Should we clone all Win 10 computers that were originally Win 7/8 licensed?

[Peperonix]

Some of my clients are still running, with satisfaction, Windows 10 on PC that were originally licenced for Windows 7 or 8.

I observe that it seems no longer possible to activate Windows 10 (or 11) for computers of that generation.

Then, should I make a backup image (clone) of those activated computers to be able to restore them in case a problem occurs, that would require reinstallation, or will those PC still be able to re-activate Windows 10 ?

So far, I don't like Windows 11, and would rather switch to a Linux distro with KDE plasma (like Q4OS), but most customers are still accustomed to Windows.

 

[NviGate Systems]

I activated Windows 8.1 about a month ago no issues. I also activated a Windows 10 Upgrade on that same machine. (It likely has been upgraded before)

However the real issue is if they continue to run an antiquated OS they are essentially begging hackers and malware to take over the machine. We may shame Microsoft or complain many of the shortcomings.....however they do publish many patches to fix exploits that exist.

Without those patches Windows will be how my Windows 2000 server was back in the day, online and within 30 minutes defaced and hacked.

That point aside, I don't see Microsoft stopping activation unless something has changed. Digital license will still be valid. Again unless I missed some update....

Plus I think it would be in your clients best interest to upgrade to a compliant hardware and OS.

 

[lan101]

I think cloning is the quickest way to reserve those machines if need be. I had a customer with a dell from like 2012 or maybe 2013 not that long ago and they had old Quickbooks 2012 version on there. I upgraded to an ssd drive so it wasn't so slow and then ran an image file to an external as well. Also the original drive is still in the computer just in case all else fails. So hopefully between all that he can keep rolling with the old Quickbooks 2012. I told him in the next year to 2 he probably shouldn't use it for anything else. He checked email once in a while any maybe a little web browsing but mostly used a phone for that stuff. So I just told him he may eventually not be able to do those things in a handful of years....who knows...I still have some clients clinging on to windows 7 and somehow getting by lol. Thankfully those are just home users who aren't doing too much.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Activation is tied to hardware ID.

The hardware ID changes with every upgrade. Swap in a new GPU? BOOOM new ID.

Drift too far and... deactivate... buy a new copy of Windows.

 

[fincoder]

I observe that it seems no longer possible to activate Windows 10 (or 11) for computers of that generation.

Any computers that have not already been upgraded to Windows 10 can no longer upgrade. Any computers that have already had Windows 10 activated, no problem reinstalling and activating.

Activation is tied to hardware ID.

The hardware ID changes with every upgrade. Swap in a new GPU? BOOOM new ID.

In practice it generally only deactivates if the motherboard is changed, not just a new GPU.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Any computers that have not already been upgraded to Windows 10 can no longer upgrade. Any computers that have already had Windows 10 activated, no problem reinstalling and activating.

In practice it generally only deactivates if the motherboard is changed, not just a new GPU.

GPU + SSD will do it too!

 

[britechguy]

In practice it generally only deactivates if the motherboard is changed, not just a new GPU.

And in practice you can reactivate if you do these changes "the right way": Reactivating Windows after a hardware change

 

[fincoder]

GPU + SSD will do it too!

Should I assume you have seen this or otherwise have evidence?
As Brian said, reactivation is usually quite painless anyway these days. Even if license is OEM.

The deactivation should only occur if the motherboard is changed, e.g. OEM license not valid on a new computer. If it happened to me and the motherboard wasn't changed, and reactivation proved problematic, I believe I'd be in my rights to use the massgrave activation script.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Should I assume you have seen this or otherwise have evidence?
As Brian said, reactivation is usually quite painless anyway these days. Even if license is OEM.

The deactivation should only occur if the motherboard is changed, e.g. OEM license not valid on a new computer. If it happened to me and the motherboard wasn't changed, and reactivation proved problematic, I believe I'd be in my rights to use the massgrave activation script.

Swapped my GPU and upgraded by SSD on the rig I'm typing on a couple weeks ago.

Bitlocker was suspended, still had to use the recovery key and then reactivate on boot.

Was that activation automatic? Yes!

Why do I know? because it was in the event log!

Deactivation is really a failure to automatically activate. And you only get so many of those per key before "splat".

 

[fincoder]

Bitlocker was suspended, still had to use the recovery key

That would have been annoying!