Windows 10 (FREE) for Win 7 & 8 users

Ahoy!

Microsoft are releasing Windows 10 and you can reserve a complete OEM installation if you're using Win 7 or 8 by clicking the taskbar icon to register for the upgrade which is a 1 year limited time offer and it seems it starts when new computers roll out with the OS installed from 29 July 2015. Read about it here.

Kilkry wrote: I wonder about hw changes though, the current mainboard is rather old and within a year the setup will probably be replaced with something a bit more energy efficient. Being on Win 7 Pro I think now (retail box) it isn't a major hurdle as I understand it but once it has morphed into Win 10 does the lic type sort of carry over?

Answers to such questions have been provided.

Are you saying your question is unanswered there? I think your question was What licensing problems might I encounter if I change my main board before or after upgrading from Win7 to Win10?, but I was not sure.

My only answer to that one is that Win7 periodically and endlessly bugs me on the computer I use most often by putting up a message on the desktop saying something like my 'installation of Windows is not authorized'. I have guessed that it does this because it detects what it deems to be significant changes of some kind - hardware or software. I'm not even sure that theory is correct because I don't recall ever seeing it happen on my other computers (all of mine are unmodified HP models with Win7 installed from the factory). But it doesn't disable anything, and the message goes away (but only for a while) when I select Start Menu > Computer > Properties and/or run slui.exe. Maybe Microsoft just hates my main computer. Google says that others out there have had even more severe problems with such things.

Supposedly there are alternative permanent fixes that involve running some other program and/or calling a Microsoft phone number, but those approaches never got me anywhere either.

I note that, even if I understood your question, this probably hasn't helped you... and if I misunderstood your question, it certainly hasn't helped. But in your particular situation I think I would take this approach: Replace your hardware before doing any OS upgrade - but only after creating a full image backup of your working system. Play with the modified computer for a few days and see if the OS raises any objections. If there are none, you're home free and should be able to proceed with a future OS upgrade. If there is an issue, you can opt to fall back to your previous hardware and your previous image while actively seeking the definitive but elusive answer to your question before moving ahead with either a hardware or OS change.

Edited by sybersitizen - 01 June 2015 at 19:09

Conversely I had Windows7 from day one with no problems. Vista on the other hand is a different story...

There are beta/pre-release versions generally available to try out. It didn't take long to realise I didn't want windows 8. I don't know if beta/pre-releases versions are freely available at the moment, if they are you can try them out. Worst comes to worst just reinstall your previous OS, just make sure you have your data backed up properly.

I have always found issues come when I tried to "update" my OS (so I could keep my existing data) instead of doing a full clean install (btw this is anecdotal). It was the same with some linux distributions where updating caused problems but just doing a clean install turned out fine. So trying to update your OS may not be a good idea, just back up your data and go for a clean install.

Edited by nandbytes - 01 June 2015 at 18:43

Thanks, I had skim read that before. I am more worried about losing minesweeper or them ruining it in their new version

And of course all my software might not work either! Like I said, I am more than happy to reinstall windows 7 if it doesn't work out.

I skipped Windows 8 except for some testing.. Windows 8.1 is solid better than I thought once I realized that between the right click start menu and the start screen... was a pretty good system.
The new start menu hybrid looks pretty good.

BTW My main machine which is on 24/7 took updates and there was a little Windows Icon in the sys tray that was an offer to reserve my update to Windows 10.

If I upgrade my desktop I will be almost 6 years on the same initial install (Aug - 2009) of Windows Vista > 7 > 8.1 Still running well Core 2 Quad, clocked to 3.4 GHZ   Though I think next year I Might finally rebuild the desktop.