Microsoft will stop old Windows keys from activating new Windows installs

Microsoft seems to be very confused on how to monetize Windows (for end user computing at least). It seems like they jump back and forth between:<p>&quot;Do we include ads?&quot;<p>&quot;Sell telemetry data?&quot;<p>&quot;Try to force users to use our browser&#x2F;search engine to generate ad impressions?&quot;<p>&quot;Should we just make the whole thing free?&quot;<p>Personally, I wish they&#x27;d just make home editions free as in beer, make it up by charging businesses the CAL bullshit and office&#x2F;o365 licenses. They need to develop and support those things anyways, home user revenue must be a drop in the bucket compared to Azure&#x2F;O365. Especially since OEM PC&#x2F;laptop purchases generate even less revenue for the Windows license included.<p>Doing so would also make sure your user base is familiar with using Windows on their home devices and carry that over to business use cases. Otherwise tablets not running Windows will continue to eat their lunch.

Friendly reminder: in EU it&#x27;s LEGAL to buy resold software licenses even if explicitly forbidden by the EULA.<p>So those $10-$30 Windows licenses are LEGAL if you buy them from a reputable reseller.<p>&gt; <i>An author of software cannot oppose the resale of his &quot;used&quot; licences allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internet. The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is exhausted on its first sale</i><p>[PDF] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;curia.europa.eu&#x2F;jcms&#x2F;upload&#x2F;docs&#x2F;application&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;2012-07&#x2F;cp120094en.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;curia.europa.eu&#x2F;jcms&#x2F;upload&#x2F;docs&#x2F;application&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;201...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;law.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;50462&#x2F;is-resale-of-windows-10-keys-legal" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;law.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;50462&#x2F;is-resale-of-w...</a>

My Windows 11 install recently was already such a pain in the ass. I had to open a command prompt and enter in some commands just to be able to install Win11 without a fucking M$ account. Seriously not even disconnecting LAN gives you the option. It was a new install and it worked using the &quot;key&quot; or activation from my previous Win10 install that I used a 10€ win7 key for. I do not think I have the key in my bios because its self build rig that I bought without windows.<p>I still need windows for playing AAA games unfortunately. I am going back to cracking windows if they not allow to activate it with some cheap win7 key. They already spy on me, try to force me to use a fucking online account for a OS, that is insanity why should I feel the need to give them money? When I was young I just did not give a fuck and was poor, I never really had a &quot;moral&quot; thought about cracking my windows, it just what my friends and I always did. We saved the money for a better rig instead. But when I learned about the win7 key method for win10 so I bought myself one on ebay once.<p>But now that M$ has evolved into a digital bully I even feel good about it. They are not even offering a &quot;get out of jail&quot; option that cuts all the ads and spying for a extortion fee right? They want both my money and my data. They are not getting it! Well at least I hope so I used <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;builtbybel&#x2F;BloatyNosy">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;builtbybel&#x2F;BloatyNosy</a> to try to disable all the spying after installing with a local only account.<p>Valve is unfortunately still not all the way there with Proton. But I think there will be a day in my life where I will remove my Windows partition with great pleasure and only use Linux.

Can&#x27;t imagine anyone shelling out $200 for Windows license for personal use.

I have so far had to reinstall Windows 11 4 times. One of those times was a failed motherboard but 3 of them were Windows and its updates breaking the installation in some way and I was unable to work out how to fix it without reinstalling. If they move to keys not working again I loose something they have offered to me.<p>Microsoft really needs to work out what it intends to do for money in the future around Windows. I do not want ads, telemetry and all the other garbage and I certainly wont pay for it.

I reinstalled Windows XP so many times, I ended up memorizing the CD key. I still remember parts of it!

Some have speculated that this is why <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;Piracy&#x2F;comments&#x2F;16to3w3&#x2F;it_has_finally_happened_hwid_activation_for&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;Piracy&#x2F;comments&#x2F;16to3w3&#x2F;it_has_fina...</a> stopped working. I think this is a more reasonable motive than what is being discussed right now in this thread.

Kind of unfortunate timing as I recently decided to make it a priority to upgrade a VM Windows 7 install this way. I actually started the process a week before the deadline but ran into a cryptic error I didn&#x27;t have time to resolve.

I just ordered a new PC - pulled the old SSD from my i7-6700 and shoved it into my new PC - changed BIOS boot settings and it booted up - it took a few minutes to load new drivers.<p>Windows 11 Pro non OEM key.<p>After booting it complained about activation, but I just re-activated it - very impressed and revealed I did not spend a day to install and reconfigure - it was new CPU - new motherboard - new GPU.

I am safe if I take Windows 10 from a 2014 laptop and use it to build a desktop. Right?

What&#x27;s the point, honestly?

Great ... typical Microsoft again, unlimited greed.<p>I was planning to redo my laptop, put in some new drives, remove old ones, maybe upgrade the gpu if possible at all. It would mean installing win10 again, but it has a built-in windows 8 key. So that would mean I&#x27;d have to double pay.<p>I&#x27;m pretty sure this is against some law in the EU at least.