Record attendance today at 7F!

[gregrocker]

At 8 am this morning.

 

[paul1149]

And was the most discussed topic, "How do I revert to Win7?"

 

[gregrocker]

What is your preferred method, Paul? Image or rollback?

Methods and limitations of rollback?

How to regain 7 license?

These are all things needing in-depth testing.

 

[paul1149]

I'm most definitely an image guy, Greg. Press a few buttons, grab a beverage, wait half an hour, boot back up.

 

[gregrocker]

Couldn't agree more. The only question is how to then retrieve any 7 license which gave way to 10 on that PC. I'm still not clear on that if the rollback isn't used.

 

[paul1149]

You mean MS would dispute using the license for W7 again? I feel sorry for those who are entrusting their machines to MS at this point. I have had two encounters with Win10 - on my Win8 phone and in the Win10 Insiders program. On both I've tried to get off their spam lists, and found it impossible both times. Under the subscription model, MS really wants to hang on to people tightly. I'm glad I jumped ship.

But as for most Win7 licenses, they're just generic OEM certificates and keys, so I think restoring by image would fall under their good graces automatically.

 

[gregrocker]

We should always be able to retrieve Win7 licenses if we stop using the Upgraded license. This has always been the principle. All I've heard differently is that recently they said there would be a limited time to roll back. This and the activation being in the BIOS complicate things.

However Win7 backup images normally maintain activation as you suggest. We need to see how this works in real time and not Tweets or promises. I am watching and waiting to see.

 

[paul1149]

All I've heard differently is that recently they said there would be a limited time to roll back.

I see. That's too much control for my comfort.

 

[gregrocker]

It will need to be challenged if that's how it works and the 7 license can truly not be retrieved.

They never even tried to deactivate keys of qualifying OS's used for 7 Upgrade. BIOS activation may work differently.

Giving them free may change the equation.

 

[Ranger4]

Couldn't agree more. The only question is how to then retrieve any 7 license which gave way to 10 on that PC. I'm still not clear on that if the rollback isn't used.

That's well worth thinking about Greg & it was not something I would have thought of.

At this point I am sticking with 7 & if I decide to move to 10 I will buy a retail copy & install it at my leisure.

Just out of interest I use a weekly back up image to be on the safe side.

 

[gregrocker]

I just posted these fresh questions up to MVP communications channel with WIndows 10 team. Will report back here what I hear.

 

[Joan Archer]

I can't remember where but I read that you could revert back to your previous OS within the first month of installing 10 if you wanted to.

I will upgrade my 8.1.1 Asus Notebook when it finally tells me it's ready but my 7 desktop didn't get the upgrade icon so I'm assuming it's not compatible, it's getting on a bit it came with Vista. I have a retail 7 license which I put onto it which was upgrade to Ultimate a while back.

I do like 10 been playing with it in a VM.

 

[Layback Bear]

Just my opinion.
I will not trust Microsoft with one of my Windows 7 COA key for going to Windows 10.

It's obvious to me Microsoft is playing games to hook people into Windows 10 and making it as hard as they can to go back to Windows 7 with proper activation.

Folks Microsoft is playing hard ball. They don't want another Windows 8.

They will kick millions in the Acorns if that is what is need to get people to Windows 10 and stay their.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yep way too many vague terms
One would guess that the 20 days is referring to 10's system restore but again a win 7 key is worth more than a guess
I bailed on the 10tp program I didn't feel right using a M$ account.
It's local account or not at all.

 

[paul1149]

LB: Very incisively stated. It's interesting how brutally MS comes down on the Western license holder, but in vast markets such as China, has the explicit policy of leaving pirates alone. It's even been said that our collective dependence on Windows constitutes a national security vulnerability. Were I looking for a suitable charitable cause, I certainly would consider WINE.

 

[gregrocker]

Is there any evidence they won't let 7 keys be retrieved for long?

With 7 the qualifying XP Or Vista key wasn't even disabled. It was on the honor system. I was told this was due to courts ruling they cannot take your property away if you decide you don't want to trade up, and that to try to keep track of all this risked running massively afoul of case law on Software property rights which can be different from one country to the next.

I asked a MS exec if the oft-quoted rule were true that MS remains the OS owner while we are merely licensed to use it. He smirked and said "Good luck convincing a court of that when there's a sales receipt that precedes the EULA agreement." I've always thought this is why they are trying so hard to move their business model to subscription monthly rental.

 

[ThrashZone]

I don't see how if you have a reliable system image to go back to or original install media and key :/

 

[gregrocker]

it may not be as easy as restoring 7 with activated image if 10 has somehow overridden it in BIOS. Is there some way they are confidently disabling qualifying 7/8 key once used to upgrade to 10?

Since 10 activation is via BIOS and therefore hardware locked, how is the qualifying 7/8 locked out, or is it?

 

[ThrashZone]

? M$ messing with bios is a scary thing
I'm more interested in what happens online when you use that to activate windows on clean install

Then you get to the daily activation confirmation in system will that bug out eventually because the online verify has been tagged as upgraded :/ then throws an error.

Nobody wants to call M$ and get the 10 sells pitch
I called about the M$ mouse and keyboard update they kept pushing to my laptop that was killing the touchpad section of mouse properties
Everyone knows once that section is gone fine tuning a touchpad is impossible
Except for silly M$ employs on the other end of the line
That conversation went well

 

[gregrocker]

I wish I wasn't traveling and could test some of these upgrade activations to see exactly how they work, especially every possible rollback and retrieval of 7 key.