Used my old Windows 8 key to install 11 ... but if you change enough of your hardware, that activation fails. But if you're signed in to a MS account, your digital license gets tied to that ...

Many users opting for a free upgrade of Windows 11/10 will not get a product key. That’s ... on the Microsoft activation servers for the PC when you upgrade Windows 8.1 or Windows 7.

Brian Freeman found a flaw in my article Reinstall Windows when you’ve lost your reinstall disc or partition. I told readers that “when it comes time to activate Windows, use the activation ...

even if utilizing a pre-activated Windows 7 or 8.1 key. Concurrently, a significant alteration has taken place in the activation process, specifically concerning the Hardware ID (HWID) server ...

Microsoft has confirmed that users can no longer use old Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 keys to activate Windows 11 ... buying a Windows 11 key is now your only option unless you are willing to source ...

and 8.1 could update to Windows 11 for free by simply using the activation key of the older OS. However, the update plugged that loophole, with the company pointing out that the official free ...

Usually, you'd activate Windows 11 (or 10) using the Settings app to enter the product key. However, if you're in an ...

Microsoft closed a Windows 7 / 8 key loophole last month ... in one of my test PCs and no longer being able to activate it using the digital key assigned to my Microsoft account.

We were able to activate a fresh Windows 11 Pro 22H2 install with a Windows 8 Pro product key as of this morning, as was Neowin. But Neowin could not activate a newer Insider Preview build of ...