NH-L12 | CASE: Louqe Ghost S1 | OS: Windows 10 Pro | Build Log in Progress | Home Server | CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2690 (Sandy Bridge) | GPU: Quadro P2000 | Motherboard: SUPERMICRO X9SRL-F | RAM: 64GB (8x8GB) Micron VLP DDR3-1600 ECC | PSU: SUPERMICRO 665W 80 PLUS Bronze | STORAGE: 2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB (RAID 1) - 4x WD 8TB Ultrastar (RAID 10) - Intel SSD D3-S4510 Series 240GB (BOOT) | COOLER: Noctua NH-U12DXi4 with 2x Noctua NF-F12 iPPC 3000 PWM | CASE: SUPERMICRO CSE-842TQ-665B 4U | OS: vSphere 6.7 Enterprise Plus U3 | Build Log in Progress | | Pixel 4XL 128GB - Clearly White - Unlocked - Carrier: Visible | | F@H STATS | Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-320608 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 11, 2013 Is he a student? His school or department might be part of MSDNAA/Dream Spark, and if so, then he has Windows 7 and 8 waiting for him free of download, with many more Microsoft software. If he doesn't know, tell him to contact his school IT department, they'll know. Beside that, there is no other legal way to get Windows. But he can get it at a massive discount :) If not, then Microsoft has a deal for student on Windows 8 Pro Upgrade (all he needs is XP, Vista or 7.. perhaps you can give him your old XP, or Vista) http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msca/en_CA/list/ThemeID.27659600/categoryID.57607500 (the link above is for Canada, but it's available for many other regions, so just switch to the region you are in, and click on Student section). If that is not an option, then he can get Windows 8 OEM/Personal Use License, for cheap as well. Check out your favorite online computers store for the OEM license of Windows8, and once he has it, all he has to do, is agree at this license agreement, which will make his copy of Windows 8 OEM, for personal use: http://personaluselicense.windows.com/en-US/default.aspx Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-320621 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 11, 2013 You will have to find other means of activating windows or use an alternate linux based free OS. We can't discuss really activating windows illegitimately, but linux is free and awesome, highly recommend, it's a load of fun and it's supported by a fair few games on steam :) export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]' "All your threads are belong to /dev/null" | 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch | Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-320626 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 11, 2013 Its going to take your friend 3 months to get 100 bucks. Why doesn't he just mow lawns for a week or clean somones car. I could raise 100 bucks in a few days just doing handy work for neighbors Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-320640 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 11, 2013 you could go with a Windows 8 Enterprise edition 90day free evaluation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-323027 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 16, 2013 windows 7 can run fine without the product key for a long time. just that after 30 days youll stop getting security updates and youll get annoying "activate your windows" messages everytime you boot. so until he can afford the OS, just install him windows 7. And when he gets windows 7(though honestly i'd get windows 8 at this point...) activate or reinstall the OS Fractal Design Define R4 | MSI x79a-GD45 | 3960X @ 4.6Ghz | Lots of EK Blocks | EVGA GTX780Ti 3GB | Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB (4x4) DDR3 1866 | Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD | Western Digital Red 2TB x4 (Raid 10) | Corsair AX760 | Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-338649 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 16, 2013 You can install windows 7 and have it run for a little without having it activated before it does whatever it does after the time limit. I had a month without activation on one of my laptops because I typed in the wrong thing and never noticed till much later down the line before typing in the correct one. Sager NP9370EM - I7 3630QM - 680m 1045Mhz - 8gb 1600mhz ram - 240gb msata 750gb hdd Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-338666 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 16, 2013 you could go with a Windows 8 Enterprise edition 90day free evaluation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx actually this is a great idea. windows 8 is a great os and you can do that 90 day evaluation so he can get used to it. and its free for 90 days Fractal Design Define R4 | MSI x79a-GD45 | 3960X @ 4.6Ghz | Lots of EK Blocks | EVGA GTX780Ti 3GB | Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB (4x4) DDR3 1866 | Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD | Western Digital Red 2TB x4 (Raid 10) | Corsair AX760 | Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-339031 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 16, 2013 PM'd you, message me back if you haven't seen it yet. PC Noise Hater Level = Linus Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-339299 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 17, 2013 You can install windows 7 and have it run for a little without having it activated before it does whatever it does after the time limit. I had a month without activation on one of my laptops because I typed in the wrong thing and never noticed till much later down the line before typing in the correct one. And there is a registry fix to get rid of the activation messages. Use Mint over ubuntu if you decide to go with a Linux Distro. Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/25300-windows-7-free/#findComment-342195 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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