Successfully activated Win10 Using Win7 COA Sticker Key today

The title of my Windows Enterprise Desktop blog post for today says it all: Win7 Still Activates Win10 2/27/18.
Cheers!
--Ed--

Good to know.

I have just the one 'never been upgraded' Win7 laptop I can test this with. So far I've managed to resist the temptation to test activation, but I'll probably try once 1803 is released.

Not sure why but your site is on 2 of my blacklist's, I do not create the list's I just subscribe to them.

Match found in list.10.hostsfile.org.domains:
itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com
Match found in list.17.adblock.mahakala.is.domains:
itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com

I use PiHole as my DNS server and it blocked your site.
GitHub - pi-hole/pi-hole: A black hole for Internet advertisements

Just did this successfully with a Dell Precision M3800 last night running Win7 Pro - although it warned of problems with HD Graphics 4600 and NVidia Quadro drivers, all went nominally with no video problems and activated fine on WIn10 Pro.

Thanks for the heads-up, sml156. AFAIK, TechTarget is neither a source of evil, nor even a terribly evil source of advertisements. I'm not sure why it's blacklisted, but good to know!
--Ed--

davidhk said:

If it was an upgrade, why would you need a Win 7 key to activate ?
My understanding has been that " upgrade install from Win7, Win 8/8.1 to Win 10 will be activated automatically. It will not require product key."
Was I wrong ?

There were two ways to upgrade and get a digital licence. The first was to upgrade an existing install of Win7/8. The second was available since 1607. You could now go straight to a clean install and use the key from a qualifying system. In the case of an OEM preinstalled Win7/8 that would be the CoA key. Both methods counted as taking an official 'free upgrade' and would be given a digital licence by Microsoft's activation servers.

Now, the free upgrade offer officially ended on 29 July 2016...

Microsoft said:

Is the Windows 10 free upgrade offer still available?
The Windows 10 free upgrade through the Get Windows 10 (GWX) app ended on July 29, 2016.

https://support.microsoft.com/help/1...10-upgrade-faq

...since then the only official free upgrade offer from Microsoft was the one for those using assistive technologies. That was officially withdrawn at the end of 2017.

Microsoft said:

The free upgrade offer extension for Windows 7 and Windows 8 customers who use assistive technologies expired on December 31, 2017.

https://www.microsoft.com/accessibil...ndows10upgrade

So the question remains - given that all the officially publicised free upgrade offers have now ended, why (and for how much longer) will an...

"...upgrade install from Win7, Win 8/8.1 to Win 10 will be activated automatically. It will not require product key."

It obviously still does work at the moment, but there's no official statement from Microsoft to say that it should. That's why Ed felt it worth letting us know it that is does.

Bree said:

There were two ways to upgrade and get a digital licence. The first was to upgrade an existing install of Win7/8. The second was available since 1607. You could now go straight to a clean install and use the key from a qualifying system. In the case of an OEM preinstalled Win7/8 that would be the CoA key. Both methods counted as taking an official 'free upgrade' and would be given a digital licence by Microsoft's activation servers.

Now, the free upgrade offer officially ended on 29 July 2016...
https://support.microsoft.com/help/1...10-upgrade-faq

...since then the only official free upgrade offer from Microsoft was the one for those using assistive technologies. That was officially withdrawn at the end of 2017.
https://www.microsoft.com/accessibil...ndows10upgrade

So the question remains - given that all the officially publicised free upgrade offers have now ended, why (and for how much longer) will an...



It obviously still does work at the moment, but there's no official statement from Microsoft to say that it should. T
hat's why Ed felt it worth letting us know it that is does.

Of course, there has never been any official acknowledgement of the free upgrade via key entry still working. That means MS can quietly drop it any time it decides to do.

Dear DavidHK: I'm guilty of use of imprecise terminology. I did a clean install of Windows 10 on a machine that had been running Windows 7 and used the key from the COA sticker to activate the Win10 license. It's an upgrade in the metaphorical sense, but not in the sense of the type of Windows installation performed. Bree, as is his usual wont, zeroed right in on this. Nevertheless, I apologize for muddying the waters unnecessarily. Thanks for pointing this out.
Best wishes,
--Ed--