Microsoft removes windows 7, 8, 8.1 keys from windows 10 activation servers
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In a move that will likely result in universal condemnation, add another nail into the "lets never use windows again" coffin, and which will MASSIVELY add to the problem of ewaste in the world for otherwise perfectly good PCs; Microsoft quietly removed all windows 7, 8, and 8.1 keys from the activation servers this month. Even for embedded keys which previously auto generated a digital licence - which means even many oems like toshiba and hp will now have to buy entire new inventories of keys for newly manufactured laptops instead of using up their older unused key inventory. This means for many new old stock pcs even up to windows 11 you may find random activation issues from factory for a while until they purge back inventory keys from factory catalogues for some pc manufacturers.
Obviously Microsoft cares nothing for the environment here, since for most poor people here the cost of an official 10 key to replace their 7/8/8/1 key will be more than can be afforded or justified when it may well cost more than the pc is worth. For many schools, work and family computers they will just trash them. It also hurts the reconditioning market, since 90% of 2nd hand sellers cant afford to subscribe to Microsofts over priced and outright scammy reconditioned computer licensing program.
It is not easy to locate the exact announcement, which isn't even indexed in most search engines yet, apparently one of the Microsoft staff just unilaterally decided to do it without any real warning on the developer side. A brief write up is mentioned here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/its-official-no-more-free-windows-10-upgrades/
I can confirm this is the case as an 8.1 home upgrade off an embedded key just failed to activate.
This off the back of windows 7 keys as a whole being removed from the activation servers a while back for fresh windows 7 installs too. Although when a class action was threatened to be raised on it, Microsoft were quick to point out windows 7 keys can still be activated on their offline phone activation system. It is unclear if this also applies to phone activations of 10 off old keys in that same vein, since they are generally highly discouraged in versions upwards to 10 which all just assume you have internet access and the phone activation option is difficult if not impossible to bring up on the screen on newer versions of windows as they wish to force all users to a microsoft account sign in. I would suspect it doesn't as oem activations were quietly replaced with digital licences a while back too, i dont think current versions of windows 10 are even capable of activating without internet access now to download the digital activation certificate.
As an extra F U to end users world wide, it is also rumored that even keys on early builds of 10 may also fail to activate now too. In particular ones that activated using the old slic system.
Some corpo volume keys may still activate off extended support contracts, but don't hold your breath on that.
Apparently the word leaked from inside Microsoft is they want to kill off the 3rd party market for windows keys not directly purchased from Microsoft, including back catalogs of bulk key purchases by oems and reconditioned pc sellers.
If you reside in EU, or Australia, this move is actually illegal, and steam has been previously taken to court over the same type of thing where it violates consumer protection laws. So I would suggest writing and complaining to you local politician about it.
Exceptions:
Later activations of 10 will get to keep previously issued digital windows licence, and those are still allowed a free upgrade to window 11. Although this is troublesome as even new from OEM LAPTOPS for example are not compatible with windows 11 install. At factory they pre-image the hard disks before fitting into the laptop, because it is actually physically impossible to install it off installation media. Even if you have the hard disk drivers, windows 11 does not have an option to insert a driver disk, it would require installing windows 10, using a driver disk then in-place upgrading back to 11 - even on laptops that came with 11 from factory, and will fail even a reset from windows 11 recovery as the m.2 driver support is broken for some hardware configurations.
It seems Microsoft may now be responsible for the biggest ewaste problem in the civilized world now, since many windows 11 pcs /cannot be factory reset for resale now/ because of the issue. Yup NEW windows 11 laptops will throws a "this computer is not compatible with windows 11" error if you try to install off installation media too! Apparently the OEM was imaging by installing windows 10, then upgrading to 11 before boxing up and shipping to resellers.
I was not joking when I said this will be driving people to the "lets never use windows again" club.
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The actual Microsoft press release is here:
In case they pull the article here is it pasted:
Windows Ends Installation Path for Free Windows 7/8 Upgrade
Created Date: 2023-09-20 | Last Modified: 2023-09-20
Applies To: Publicly Available
Microsoft's free upgrade offer for Windows 10 / 11 ended July 29, 2016. The installation path to obtain the Windows 7 / 8 free upgrade is now removed as well. Upgrades to Windows 11 from Windows 10 are still free.
Details
To upgrade to Windows 11, devices must meet the Windows 11 minimum system requirements. Some Windows 10 features aren't available in Windows 11. System requirements to experience some Windows 11 features and apps will exceed the Windows 11 minimum system requirements. Find Windows 11 specs, features, and computer requirements.
Get Windows 11 - How to Get Windows 11 for Your Compatible PC | Microsoft.
Morgan
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