When Windows 10 came out in 2015, Microsoft, the great lord, offered the possibility of migrating from a PC with Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 for free. This measure was aimed at promoting the introduction of its new operating system after an unloved Windows 8 and a particularly popular Windows 7.
An offer that was supposed to only be valid for one year…
This limited-time offer was actually supposed to expire on July 29, 2016, but that never happened. With time and the arrival of Windows 11, which is nothing but a Windows 10 in disguise, migrating from Windows 7 to Windows 11 was still possible. Worse still, it is possible to activate a freshly installed Windows 11 with a Windows 7 key.
Recycle activation keys, a real business
Smart people, sensing a good deal, started collecting PC keys in recycling channels to resell them as Windows 10/11 activation keys. This method is one of the ways to get Microsoft operating system activation keys at a lower cost, which drives an entire company that is not always transparent.
Microsoft, which has long ignored this parallel market, announces the end of the season. The ability to migrate from Windows 7 to Windows 10/11 – and therefore the ability to activate an installation of Windows 10/11 with a Windows 7 activation key – will be disabled without warning.
The only migration program still valid is migrating from Windows 10 to Windows 11, provided your PC meets Microsoft’s rather restrictive criteria: the presence of a TPM 2.0 chip and a current processor. Microsoft doesn’t seem to want to put an end to this for the time being.
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