I'm thinking of moving from W7 to W10 pretty soon

mipak · 06 Mar 2017

Hello ...

At the moment, I'm running W7 Professional on a 32bit machine (10 years old) but I'm thinking of buying a new faster 64bit computer with a 250gig SSD and 16gig of RAM. This will be a custom-build machine and I have the option of installing my W7Pro 64bit or a new copy of a W10Home 64bit installation.

I also run my beloved Eudora Pro 7.1.0.9 email programme (which incidently, (the mail client )is definitely not dead and buried as some folk would like others to have you believe) and plan on taking it with me to run it on 10.

Just to help me make the right decision before I have to choose between 7 or 10, I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has any thoughts on this.

Thanks for your patience ... Michael.

jimbo45 · 06 Mar 2017

Hi there
@mipak

While the Free upgrade is still working (but for how much longer who knows !!!) Do this :

0) Install W7 PRO x-64 on New machine.

1) Backup W7 PC (Macrium Free is a good one for this)

2) download Media creation tool from Ms and create W10 USB / ISO

3) upgrade -- enter when asked your W7 serial.

4) Backup W10

5) Restore existing W7 system.

That way you don't have to make an immediate decision - you can re-install W10 (from scratch if you want) having got a digital licence which won't expire. If you are running W7 RETAIL you will be able to move the W10 system to a new machine too.

Might seem like a bit of work but won't take too long actually and you've got (currently) a FREE way of upgrading to W10 legally --- not sure how this "Loophole" will still last so I'd do it ASAP. !!!

W7 PRO will upgrade to W10 PRO -- far better than HOME edition !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

NavyLCDR · 06 Mar 2017

jimbo45 said:

3) upgrade -- enter when asked your W7 serial.

If you are upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and it is asking for a product key, the user needs to stop and cancel the upgrade because they are trying to upgrade to the wrong edition of Windows 10. An upgrade to the correct edition will not ask for a product key.

DeaconFrost · 06 Mar 2017

Windows 10 has been out for over two years now. There should be no worries or hesitation at this point, unless you have some really old piece of hardware that is crucial to you.

As for your mail program, it may work, but it is something you could easily research. I'm somewhat at a loss why, in 2017, anyone is still using a POP3/IMAP e-mail account. Simplify!!

Bree · 06 Mar 2017

NavyLCDR said:

If you are upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and it is asking for a product key, the user needs to stop and cancel the upgrade because they are trying to upgrade to the wrong edition of Windows 10. An upgrade to the correct edition will not ask for a product key.

To get the install USB/iso for the correct edition, use the Media Creation Tool, select 'create install media for another PC' and make sure you 'use the defaults for this PC'.

Berton · 06 Mar 2017

I did the MCT thing a couple days ago and the version of Win10 is 1607 Build 14393.442, didn't take long to update to Build 14393.639.

A note on the drive, I'd go ahead with your 250GB SSD but after Win10 working add in an Internal 1TB or larger HDD for storage and installation of some of the larger programs. My 3-month-old computer has a single 1TB HDD split as 150GB C: [boot/system drive] and the remainder for Data. I just got a WDC 1TB for $74USB with sales tax and overnight shipping to replace a client's 640GB HDD.

SmartEyeball · 06 Mar 2017

New copy of 10 X64 . New build, no contest.

ArazelEternal · 06 Mar 2017

Windows 10 is wonderful. I wont use any other version if I can help it.

jimbo45 · 07 Mar 2017

NavyLCDR said:

If you are upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and it is asking for a product key, the user needs to stop and cancel the upgrade because they are trying to upgrade to the wrong edition of Windows 10. An upgrade to the correct edition will not ask for a product key.

Hi there

It actually STILL does need a product key if upgrading from W7 to W10 (one time) -- and after the initial digital licence is created you can then re-install ad Nauseam - including from Scratch.

You need to enter the product key only ONCE though.

Note I'm sure Ms must realize this is still working

BTW I saw on Amazon site UK you can still get W7 X-64 for 29 GBP --with UK pound sinking faster than a sieve this could be a good way to get cheap upgrade to W10 (1 GBP currently just around 1.14 EUR or 1.21 USD and export OUTSIDE UK - no VAT).

Amazon.co.uk:Customer Reviews: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 x64 English 1 Pack DSP OEI DVD LCP (PC)

Far cheaper than buying W10 from scratch - and Amazon is LEGAL whatever people might think of its business model.

Cheers
jimbo

NavyLCDR · 07 Mar 2017

jimbo45 said:

Hi there

It actually STILL does need a product key if upgrading from W7 to W10 (one time) -- and after the initial digital licence is created you can then re-install ad Nauseam - including from Scratch.

So, you are running Windows 7, never been upgraded before. You insert a Windows 10 DVD or USB flash drive and run setup.exe from within Windows 7 to upgrade it to Windows 10. If it asks for a product key, what are you supposed to enter? And when did that scenario start asking for a product key because the last time I upgraded a Windows 7 for a friend which was to version 1607 of Windows 10 last October or November it did not ask for a product key.

And if you now have to enter a product key when upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 then that means this is now dead:
Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First

because that was the exact way that Windows 10 would activate itself on an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 without the user having to enter a product key (nor even being asked for one). At the start of the upgrade the genuineticket.xml file was created, then after the restart into Windows 10 it would use the genuineticket.xml file to activate, all without any user intervention.