On 09/01/20 11:00, Mick wrote: > On Wednesday, 8 January 2020 16:42:14 GMT Wols Lists wrote: >> > On 08/01/20 09:26, Mick wrote: >>> > > The OS Product Key for a Win 7 will not work on a Win 10, unless the >>> > > free >>> > > upgrade option had been performed before July 2016. At least it has not >>> > > worked here ... You'll need a Product Key, Digital License, or a >>> > > Microsoft >>> > > Account which has been linked to an activated Windows 10 Digital >>> > > License. >> > >> > I don't know what the date MS announced was, but this tactic certainly >> > worked after that - I did it myself. The key statement there is "NEVER >> > been used". If MS recognises the key, it will fail.
> This is interesting! By a Win7 key which has "never been used" do you mean > not even used for activating the Win7 OS? Or never been used to upgrade Win7 > to Win10? > > Never been used to activate the OS. In other words, this will be TRUE for any mass-market computer, if you've never got new Windows media for a clean install. The Windows that is on the computer when you buy it has been activated using the manufacturer's bulk activation key. Iirc recent versions of Windows don't ask for a product key when first run for exactly this reason. And if you do a factory reset, it's still using the manufacturer's bulk key. The key that's actually stuck to the computer is NOT the key that it's using. MS may have closed this loophole by now, but at the time it was a widely advertised work-around to the shut down of freebie upgrades. Cheers, Wol
