Upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10

[jdc2000]

Hmm... The first link from post #3 (ZDNet's Ed Bott) seemed to indicate that he had no trouble in January 2018 with using a key from a previous Windows version.

Windows 7 should be OK until early 2020 with security updates. If you "upgrade" to Windows 10 after that, you could use StarDock's software to restore a Windows 7 type user interface, assuming that Microsoft hasn't done something to prevent it by then and that Stardock has kept up with any updates needed.

The problem with Windows 10 is that there really isn't any such thing as "Windows 10". Microsoft continually sends out "feature updates" that make radical changes to the user interface and settings, so they are really up to "Windows 14" by now. The build number is vital information to know which "Windows 10" version you are using so you know how to perform any particular function. For example, "Control Panel" has been removed from the latest build (although there is a way to get it back), and the functions are now scattered around elsewhere.

I have only one Windows 10 test system at present, and it is running Enterprise so I can lock it down. I am going to try to set up an additional test system with Enterprise LTSB (Long Term Service Branch), which gets only security updates automatically. If I can figure out how to do this, I'll make some documentation on it.

[photolady]

Hmm... The first link from post #3 (ZDNet's Ed Bott) seemed to indicate that he had no trouble in January 2018 with using a key from a previous Windows version.

I used a key from one of my Windows 7 discs but I think the one I tried to use was used previously on my niece's laptop. And that happened not long ago so not even 120 days. That was on another drive she had that went bad right after I did the install and she had to get a new drive. After the new drive, I'm not sure whether they (she and her husband) activated the new install or not. And if they did what key they used. I tried using the key that was on the back of her laptop but it wouldn't accept it, saying it wasn't a valid key. I think her husband may have misread the key code.

[jdc2000]

That might explain the activation failure issue.

[photolady]

How is the Enterprise version different than the others?

[jdc2000]

You can reduce the data collection and reporting to the lowest level, and if you choose the LTSB, you get only security updates. Those are the biggest differences.

[photolady]

I'm thinking about building another machine just to run Windows 10 on to get used to how it works. Mostly so I can help other family members who have it. Or as in my closest sister's case who hates Windows 10. And in two years, unless Microsoft comes out with something different or better, I'll have to upgrade too.