So my basic facts... I bought 3 fully legit Windows 7 Retail keys a few years back when first starting college (which has gotten dragged out, been trying to go back part time to finish a degree but am an adult with work and other things), not long ago I used one of them I think to put Windows 10 on some older hardware I have, a Clarksdale era Biostar motherboard with 8gigs ram because my main PC crapped the bed and I just need to edit word files at home and browse/simple stuff. (tho it doens't want to save anything to the BIOS changes despite a battery change, so my attempt to make it see all 8 gigs instead of 3 gigs has been moot) I hated it to the point of tears with 20 crashes a day and sending all my data to microsoft in crash reports I didn't ask it to do and similar as it thrashed the drive for ten minutes to mine data to upload without permission and other insane behavior. It also wouldn't let me deactivate any of the nonsense despite ShutUp10 and similar things, nothing would save. BUT it had accepted my Windows 7 key as totally legitimate for install - just sharing. So I put Windows 7 back on using the first key I had written down somewhere back in Jan just to continue using the darn thing. Even tho i'm still only seeing 3gig i'm at least happy that it's not crashing 20 times a day and doing crazy stuff. I didn't yet activate online because I wasnt 100% sure which key I used and whether it would matter if i'd activated a windows 10 with it (assumed that deactivated the key to work on 7 after maybe?) but wierdly enough.. when I got 90 days into the '120 day trial' using the grace period reset it says "this copy is not genuine". I thought that was wierd because I didn't even ask it to activate, or check, or anything... I wasnt aware MS was backdoor checking your install key before you even ask for activation. I was kicking the can down the road just trying to make it thru this semester without losing data or fighting with my PC anymore, but unless I accidentally used a different win 7 key than I thought I guess it doesn't like being upgraded to Win 10 and then backgraded to Win 7. >_< Is this normal/common/others experience this? I'm just curious in general... I know there are a few 'activation tools' and such but I wasn't sure which to trust or where to safely download from... i'm doubly annoyed that I cant seem to backgrade my paid for windows retail to 7 but my 120 days will run out before the semester will and rather than fighting with a reinstall i'm wondering if it's better to just use some kind of activator for this moment. :- / I've never had to use one in the past so wasn't even sure how they all work..
To recap without the whole story, you bought win 7 keys from the internet, used one of them for activating 10 and now you want to use the key on 7 again? All KMS tools from MDL, who are still actively supported, are good and safe to use and DAZ Windows Loader too.
Almost a month late due to unexpected corona-crap. I'll re-ask since there was confusion about my questions. Most importantly for this moment (since now i'm up against the clock on this computer) is whether one kind of activator is better than the other. The rest is just curiosity about MS's key tracking. It wasnt win 7 keys "from the internet", they were from microsoft proper at the time some kind of school/college promotion as I recall, and linked to an email/MSN account I set up but cant remember my access information to because I hadn't touched it in years. (it was a couple computer crashes, lost passwords and similar ago) I say they were proper retail type keys because that SHOULD let you travel from older to newer hardware. It wasn't OEM type/sold with a computer keys or some international shady place. I thought I used one of the two "for windows 7" keys (one which had never been used at all), not reusing the one that upgraded to windows 10... which is why I was wondering is there ever cases they expire from not being used 10 years back or whatever? Or if doing a new install with the same key does it transfer the license to the new computer and invalidate the old? The other wierd thing was that I assumed Microsoft wouldn't validation-check your key until you finally activated online. I only reset 30 day counters twice. It was saying 'not genuine' before I even tried to activate it. In the worst case I re-used the 'win 7 upgraded to win 10' key but I didn't know if it would claim that's a not genuine key or just not "this is already in use" somehow.
Just do as Enth suggested and run Daz Loader, you will be verified for your Windows 7 https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/windows-loader-download.58464/ There is a guide to read ....do that first
The DAZ loader worked fine as far as I can tell... am happy for the moment. I guess it doesn't matter what I bought or paid in the past since updates and such are all "beyond lifecycle" anyways by this point. My other old questions can lapse.. Other than needing KMS Emulator for Win8/10 and Server 2016/2019 is there any good reason to use that instead for earlier systems? (or it sounds like Office/certain apps) Or if there are any other activating methods (besides DAZ/KMS) that are ever worth using for special cases?
Win 7 still can get ESU updates. KMS can only be used on windows versions that can be activated by KMS, win 7 pro and enterprise and all 8.x and most 10 sku's and Office. For 10 there also is HWID activation.
1. The updatepack has it's own thread to ask the question. 2. It makes sense that the updatepack includes esu updates, since it's being updated every month(even multiple times per month) after January 2020.