I can tell you what I did the other day, FWIW. I wanted to play a game (Cyberpunk 2077). I used a Windows 11 VM running on a Linux host running on an Intel-brand computer with 32 GB or RAM installed. I gave the VM 24 of those, 7 out of 8 CPU cores, and exclusive use of a GPU plugged in via Thunderbolt. Probably could optimise the configuration more, but it worked OK, although NB the host OS was basically idle at the time. with just a few browser tabs open.
Well, yes, but that’s also 8x+ more RAM than many Windows 7 machines came with. That was still during the transition from 32-bit era and some capped out at 4GB. And neither eGPUs nor Thunderbolt were common then.
Yes, of course you can make this work on beefy modern hardware. It’s great that you have horsepower to spare. But that’s not a great solution for slower, older hardware. Depending on the hardware, even a native Windows 10 install could struggle. Adding more VM layers would just slow it down even more.
Anyway, @Chronos, hope you all got all the info you need! What games are you playing these days?
I apologise if I’m being rude, but wouldn’t buying a new computer give you a far superior performance for not much extra money?
Currently, most often, City of Heroes and Age of Empires II. But I dabble in a number of other games from time to time (most recently, Starcraft II and Streets of Rogue).
I also use the web browser frequently on that machine (usually Firefox, because it’s what I’m used to, except for a few pages that it doesn’t work with, in which case Chrome).
EDIT: And also relevant, the machine has 4 gigs of RAM.
Windows 10 and even Windows 11 should run with 4G RAM as far as I know. Also Linux, of course. Plus you can always add some more RAM.
I do not recommend Win11 on a machine with 4 GB RAM. Win10 is ok, but close to the edge. My grandmother inadvertently “upgraded” her 4 GB system to Win11, and I had to go in and disable virtually every non-critical feature just so she could open a few browser tabs.
Ah, oldies but goodies! Are you sure you even need to upgrade…? I’m surprised any of those don’t work on Windows 7.
Yeah, I agree with this sentiment too and want to re-emphasize it a bit. Windows costs a lot less to big OEMs than it does for you to buy it at retail, which means you should be able to get a gently-used/open-box computer for not much more money (from a reputable store, with a warranty), or an even better deal off Craigslist and such (at your own risk).
The Microcenter near Cleveland, for example, has several $200ish computers that have 8 or16 GB of RAM and a SSD. The Best Buys near there also have a bunch of options, or also desktops for a little more. It’s probably a better value for the money than buying a Windows 7 license at MSRP (if Microsoft doesn’t give you special upgrade pricing… do they?).
Or if you’re sick of dealing with Windows, the Steam Deck starts at $399: Steam Deck™ and can probably run all those games (CoH, AoE2, SC2, SoR). Just plug in a monitor, mouse and keyboard (via the Steam Dock or any USB-C dock with a charger).
Something to keep in mind is that if online activation doesn’t work, it’s possible that phone still will. For instance, these numbers:
(888) 352-7140
(716) 871-2781
worked within the last few months for a friend who was trying to activate Word 2003 (I think? some dead version) on an old machine. Googling for a phone# might find something.
The games themselves work fine. It’s Steam that’s the problem. I had been relying on the countdown at the top of the Steam window that said “Steam will stop working on Windows 7 in 50 days”, until I realized that it’d said “50 days” the last several times I’d checked, and now none of the “launch” buttons did anything (or, apparently, even tried to do anything).
I regularly upgrade and donate desktops to relatives, friends, and charity. One of my favorite desktops to find is the ubiquitous Dell Optiplex 380. They came with Windows 7, but most owners upgraded them to Windows 10 within a few years under the MS free upgrade policy. The owners were often disappointed in the performance and now I can pick them up for free (literally).
Pop in a 240 GB SSD ($25), add a 4GB DIMM ($12…the tech sheet says it will only take 4GB total, but it is wrong…8GB works fine), and upgrade the CPU to a used Intel Quad-Core Q9650 ($25), and you have a very useful desktop PC for $60 to $65. Of course, this uses the GPU on the MB, but I’m not trying to make them into great gaming machines. It’s also a fairly eco-friendly machine, having only a 235-watt PSU.
As a side-note, I just used my Windows 10 Media Creation Tool to create an installation USB and it worked fine to upgrade a Windows 7 machine last weekend. But I have an MS Outlook account and this seems to help in activating Windows 10.
…And, I just rebooted the computer, and when it restarted, a Steam update ran automatically. Now, when I open Steam, it says it’ll stop working in 0 days, but it still works.
I’m guessing what happened is that there’s some obscure feature in Steam that doesn’t work any more, but the core functionality is still there, but they didn’t want folks complaining about the loss of that feature (which as I understand it was out of their control, since the deadline was based on a bit of Chrome code that Steam uses).
So I probably should still look into other options, but it’s not as urgent any more.
Huh… same here. I’ve been too busy playing Fallout 4 from GOG to notice the Steam countdown ended. It’s good to know it still works. Besides, I heard another settlement needs my help anyway.
Additional step: try putting in the code that is on Windows 7 sticker on your laptop into the activation prompt on Windows 10. It worked for me once.
Additional info: make sure you install Windows 10 Pro if you have Windows 7 Pro, and just Windows 10 if you have Basic or Home Basic. If you have another version, then Google to find the appropriate upgrade.
Given that Steam is working now, I’d suggest switching to Offline mode, in case a later update in the software or the servers causes problems.
Probably sensible, except that multiplayer is important to me (I keep in touch with an old friend in another state through weekly gaming sessions), and I don’t think that that would work in offline mode.
And you might not be able to use all of that. I never used Windows 7 but I had a machine on 32-bit XP and could only use 2.5 GB out of the 4 GB installed.
Depending on how old this hardware was (ie what CPU) this was almost certainly nothing to do with Windows, but memory addressing. Even today I see video systems set with their memory addresses in the system memory range, taking it away from Windows. Normally there would be bios settings to fix this, it’s just poor practice or sheer laziness on the vendor’s part.
It was a limit of the video addressing by Windows. If I had upgraded the system to XP 64 the issue would have gone away.
No, the 4gb limit was imposed by 32bit Windows. Something else was using that 1.5gb you were missing.
I don’t know how you got so confused that you are making the exact same points I was making while mistakingly thinking you are in some way correcting something that I have said, but here we are.