Will my Windows 7 key actuvate Windows 11?

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

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I previously bought Windows 7 and whenever I've wanted to do a fresh install of Windows 10 its worked fine!

Anyway now I'm wanting to go to Windows 11 due to the support dropping off and I’ve finally got the secure boot enabled on my motherboard but I'm wondering a) whether I can even upgrade now and b) if I can, what's the best way of going about this?

I have reinstalled Windows 10 but there doesn't appear to be any updates to take me on to Windows 11!?!?

Can I just download Windows 11 and install it using my years-old Windows 7 activation key??
 
AFAIK you've missed the boat on this one - you had to upgrade Windows 7 keys to 11 by the end of 2023.

EDIT: If your 7->10 upgrade is tied to a online account you might still have some luck activating 11 with the relevant online account and certain licenses will still activate 11 but for the most part they've closed off the upgrade path now.
 
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The first thing I did when Windows 11 came out was upgrade to it so my hardware was tagged and set to use it.

Once done (Confirmed activated etc) I rolled back to Windows 10 as was not a fan of Windows 11 (Still not) but then it allowed me to upgrade once Windows 11 had been round long enough.

Do you have anything under Windows update to upgrade to Windows 11 at all?
 
I tried installing Windows 11 using a Windows 7 key - it used to work, but recently Microsoft disabled this option for new installations and activations. Now, if you don’t have a digital license, your Windows 7 key will most likely not work. It’s better to check on the official Microsoft website or just install Windows 11 and try to activate it - the system will immediately let you know if the key is accepted.
 
My Windows 7 key on Windows 10 was fine but it got deactivated after updating my bios (done many times without an issue) and then it never activated again. People where saying online that new activations would not work but it was activated with no hardware changes so thanks Microsoft for just stopping Windows 7 keys from working.:(

People where discussing online that even having the key tied to a MS account it still would not activate.. and Microsoft's support is pretty much sucks to be you, spend hundreds of dollars on a new key. Why would I spend hundreds for a key that may deactivate on a bios update or some other random reason that support cant deal with... :cry:

Hopefully the OP's key wont just stop activating.
 
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