So MS is apparently going to make Windows 10 a paid upgrade soon.
I don't want to upgrade, but I still want to be able to do it for free later in case Microsoft gets their shit together.
Supposedly, when first upgrading to Win10 it gives you a license key and ties it to your hardware (SLIC?), and later you can do a clean install of 10 and it'll activate just fine.
So I was thinking of doing this:
- Back up my existing W7 to an image
- Restore clean W7 (since W10 upgrade is kinda finicky)
- Upgrade to W10 so I get the key
- Restore W7 from the image
This way I'll be able to do a clean install of W10 any time I want, right? Where's the catch?
There is no catch. I've upgraded several computers that have a pirated W7 or a legit one and in both cases I can now install W10 forever since it checks Microsoft servers for some sort of hardware ID.
>>54516398
The catch will be that your Win7 license will get invalid after a month if you migrated towards Win10 without choosing the "revert to Windows 7" option.
>>54516398
For fucks sake, man, just use KMS Auto anytime you want with any MS product you want. Nobody gives a shit on what you are running on your personal computer.
And you don't need to re-install the Windows 10 in a traditional way. There is factory-defaults restoration option included, which is basically a full clean reinstall without a reinstall - delete everything on system partition except default windows files and revert or keep (optionally) user-specific settings and adjustments. This way you get fresh installation any time you want - you can literally do this all day every fucking day - and it will not harm your activation by any means.
>>54516685
I understand that they can do this with a W8 license, as every computer has a unique key, but how can they revoke an OEM W7 license?
>>54516858
They can't.
>>54516807
I kind of like using legit MS products when I can get them. You never know when MS is going to push an update that breaks KMS or the antivirus decides to forget the exceptions list.
>>54516398
Basically if you don't do it before july 26 you are going to have to pay like $130 if you decide later to upgrade.
This is a good idea.
Even if you do not want or like Windows 10. You can simply upgrade (with your current activated Windows 7 state) and get the free digital activation entitlement (tied to your hardware) and then simply use the "go back to Windows 7" option in Windows 10. It will roll the system back where you left it with Windows 7.
I've tested it many times and so far it has worked fine, (the roll back to Windows 7 has not presented any problems is what I mean).
