Windows Help

So I've got an older ASUS laptop (2013 build) that I hadn't booted up for 3 years until yesterday. It's a decent machine; i7 quad core @ 2.2 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 64-bit OS, 650 GB HDD. The downside is it has Windows 8.1. Although the free upgrade to 10 has long expired there are multiple sources that say if you use the Windows Media Upgrade tool Microsoft will still honor your Windows 7/8/8.1 license for a free upgrade. I found that to not be true, I upgraded to 10 yesterday and my was prompted to activate Windows by purchasing a license and entering in my 8.1 license key would not work. I reverted back to 8.1.

So what to do? I don't like Windows 8 at all, particularly with the home screen and tiles and such. Jim told me I can use a skin to give it a Windows 7 appearance and functionality, which would be cool, I still have 7 on my work PC and I like it. Does anyone have a workaround for the 10 licensing issue or does it seem Microsoft has finally pulled the plug on their licensing amnesty? Anything else I should consider?

If the 7 skin is the best bet, which would you recommend? There are thousands. I don't mind paying $5 or even $20 for a good one, I just don't want to spend $139 on a Windows 10 license. Also don't want to purchase a new machine, this one is perfectly adequate for what I need to do.

my older laptop is 8.1, but I run a program called Shell (freeware), you wouldn't know it's not Windows 7

my other computers are all Windows 7 cause the version of Autocad I have is older and not compatible with 10

my new 2 in 1 tablet/laptop, is windows 10, and I hate it, but luckily, windows 10 can kinda appear as 7, but you can tell it's really 10, and using it as a tablet, because its touchscreen, it really needs 10

Buy Win 10, consider getting a cheap SSD at the same time and enjoy your laptop with a fresh clean install of windows on faster storage. Cheaper than a new laptop. Should be able to do the whole deal for $200.

When I ran windows 8, I also used the free shell program mentioned above. For your usage purposes, I don't really see windows 10 having an advantages over 8.1 + Shell.

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Originally Posted by Kurlon

Buy Win 10, consider getting a cheap SSD at the same time and enjoy your laptop with a fresh clean install of windows on faster storage. Cheaper than a new laptop. Should be able to do the whole deal for $200.

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As of June this year, i'll be a student again which will make me eligible for student pricing. I'll be in school for two years, by that time I'll be ready to buy a new machine. Makes more sense now to just work with what I have I think.

There is a windows 10 activation hack on youtube. I have actually used it despite owning licenses because some 10 updates have required activation, and then that activation has not functioned properly.

I'm far from a Windows Licensing expert, but I think this has to do with the weirdness in their licensing model. The Win8.1 license (and therefore key) you have is likely an OEM key sold to ASUS and provided to you on purchase. That key is not 'portable', and cannot be used on another computer. It's basically one time use only. In theory, the Win10 upgrade should be sufficient, but I think there are circumstances when it's basically not enough. Hopefully someone in the IT world can confirm/deny and articulate the specifics.

Another catch might be a mis-match in the type, like if your Win8.1 is Home edition and the upgrade is a Professional edition.

From everything I've experienced, the Windows 10 free upgrade is still in effect. I've updated numerous Windows 7 machines to Windows 10 1809 here at work over the past few weeks, and all of them activate successfully. You should not have to enter a key at all, the upgrade process should take care of everything for you.

Did you run the installer via booting from USB key or DVD? If so you did it wrong, you need to open the USB key or DVD and run setup.exe from within Windows. Or if you download the Media Creation Tool, you simply run it and select "Upgrade this computer" (or whatever the right term is) and it will take care of activation on it's own.

Lastly, a lot of people simply run Windows 10 unactivated. As I understand the only thing you are limited from doing is changing the background or themes...and you can still do that with 3rd party programs.

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Originally Posted by SRTie4k

From everything I've experienced, the Windows 10 free upgrade is still in effect. I've updated numerous Windows 7 machines to Windows 10 1809 here at work over the past few weeks, and all of them activate successfully. You should not have to enter a key at all, the upgrade process should take care of everything for you.

Did you run the installer via booting from USB key or DVD? If so you did it wrong, you need to open the USB key or DVD and run setup.exe from within Windows. Or if you download the Media Creation Tool, you simply run it and select "Upgrade this computer" (or whatever the right term is) and it will take care of activation on it's own.

Lastly, a lot of people simply run Windows 10 unactivated. As I understand the only thing you are limited from doing is changing the background or themes...and you can still do that with 3rd party programs.

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I ran my update through the Media Creation Tool. It was after the update when I went to Windows Update in Control Panel that I saw my license was inactive and tried to key in my Win 8 license. I'm now running a Windows 7 skin, works perfectly fine for me. I expect I'll keep it as such until I'm eligible for student pricing on 10.

The free upgrade is still in effect. If it doesn't work call Microsoft and they'll activate for you.