Microsoft is investigating Windows activation issues that appear to be linked to the company’s recent move to block Windows 7 and Windows 8 keys from activating copies of Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The way to go about this is Upgrade your Windows 7 ... activation might not work because the product key has already been used on another PC, or it’s being used on more PCs than the Microsoft ...

Now I've noticed if I don't activate the machine doesn't really care. Most of the stuff runs headless anyways so seeing the watermark isn't an issue. Godspeed my old Windows 7 keys, it's time to ...

Microsoft has confirmed that users can no longer use old Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 keys to activate Windows 11. And that applies not only to Canary builds, as it was last month—from now on ...

At least for now, though, it seems like this change will only apply to future Windows versions. We were able to activate a fresh Windows 11 Pro 22H2 install with a Windows 8 Pro product key as of ...

Microsoft is currently investigating a ... And even if you still have the original activation key from Windows 7 or Windows 8, which is of course legal and valid, affected users can no longer ...

Microsoft confirms to The Verge. I’ve tested several Windows 7 keys on a clean install of Windows 11 (22H2) today — and while I could use the keys to install the OS, it wouldn’t activate.

Until Microsoft rolled out the controversial update last month, folks running Windows 7,8, and 8.1 could update to Windows 11 for free by simply using the activation key of the older OS.