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JohnnyDioxin
Inspiring
March 29, 2018
Question

You Can Still Upgrade To Win10 for nought...

Not that you'd want to of your own volition, but on occasion, you have little choice.

I have an Acer Aspire with Win 7 Starter on it and I now need to put Win 10 on it, but even us disabled users can't officially get a free key now. However, it turns out that as long as you have a valid activation key for 7 or 8, you can use it for 10.

I got this info from Forbes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianmorris/2018/01/26/how-to-get-windows-10-for-free-in-2018/#5ed1e1b65145

and it seems to be still valid. I'm just downloading 10 now, to a USB stick - I'll confirm it works later today (or not - but I reckon it will).

8 replies

LZoltowski
Inspiring
March 29, 2018
Yeah, I heard that MS is really tired of Windows 7, 8 and really wants everyone on the 10 train so they are keeping a blind eye to it.
Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) Be kind to one another :)
JohnnyDioxinAuthor
Inspiring
March 29, 2018
So far all is okay - just installing updates. I did a clean install, so might have to put the code in, then I'll associate it with my MS Live account and should be ok.

There was a minor hiccup, when it said there was a problem with the install settings, but it seems to have sorted those itself. Ah, yes - wants my MS Live log-in and won't continue without it.
Johnny's Scale Models Showcase i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2
Anonymous
March 30, 2018
I do not hate Windows 10 - it is much better than 8. I use my Windows PC mainly for gaming - and I have not experienced many problems in 10 that I didn't in 7, and most of the problems I do see from time to time are for my older games.

Also it still runs my Microsoft Office 2007 - so I am happy, LOL
JohnnyDioxinAuthor
Inspiring
March 30, 2018
It didn't even ask for an activation code. Seems, like the Forbes guy says, MS don't seem to give a fig about sales to home customers.

Whether this only applies to rigs that have Windows already installed, I don't know, though. I formatted the windows partition before installing Win 10, but there are other ways the installer can tell, of course. Plus, the version I downloaded was for updating a different PC, not for a new install.

Don't get me started on my opinion of MS, though. People say FB are bad - they are nothing compared to MS.

Johnny's Scale Models Showcase i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2
LZoltowski
Inspiring
March 30, 2018
The windows key could be stored in your UEFI Bios or with your Live account, when I upgraded my rig it failed Activation, but MS has a handy option to refresh that based on your Live login which was handy.
Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) Be kind to one another :)
DeepThought77
New Participant
March 30, 2018
Is anyone else having issues with apps not being able to update and new apps not able to install? I have and maybe it is windows 10.
JohnnyDioxinAuthor
Inspiring
March 30, 2018
Do you use Malwarebytes at all? That was the problem for me. In any case, just disable your AV and see if they will update and install then - if they do, you know what the problem is.
Johnny's Scale Models Showcase i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2
nosys70
Up and Coming
March 31, 2018

tried that yesterday (upgrade from win7 with serial in bios) and it worked fine without asking question.


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