No, Windows XP cannot be directly upgraded to Windows 7. You have to back up your data, reformat and install from scratch.
Any cheap key for Windows Ultimate is almost certainly illicitly obtained. It’s the most expensive version, but also the most fully featured version, and thus a big target for pirates. I learned this the hard way with a laptop where I discovered traces of an illegal key, explaining why a computer that would have come with Windows Vista had Windows 7 Ultimate on it.
Still, I will admit that malware is basically impossible if they actually give you a key, and you download the install CD from Microsoft. If you get a real CD, I would still download one from Microsoft and use that, just to be sure, no matter how much you play for your copy.
Right … not installable over Windows XP, S–T, that’s a big drawback that would result in a lot of customization.
Yes, OK, download it from Microsoft’s site … got it.
Thanks,
… john
The majour concern, for me, in buy an already functioning system, is that I may not be able to install the latest security updates. I have a system in mind. If he shows me that it will update, do you think that moving the computer, i.e. changing providers and location will effect it’s ability to be updated?
Thanks,
… john
Once Microsoft stops making security updates, after that date, it would still ‘work’ but you would not be able to go online with the OS without a severe risk of the computer getting hacked with hostile software. The things you can do with an OS that can’t connect to the internet are limited.
Actually, I’ve done this several times. The trick is to temporarily upgrade to Vista first. :eek:
The discount activation licenses are not usually so much stolen as being passed on without authorization. Somebody bought a block of licenses and are now selling extras off for cheap. MS does not like this and cancels the licenses when it finds them. (An employee can buy one, determine who bought the group and cancel all in that group.)
So you should think of such product keys as being rented rather than being sold. You might have the use of them for a bit but there’s a chance it gets canceled and you have to get another one and another one …
At some point it’s cheaper, and definitely less of a hassle, to be legit.
If you look at cheapo Windows 10 devices for sale on eBay or Amazon and check the reviews you’ll see that several people got ones with bad product keys. The discount makers in Asia bought some discount licenses, installed them and MS later catches on.
I get that. What I was responding to was the OP’s idea that Windows 7 downloaded from Microsoft had a limited shelf life, which he/she seemed to imply wasn’t the case with the same software obtained otherwise.
The only connection I could imagine is tied to the limited shelf life of an illegitimate product key. If you (hypothetically) pay $5 for an activation key and download the installation media, then put both aside for a month before trying to use them, what will become unusably stale would be the key, not the media. It might fail to activate, or be revoked later. And if you weren’t very savvy about how Microsoft key management worked, you might be inclined to blame the downloaded installation media, not the key you bought.
I mean, you paid for the key, right? So it must be legit. :rolleyes:
While this is true, I would consider it a really bad idea. What you’re doing there for the sake of convenience is taking all the baggage and whatever existing issues may exist in the XP installation, and propagating them to Vista. And since Vista itself is just a steaming pile of baggage, you’re now taking one steaming pile of baggage compounded by an even worse one, and propagating the whole thing to Windows 7, instead of doing a fresh clean installation.
And it’s not as if you’re going to get a Windows 7 equivalent of your old XP system with everything working. Lots of apps are just not compatible, and even those that are might not migrate properly. When I installed Windows 7 for the first time on my old XP laptop, most of the time and effort was spent getting upgraded compatible apps, and in one case, a new driver. This is stuff one typically has to do anyway. The last two Windows 7 installs I did recently were both on SSD drives. I thought I would enjoy the relative speed of the install, but the enjoyment was brief – it was like bim-bam, installation done! The installation itself is nothing, and the migration is far too complex to leave to automation, especially Microsoft’s!
Very true.
I’d just pay the $5 and grab the grey market key. Worst case, it doesn’t activate, and you can usually whine to the site and get your money back. If it does work, the odds that Microsoft bans the key later is extremely slim. Much smaller than you think. They have done things like that in the past, but it isn’t with every patch, and it generally requires them to go out of their way to bother.
I know that with “educational” license keys, you can install a completely legit version of Windows 7 Professional and it works fine, with all features present. If you reuse the same license key for windows 7 on a different computer within 6 months, it does complain, but you can just call this phone number and get it unlocked in 5 minutes. Sure, if you did this a buncha times, they’d ban the key, but once or twice per 6 months, they won’t.
Once windows is activated, it doesn’t recheck with microsoft’s servers unless you reinstall, generally. Usually only with service packs, and there are no more service packs for windows 7 scheduled.
Or, frankly, while I don’t condone piracy, the pirates have long ago solved the problems with activating windows 7. Though you would be taking a risk - the black market “activators” you can download may or may not infest your computer with malware. There is no such risk using a grey market license key and a download of windows 7 from microsoft’s official servers, however - worst case scenario is it doesn’t activate.
Where did they get the grey market key? Who knows. Maybe they set up a sham corporation and actually legitimately bought some licenses for windows 7. The corporate price per seat is a lot less than the $99 retail price, especially somewhere like Malaysia. Maybe someone took photographs on the license keys of thousands of computers being thrown away, and is reselling those. (as long as they don’t resell the same key more than once or twice, it’s going to work fine forever)
For a slightly more legit grey market key, use kinguin, and get the $25 key from the seller that has sold 166,000 of them. Nobody has complained yet, and at $25 they probably are legitimate corporate keys.
Or a system hardware change of unknown magnitude. Maybe not an issue with a technically unsophisticated user (who’s not likely to go swapping out parts), but who knows? Can’t overlook it, especially since component-level upgrades are a common way to increase overall performance on a system.
Usually, increasing the RAM or installing another hard drive or replacing a hard drive with an SSD or installing a video card doesn’t trigger it. Unless you do all those swaps in one go, in between reboots.
Again, though, if it doesn’t activate, there’s a phone number. You call it and type in this long code that will be on the screen. Only if the grey market key was sold to a large number of people will this mechanism not work.
My ignorance is showing, but why go with Windows 7 at all? Is Windows 10 so bad? Does it break a lot of old software?
Not, Windows 10 is not that bad. And actually, I think it’s pretty good. The OP wanted to upgrade a computer currently running Windows XP. I really doubt anything that old would run Windows 10 adequately. It would be better for him to just get a new computer.
Right. Thank you all for your insights and expertise. I have a Windows 7 computer right now, which I would gladly relinquish to my wife, if I could only update the security features. That’s the real sticking point. My wife want’s a system she feel more secure with than the XP.
The system was give to me. It is good and fast, and would probably do for Windows 10; but I don’t want to lay out the bucks. As for me, I couldn’t care less. I like Windows XP, and have several computers running it. I clone the drives. If I run into a problem I can’t fix, I just pop in the clone, and Bob’s your uncle. I don’t care about security; but my wife does. I have tried everything I can think of to update the Windows 7, but SFC says it has corrupt files, and after the 5th or 6th attempt, and all the fixes I can find, it still reverts back on reboot … very frustrating. If I buy a used system, I may run into the same problem. I may have to spring for legit solution.
Well, enough wining. I haven’t decided what to do yet; but I do appreciate your help.
… john