The loophole that allowed a free upgrade of Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 ended in September 2023. As long as you did the free upgrade before then you kept your digital license.This is just my case. About 3 years ago I used the Windows 7 Pro product key to activate Windows 11 on a new laptop which was sold without installed OS. It was successful because at that time this option still worked (it was cancelled by MS a year later). System is activated with a digital license and I can reinstall OS on current hardware as many times as I want; also I made some upgrade (RAM and SSD) without breaking the activation.
However, the keys from Windows 7 and 8 no longer can activate Windows 11, so if I change a system board, current activation will be lost forever.
Like I implied in a previous post, in 2009 I started with Windows 7 Ultimate. All upgrades of Windows after that were free even though there were major changes in hardware.
Up to December 2024 I had the following computer:
MBD: Gigabyte GA-990FX-UD3 AM3/AM3+
CPU: AMD FX-8350 AM3+
O/S: Windows 7 Ult 64-bit (original in 2009)
O/S: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (free upgrade in 2019)
In December 2024 the computer booted but could no longer get video. Either the CPU and/or motherboard had failed.
I replaced the motherboard and CPU but kept the same boot disk. The computer booted OK. Windows 10 reactivated OK with the previous digital license.
MBD: ASUS Prime X370-Pro AM4
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700X AM4
O/S: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
A few months ago I upgraded the CPU so it was fully compatible with Windows 11.
Before I upgraded Windows I enabled secure boot and converted the boot drive from MBR to GPT.
I did a clean install of Windows 11 Pro. Again Windows 11 reactivated OK with the previous digital license.
MBD: ASUS Prime X370-Pro AM4
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X AM4
O/S: Windows 11 Pro
My Computers
System One System Two
-
- OS
- Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (26200.6901)
- Computer type
- Laptop
- Manufacturer/Model
- ASUS TUF Gaming A15 (2022)
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with Radeon 680M GPU (486MB RAM)
- Memory
- Crucial DDR5-4800 (2400MHz) 32GB (2 x 16GB)
- Graphics Card(s)
- NVIDIA RTX 3060 Laptop (6GB RAM)
- Sound Card
- n/a
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 15.6-inch
- Screen Resolution
- 1920x1080 300Hz
- Hard Drives
- 2 x Samsung 990 Evo Plus (2TB M.2 NVME SSD)
- PSU
- n/a
- Mouse
- Wireless Mouse M510
- Internet Speed
- 2100Mbps/300Mbps
- Browser
- Firefox
- Antivirus
- Malwarebytes
-
- Operating System
- Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (26200.8246)
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- Custom build
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D
- Motherboard
- ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi II
- Memory
- G.SKILL Flare X 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4
- Graphics card(s)
- ASUS ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-08G-V2-GAMING (RTX 3060-Ti, 8GB RAM)
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Samsung G50D IPS 27"
- Screen Resolution
- 1440p/180Hz
- Hard Drives
- SAMSUNG 990 EVO Plus (2TB] M.2 NVME SSD
SAMSUNG 990 EVO Plus (4TB) M.2 NVME SSD
- PSU
- Corsair RM750x (750 watts)
- Case
- Cooler Master MasterCase 5
- Cooling
- Scythe Mugen 6
- Keyboard
- Logitech K520 (MK540 keyboard/mouse combo)
- Mouse
- Logitech M310 (MK540 keyboard/mouse combo)
- Internet Speed
- 2100 Mbps down / 300 Mbps up
- Browser
- Firefox, Edge, Chrome
- Antivirus
- Malwarebytes (Premium)
- Other Info
- ASUS Blu-ray Burner BW-16D1HT (SATA) || Western Digital Easystore 20TB USB 3.0 external hard drive used with Acronis True Image 2025 backup software || HP OfficeJet Pro 6975 Printer/Scanner





