Tom Warren is a senior editor and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Microsoft’s final copy of Windows 8 leaked online back in early ...

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 ...

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 ...

Although old Windows 7 and 8 keys can still activate Windows 11 version 22H2 ... rejected a Windows 7 key. If you plan to build a PC or buy one without an OS, get an official Windows 11 Home ...

Microsoft previously offered a free upgrade offer to Windows 10 which ended back in ... and users who have activated 10 or 11 from a 7 or 8 key can continue to live life as normal.

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 ...

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 ...