Posted on 11/26/2019 7:26:55 PM PST by dayglored
Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade offer still works for many Windows 7 and 8 users.
With support for Windows 7 ending in January 2020, Microsoft is encouraging users to upgrade to Windows 10 to keep devices running securely and smoothly. On Microsoft's website, the Windows 10 Home operating system costs $139 to download. However, you don't necessarily have to shell out the cash: A free upgrade offer from Microsoft that technically ended in 2016 still works.
When Windows 10 was first released in July 2015, Microsoft offered an unprecedented free upgrade offer for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 users, good through July 2016. But in 2017, reporter Ed Bott from CNET sister site ZDNet reported that the free upgrade tool was still functional. As of November 2019, readers still report that it works, Bott confirmed to CNET. I tried it out, and was able to upgrade a 2014 Dell OptiPlex 9020 desktop machine from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
I can’t downgrade [there’s irony] this laptop because there are no Win7 drivers for the hardware.
I. Am. Trapped.
That’s the spirit!
Your tagline cracked me up, too.
Win10 Pro is available as an ISO file download from the Microsoft site. Its pretty big (many GB). Youll need a Win10 Pro key/code to activate it.
Aye, thats the rub. Same here. Any recent hardware simply wont run Win7 because of drivers.
Microsoft strong-arms the manufacturers to keep them from releasing Win7 compatible drivers. Why else would they have Win10, MacOS, Linux, and not Win7?
bookmarked
Tell you what I found out I was wrong about. Windows 10 now seems to be able to bypass all of the tweaks I made to stop it from updating/upgrading.
I made the following tweaks that now don't work:
1. Winaero Tweaker: It has an option for disabling Windows 10 updates. It now no longer performs that function even though I have it selected.
2. Regedit: I added a registry value called "NoAutoUpdate" and changed the setting from "0" to "1." That's supposed to also stop Windows 10 from updating/upgrading. I'm finding out that somehow Microsoft has been changing the value back to "0" thereby leaving the O/S open to upgrading.
3. Disable Automatic Updates in Group Policy Editor: The Automatic Update can be set to "Disabled," yet, MicroThief bypasses that as well.
I've booted up my Windows 10 hard drive three times now in the past few weeks only to get a message telling me that my operating system will be upgraded in 30 minutes. What I find frustrating is that I'll check each of those items above to ensure they are set properly and during the use of the O/S the registry entry gets changed and the other two options don't stop MicroThief.
So I'm going to start utilizing my Linux distro more. I can use it for many things except graphics work. I'll have to keep using Windows 7 for that. But my printer doesn't load and I can't find Linux drivers for it (Epson WF-2540).
I have the “Product ID” that shows up on “This PC” in the control panel.
Will that work?
I have many terabytes of space and broadband, so that’s not an issue.
I installed the Class Shell just so I can find my way around this thing without out all those stupid little idiot boxes on the desktop.
Same here with HP. I went through a two hour “conversation” with the Indian chat rep to nail down the procedure. If I wasn’t addressing his checklist questions in the order on his list he had no idea. Even then, after nailing it down and producing the USB recovery thumb-drive, what was downloaded failed to install a Radeon settings app shortcut that existed on the drive before the USB test run. Of course the recovery portion of the hard drive was erased and overwritten by the recovery operation.
If I solve my Linux Mint installlation difficulty I won’t ever have a problem.
The Alienware techies sang the praises of this “far superior machine” when they couldn’t [-wouldn’t-] fix my beloved Alienware 18 under warranty.
So much better/faster/sleeker/lighter/blah blah.
I LOVED my hulking 18 beast, which was so heavy there’s no way it was ever “portable”.
But they sent me a 17 R5 instead.
Meh.
Re: post 27,
Just build your own. You get only what you want, and you get the satisfaction of saying “I built that” while flipping hussein the bird.
I’m on my second build and I’m never going back to a store-bought computer.
XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
The Product ID is shorter and not five groups of five.
But if you google windows product key code youll find instructions on how to make Windows print out the key code used to activate the computer. Those are generally CMD command line instructions.
There are also programs that do it automatically for you (KeyFinder, etc.)
AMD doesn’t “officially” support Win 7 on their new hardware, but I’m running Win 7 with a Ryzen chip. Just choose the right parts (Gigabyte is compatible, with the right drivers to download).
There’s workarounds. :)
Gah...I am so sorry!
AW techs are in Costa Rica and they are THE nicest support people I’ve ever found.
After I had issues with an AW MX18 repeatedly, they up and gave me an AW 18, brand new, free.
It ran like a dream for 4 years then had issues with BSODs frequently.
They said the “heat sinks” on the dual vid cards were bad.
They were not.
A local shop tested them and “repaired” it but it didn’t last because they did NOT remove/reseat the difficult to get to RAM *under* the keyboard, like they said they had.
ALL the errors are related to bad RAM and frankly, I am terrified to try and get them out myself as I’d have to basically strip the whole thing down to get them and I worry I wouldn’t put it back together right.
So it sits on the shelf, breaking my heart.
Oddly enough, the 18 came with Win 8 but once I figured out how to reformat the SSD drive to accept 7, it was all love and rockets.
Some day, I’ll get the AW tech who lives in WV to come and tear it apart and install fresh RAM.
Hopefully that will resurrect it.
Thank you!
OMG
THIS is the perfect phrase I have been searching for!!!
“despicable fischer-price start screen”
Sadly, I cannot really go stuffing the parts I ~want~ into a laptop.
:)
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