As the end of support for Windows 7 is imminent, users can definitely use the Windows 7 license key to proceed with the installation of Windows 10.
Do you still have a computer running Windows 7? To continue receiving security updates, you will have no choice but to upgrade to a newer version of the Microsoft operating system. For a while, the American company officially offered Windows 7 users the option of migrating to Windows 10 for free, before announcing the end of this offer.
Unofficially, it is still possible to upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10 for free from your PC using Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool. Your machine running Windows 7 will then be automatically updated to Windows 10. We don’t really know if this is a will on Microsoft’s part, but the handling is, at the time of this writing, still functional.
Even better, it is quite possible to perform a clean installation of Windows 10 on your machine, and enter a license key of Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 to validate the installation. When you activate your version of Windows 10, Microsoft will turn your old license into a digital license, attached to your computer and usable indefinitely. Demonstration.
1. Recover the product key of your old Windows
First, retrieve the Windows 7 product key on your machine. There are several possibilities to recover it: by searching on a label stuck on the machine, or by using a dedicated utility.
Find out how to find Windows product key
2. Create your bootable Windows 10 installation USB key
To do a clean install of Windows 10 on your machine, you must first create a bootable USB drive using Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool.
Download Windows 10 Media Creation Tool for Windows (Free)
Double click on the downloaded file to launch the utility, wait a few seconds and click Accept to accept the terms of the contract.
When the What do you want to do window appears, two choices are offered:
- You can choose to Upgrade this PC now, which will immediately install the Windows 10 update instead of your version of Windows 7, with little or no action for you to do as you can see. in the following video.
- You can also Create installation media for another PC.
This is the choice that interests you, if you want to do a clean installation of Windows 10 on your machine. Then click on Next.
In the next window, the Windows 10 installation utility (Media Creation Tool) offers you to choose the language, architecture and edition of Windows 10 that you want to use to create your installation USB drive.
By default, it uses the options recommended for the PC you are using. However, you can uncheck the appropriate box and customize the options that suit you best. Then click on Next.
The next page asks you what type of media to use to create the bootable media. Keep the default choice USB flash memory disk and click Next.
If you have already inserted your USB drive, it should be automatically detected and selected by the utility. You will need a key of at least 8 GB.
Please note, however, that all the data found there will be permanently deleted by the tool. Proceed to the next step by clicking on the Next button.
From this point on, be patient. The creation tool must indeed download the disk image of Windows 10, then write it on the USB key so that your computer can start on it, and install the operating system.
Once the process is complete, the utility will indicate that Your USB flash memory drive is ready.
3. Start your PC on the USB key
Most newer computers are configured to boot from removable media by default.
If your computer starts normally and does not offer the installation of Windows 10 even though you have connected the bootable USB key that you have just created, you will need to go to the BIOS of your machine in order to change the boot order .
As handling may differ from one PC to another, refer to your PC’s user manual.
4. Install Windows 10 with the Windows 7 license key
Once your machine is started on the USB key, start the installation of Windows 10 by following the steps, and wait.
When entering the product key to validate the installation of the OS, enter the Windows 7 or Windows 8 / 8.1 product activation key that you have in your possession.
Logically, Windows 10 should accept the product key from your old version of Windows.
Then all you have to do is accept the terms of the Windows 10 installation license agreement in order to finalize the installation of the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system on your computer.
When Windows 10 setup is complete, open Settings, then in System, go to Update & Security.
Then go to the Activation section in the left column. You should then see a message saying that Windows is activated using a digital license linked to your Microsoft account.