W'10 activation after cloning SSD

[bojan]

As the SSD (with W'7) cloning and upgrade to W'10 went well, now I have a problem - I can't activate Windows...


I want to keep the old SSD (with W'7) in the same machine (as a backup and alternative boot source - just in case..), but being a bit paranoid, I am reluctant to enter a product key from a sticker, because what if this action invalidate the w'7 copy?

And I don't want to cough up US$375 for a new license..



If there are no other options, I will simply forget W'10 and go back to W'7 (which worked quite OK BTW...)


Thanks in advance for any reply :-)

[rustigsmed]

hi Bojan,


I think it depends on the license type - if you could have it on more than one pc or not? Many of the OEM licenses are for 1 machine only. If you purchased the CD you are probably ok. Worst case scenario you could buy one of the cheap oem keys online... they go pretty cheap (but are one PC restricted - and could probably get a win10 LTSC version also for that added support).


Cheers


Russ

[bojan]

Hi Russ,

Thanks.. It seems MS doesn't allow free upgrade any more from a year ago, so I will have to live with W'10 inactivated, or purchase single license.. but I am wandering if it's worth in my case because I already have one old (but gold!) Z230 HP desktop with W10 that I activated last year without problem.. and, W7 works OK for me.

[Leo.G]

I'll ask my son, we may have a few spare licenses we purchased and haven't used. I honestly can't remember but I know we got a deal from a reputable source and purchased a few just to have handy.

[bojan]

Leo, thank you but don't worry about that..
un-activated W10 works OK, apart from nagging messages..

And W7 works perfectly for what I use it.
Anyway, my machines (both HP Compaq 6300) are not suitable for W11 anyway, so my next OS will be Linux (Mint) - if ever..

[Leo.G]

I run Win 7 on my primary system but my son runs 10 and 11 on his portable stuff and desktop, along with server 2019 or 2023, I don't know which server version he's using, I don't pay that much attention.
I LIKE Win 7!