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KirkCG This person is a verified professional. Can't you just bow down to the inevitable and use Windows 10? JoeWilliams This person is a verified professional. Out of curiosity, what's the software that needs to run on this? DavidSSL This person is a verified professional.
Wow - that's cool, I never knew about downgrade rights before! This topic has been locked by an administrator and is no longer open for commenting. However, we have also heard from readers who say that even doing a fresh install will work with the free Windows 10 upgrade, as long as you have your Windows 7 key to hand.
To upgrade for free, use the Windows Media Creation Tool and select to upgrade from there. Enter in your Windows 7 or Windows 8 licence key, and you should soon have a Windows 10 running — for free. For more in-depth advice, visit our guide on how to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Via MSPowerUser. If you're encountering a problem or need some advice with your PC or Mac, drop him a line on Twitter. North America. Audio player loading…. That includes any of the deeply discounted upgrade offers that Microsoft made available when Windows 7 was new, including the three-license Family Packs of Windows 7 Home Premium.
If you have the original Windows 7 installation media and product key and have removed the operating system from the PC on which it was originally installed, you can reuse that key on any PC. You might be required to activate over the phone; when asked, be sure to specify truthfully that your copy of Windows 7 is installed on only one PC.
Note that OEM copies of Windows 7 that were installed on PCs by the manufacturer are locked to that device and cannot be transferred. If the PC on which you want to install Windows 7 originally included a license for any version of Windows, you can buy a Windows 7 upgrade license from any vendor that has the software in stock and install that upgrade on your PC. You don't need to reinstall the old operating system; if you want to perform a clean install using upgrade media, you can use the workaround I describe in this post : Boot from the upgrade media and do an installation without entering a product key.
Then use the same media to "upgrade" your brand-new installation. Follow the instructions in this post. The most expensive option is to purchase a full retail license for Windows 7. It's guaranteed to work with any PC, with no installation or licensing complications. The problem is finding this software, which Microsoft stopped selling years ago.
Most online merchants today offer only OEM copies of Windows 7. All the options I described earlier apply to PCs you plan to use in the home or office. But if you're a developer, an IT pro, or a student, you might have a completely different set of needs, including a desire to have one or more PCs running Windows 7 for testing purposes.
Sadly, Microsoft ended the TechNet subscription service in But there are still useful options available to anyone who needs Windows 7 in a lab or virtual machine. Windows 7 evaluation versions are also no longer available. MSDN subscription s are specifically intended for professional software developers. An annual subscription gives you access to a wide range of professional developer tools and pre-release products.
How long should you wait before deploying Windows 10? You can choose from different levels of MSDN subscriptions. It offers full access to every client and server version of Windows going as far back as Windows 3. For a full list of available packages, see this chart. The MSDN license agreement is detailed and worth reading in full. There's an excellent summary of your rights as a subscriber here. This paragraph is especially noteworthy:. Many MSDN subscribers use a computer for mixed use--both design, development, testing, and demonstration of your programs the use allowed under the MSDN Subscription license and some other use.
Using the software in any other way, such as for doing email, playing games, or editing a document is another use and is not covered by the MSDN Subscription license. When this happens, the underlying operating system must also be licensed normally by purchasing a regular copy of Windows such as the one that came with a new OEM PC. If you're a professional developer or designer who uses Microsoft products, MSDN subscriptions can be a bargain.
If you just want cheap access to Windows 7, you have better options. If you are enrolled in a science, technology, engineering, or math department at an educational institution that subscribes to Microsoft DreamSpark Premium , you can get free software for use in your studies. It includes server software and development tools but does not include Windows client software. To check your eligibility through these programs, register here using a school-issued email address or a code supplied by an academic institution.
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