Windows 10: Getting best of W10 and W7 ... Will saving images work?

Hi,
I know Windows 10 is pretty okay and anyway inevitable .... but I do want to prolong Win 7 on my two main machines.
This sounds like a reasonable approach - has anyone done it? or do you see any traps?
- Backup Windows 7 with an image backup
- Upgrade to Windows 10
- Make sure W10 is activated
- Do an image backup of W10 and keep it safe (!)
- Restore Windows 7 and use as long as required

That should give me a backup with Windows 10 that I can install anytime, even after the cutoff date, right?
Cheers

:)

 

Don't want W10 at this time

Upgraded to W10. Didn't like it. Used option to go back to W7. W7 didn't reinstall everything including recovery dates that were set in W7. Had to install a System Image to get back to my W7 as it was at time of upgrade to W10. But recovery dates again
were not included. W7 working ok but now when trying to install updates W10 starts to auto install, so I can't just install updates forW7 and I can't get rid of the Pop-ups on the Task Bar telling me to now get W10. I DON"T WANT W10 until it works. I just
want the security updates for W7. How do I get rid of auto download of W10 & get rid of the W10 Pop-ups?

 

Windows 10 You dont have permission to save in this location

I'm having the same problem. Trying to "Save image as...", and can't save to my Libraries, but can save to "Downloads". This started as soon as I upgraded from W7 to W10.

 

Use Macrium Reflect Free to create backup image.

- Backup Windows 7 with an image backup
- Upgrade to Windows 10
- Make sure W10 is activated
- Re-install Windows 10 Fresh to eliminate all remnants carried over from Windows 7.
- Do an image backup of W10 and keep it safe (!)
- Restore Windows 7 and use as long as required

 

Or maybe this?

Burn an ISO DVD of Windows 10
Back up Windows 7 as above.
Upgrade to Windows 10 and activate.
Roll back to Windows 7
Reinstall Windows 7 image (so it's not messed up after the roll back).
Keep the Windows 10 DVD for a clean install ready for when you stop using Windows 7

 

Why would you do the roll back if you are just going to restore the Windows 7 image anyway?

 

Probably just me being OCD lol *Smile

 

If possible, I'd like to do this for several PCs just to lock in the 'free' upgrade so it is ready 4 years down the road. Without some real confirmation about how this works today, I am doubtful since MS does not see any benefit.

If upgrading changes the key to be win10 specific, then it seems a full rollback would also be necessary to make the key win7 usable again. Imaging does not overcome this unless there is a clearly stated policy. Without a clear policy MS can always 'delist' free activations that were rolled back, and do so at any time. If anyone has actually done some form of the free upgrade/rollback/clean install, tell us how it works today.

 

Upgrading to Windows 10 does not affect the Windows 7/8/8.1 product key that it came from in any way. Read the "Go back to your previous version of Windows" here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...covery-options

 

That link is excellent, thank you, I've bookmarked it. It's helpful to see Microsoft options for reinstalling Windows 7 after the month rollback has expired, and to see them suggest the download ISO for Windows 7 and using your original product key.

I must admit though, tns1 made a point that made me think. If you did go back to Windows 7 after registering the free Windows 10 upgrade and the product key was linked to Windows 7 for some time, is there a chance that if you then tried to reinstall Windows 10, say two years later, that the product key would no longer be linked to it?

 

Thanks for the discussion, much food for thought.
topgundcp, I was coming at it from another direction, ie. the W10 upgrade is the only version upgrade I can remember (though I never touched Vista) that preserves all my applications. In this case, all my W7 applications. That is why I plan the image backups - so I can bounce between them without having to reinstall applications.
I'm assuming the Windows 10 Fresh you refer to is a clean install that removes all the crap, yes - but also all my applications. Right?

 

OK, that link suggests that the roll back process is not necessary at all, and that a saved image of win7 is all you need. That would mean that upgrading just adds win10 rights to your existing key. If this is true it should be possible to create a dual boot win7/win10 at no extra cost simply by cloning your existing win7 image to a separate drive and upgrading that.
Anyone done that? My guess from reading other posts is that this does not work.

 

Lots of people have done it, but it violates the EULA (End Users License Agreement) to do so. You have 1 license for 1 install of Windows. On an upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7/8/8.1 it does not matter if that Windows installation is the original Windows 7/8/8.1 or the Windows 10, but 1 license still is for 1 install of Windows only. You are free to switch between the two, but not have both installed at the same time (nor have multiple copies of the same version installed at the same time).

Also, when you upgrade with the free upgrade - it isn't the license for Windows 7/8/8.1 that gets the entitlement for Windows 10 - it is the computer that was upgraded that gets the entitlement for Windows 10 - but as long as you have Windows 10 installed on that computer, it is using the license from the Windows 7/8/8.1 that it came from to satisfy the requirements of the EULA. The Windows 7/8/8.1 is LEGALLY bound to the Windows 10 install - but not physically bound to it (as in blocked in any way on Microsoft activation servers). Any product key for Windows will get physically blocked from automatic online activation if it is used too many times within a certain time period - then you have to call the Microsoft activation phone number and tell the computer voice that you have that copy of Windows installed on only 1 computer (and that is also true of any Microsoft software product.)

 

My interest isn't to create a dual-boot machine. It is simply to reserve the free win10 for use down the road. I just thought the dual boot scenario would be the simplest proof about how the licensing works, and it sounds like it is technically allowed at this moment in time.

Now it comes down to the definition of 'installed'. Is a drive that isn't plugged in 'installed'? Even so, it sounds like the policy allows MS to delist/invalidate one of those bootable images, and hold you to the EULA. The telemetry that is bundled in many of those updates probably allows that kind of control.

 

If the drive is not connected to the computer, then the operating system is not installed. From the EULA:

Since the hard drive by itself, not connected to anything is not capable of running the software, it is not a "device". I've got a very inexpensive hard drive rack in a 5.25" bay in my desktop (cost <$20) that allows me to swap drives by just inserting them. It even takes either 3.5" desktop drives or 2.5" laptop drives.

Many of us here have already tested the licensing and activating of Windows by going back and forth between Windows 10 and Windows 7/8/8.1 both within the 30 day period that allows you to revert from windows.old and outside the 30 day period with both clean installs and restoring images. At the most all we have had to do is call the Microsoft activation number and tell the computer voice we have that copy of Windows installed on only one computer.

The biggest issue we have had is when we put Windows 10 directly onto a new computer and try to activate it with a Windows 7/8/8.1 retail product key that was last used on an old computer. Sometimes we get a response that the Windows 7/8/8.1 is in use on another computer. If that happens, since you can't activate Windows 10 over the phone with a Windows 7/8/8.1 product key, we have had to install a temporary copy of the Windows 7/8/8.1 on the new computer - activate that on the phone, then we could go back to the Windows 10 and activate it with the Windows 7/8/8.1 product key.