Windows 7 and Windows 10 on same PC.

Head_The_Ball

I have Windows 7 on my laptop.

I currently have Windows 7 installed on 2 separate disks and I can choose which disk to use at start up. The laptop has two disk bays.

Both Windows 7 installs are activated with the same Acer OEM code that came with the laptop when new.

If I upgrade to Windows 10 on one disk (for free) and keep Windows 7 on the other will I eventually lose the ability to use that Windows 7 disk or will it continue to work indefinitely?

I understand I have 30 days to revert to Windows 7.

In other words will Microsoft deactivate the Windows 7 license once the 30 days are up?

Thanks.

pappa_golf

does Microsoft deactivate, ACTIVATION after that date would be a known answer


people have stated that they have reloaded backups after the one mth on wiped drives

esuhl

As I understand it, after 30 days you lose the ability to downgrade to Windows 7 from within the OS, but can still install Windows 7 from scratch and the old Product Key will work.

However, I don't think you're allowed to have multiple installations using the same key, so maybe if you upgrade, Microsoft will notice that you're still using your Windows 7 licence for the other OS and deactivate one or both.

Windows 7 is in extended support for ages yet (till 2020, I think?), and even then you won't lose the ability to use it; there just won't be any more security patches released.

Terry98

esuhl wrote: »

However, I don't think you're allowed to have multiple installations using the same key, so maybe if you upgrade, Microsoft will notice that you're still using your Windows 7 licence for the other OS and deactivate one or both.

Are you sure? I dual booted WIN7 and WIN10 a couple of times before upgrading to WIN10 completely but they may have been Technical Previews
http://www.howtogeek.com/197647/how-to-dual-boot-windows-10-with-windows-7-or-8/

I have just added an SSD to one of the WIN10 machines and I am dual booting two versions of WIN10 at the moment (one on the main HD and one on the SSD).

pappa_golf

terry , I had to read that twice


" have just added an SSD to one of the WIN10 machines and I am dual booting two versions of WIN10 at the moment (one on the main HD and one on the SSD)."


Microsoft sort of changed the licencing laws a few yrs back , win 10 an some earlier versions are licenced on the "machine" number , bios strings and all that ,


so when you boot from your ssd , MS server sees a "xxx" desktop machine with a bios string of "xxx" , when you boot from the older H/drive it sees the same bios string , and says Yes


heck when you come to load win 10 the second time (on a new HD) you don't even have to enter a ser number , once loaded the ms server talks to your machine and says "welcome back" ,

Terry98

pappa_golf wrote: »

heck when you come to load win 10 the second time (on a new HD) you don't even have to enter a ser number , once loaded the ms server talks to your machine and says "welcome back" ,

Thanks I understand that now.

How do you change the MBR to the SSD instead of the old HDD. Is the only way to do it by removing Win10 from the HDD?

pappa_golf

sorry I don,t get that , Master boot record? are you talking after cloning the drive or a new (clean) install?


if cloning , you need to use the CORRECT program , this has been discussed many times .


edit : read again, if you format the drive , or indeed do a re install as custom and remove all partitions (and create new) the MBR will disappear


please clarify

Terry98

pappa_golf wrote: »

sorry I don,t get that , Master boot record? are you talking after cloning the drive or a new (clean) install?


if cloning , you need to use the CORRECT program , this has been discussed many times .


edit : read again, if you format the drive , or indeed do a re install as custom and remove all partitions (and create new) the MBR will disappear


please clarify

The original version of Win10 on the old HDD contained a lot of bloatware that I want to get rid of eventually. I will uninstall it when I know what bloatware I want to keep and am certain I do not have any problems with drivers on the SSD install.

I bought an SSD and did a clean install of Win10 without any bloatware.



So I am now dual booting both versions of Win10 but the MBR is still on the old HDD.

I need the MBR on the SSD to install Linux(dual boot with Win10) because without the MBR on the SSD Linux will only install on the old HDD

esuhl

Before you install Linux, set the PC to boot from the SSD. During the Linux installation you will probably install GRUB (a Linux bootloader). Many distributions will have GRUB detect Windows partitions and add them to the bootloader, otherwise check your distro's documentation.

Then, when you boot the PC, the MBR will run GRUB on the Linux boot partition. GRUB will give you the option to either boot into Linux or to run the Windows boot loader (and thus boot Windows).

Terry98

esuhl wrote: »

Before you install Linux, set the PC to boot from the SSD. During the Linux installation you will probably install GRUB (a Linux bootloader). Many distributions will have GRUB detect Windows partitions and add them to the bootloader, otherwise check your distro's documentation.

Then, when you boot the PC, the MBR will run GRUB on the Linux boot partition. GRUB will give you the option to either boot into Linux or to run the Windows boot loader (and thus boot Windows).

Many thanks. I will give it a go tomorrow.