How did you get your current Windows license?

something daft already!!

something daft already!!

something daft already!!

Soldato
Joined
11 Jan 2007
Posts
8,623
Location
*̡̡ı ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡
I was thinking about this the other day. My Windows key has been going since 2009 and the release of Windows 7. I was one of the lucky ones to get the Windows 7 Ultimate key and a Party pack which contained bags, napkins, puzzles, posters and other stuff. I still have the box somewhere. I had a Vista OEM key before this, the less said about that the better. My very first thread here was about that very subject lol.

This Windows 7 key followed me over a few upgrades until 8 came out and I took the free upgrade. Then 8.1, then upgraded again and got Windows 10 upgrade because of how nasty 8 and 8.1 was. Nearly a year ago now, I then upgraded to Windows 11.

So my key is really 13 years old. It's nice to not have had to buy a new one in all these years.

I have other PCs with win 10 and an OEM key as well.

So, how old is your main PC's key and how did you get it?
 
My main PC has been going since 2013 on retail Windows 7 (box) - most of my newer systems on 10, etc. came with the OEM pre-install/hardware activation.
 
On my most recent pc I just used an old windows 7 pro oem code to activate windows 10 pro.... it transferred over without any real issues but I hadn't used the code since windows 8 came out (I didn't get a free upgrade from 7 so have their codes laying around too, probably got around 6 codes I can use for windows 10/11 lol).
 
I've always just bought windows retail when building a new pc. So my license is as old as this pc.

Dunno what I'd do if building now, coz I only see windows 11 on dvd, and no usb like windows 10, so that would be irritating.
 
throwaway4372 said:
I've always just bought windows retail when building a new pc. So my license is as old as this pc.

Dunno what I'd do if building now, coz I only see windows 11 on dvd, and no usb like windows 10, so that would be irritating.
Click to expand...
You basically just download the iso and then copy over to a usb drive... you then just buy the code digitally (or use an existing unused code from win 7/8/10)
 
Got an old cracked copy of win 7. Installed it, then upgrade to win 10, and then install a fresh copy of 10 or 11 as the hardware is now registered.
I keep the bought copy of 7 on a test machine.
 
I got mine on cj cdkeys the first key they gave me had already been used though... had to wait 2 days for support to give me another key.


you can use win11 forever anyway though with just a message in the corner saying its not activated
 
Bought retail 7 pro back in 2010 when I first got into PC building. It's been with me ever since, I skipped 8/8.1 but upgraded to 10. Will probably upgrade to 11 eventually once I feel a few more niggles are ironed, and any other future Windows revision. I think I went through at least 3 or so complete new builds with the same key.
 
Bought an OEM Win7 pro key with some hardware many many years ago. Probably sometime in 2010.
It's followed me through various OS and hardware upgrades, to where I am with Win11 now. One or two times I've had to speak to MS to get it reactivated because of a major hardware change (new motherboard or similar) but it still lives!
 
Technet when I worked for a company that had it then I carried on using the same keys for a while after I left.

I bought Vista when I built a PC specifically for Vista.

Then ever since then, if I've needed Windows for anything (generally a VM that gets used for a specific purpose), I've got a bunch of pictures of old Windows 7 keys from laptops that were scrapped from a company I left in 2017. They still work in Windows 10 and although I've not used Windows 11, I have no reason to believe they won't work.
 
I've got a couple of home ones from family computers, one's from Vista and still seems legit on Win10.

I bought a new Win10 Pro one off here,but haven't got round to using it. Hopefully it works as a few reported they were duff.
 
My current main PC is running 11 Pro upgraded from 10 and then before 8 (I got a good deal on a retail boxed licence of 8 Pro when it was released - £40-or so I think?) - my secondary PC (getting on now) is also a retail license - this time it's a Windows 10 Home upgrade from a nice boxed copy of Windows 7 Home Premium.

Generally when I'm building PCs for friends/family though I pick up an OEM key from one of the grey market sellers - I haven't had issues (so far).
 
Orcvader said:
Bought retail 7 pro back in 2010 when I first got into PC building. It's been with me ever since, I skipped 8/8.1 but upgraded to 10. Will probably upgrade to 11 eventually once I feel a few more niggles are ironed, and any other future Windows revision. I think I went through at least 3 or so complete new builds with the same key.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same. Although my key has been tied to my MS account for a while now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom