Windows 10 Creators Update Still Activates with "old" Windows 7/8 License Keys

[StyM]

https://www.techpowerup.com/232701/w...8-license-keys

Although Microsoft officially stopped offering free upgrades to Windows 10 back in the summer of 2016, it seems loophole after loophole keeps being discovered for those with a bit of computer knowledge to upgrade anyways. This latest loophole, which comes in the form of activating via an older Windows 7 or 8 key, is not exactly new. This method of upgrading was first released to ease free upgrades to Windows 10 during the official upgrade period, but was never switched off in the summer of 2016 as one would've expected. Nor was it switched off with the Anniversary Update, and now again, Microsoft seems content to leave it enabled even with its latest Creators Update.

Though these loopholes enabling upgrades to Windows 10 after the official upgrade period are not strictly legal (they are technically EULA violations), Microsoft seems in no hurry to close them down, and has made no attempt to detect or otherwise deter people from using these means to activate copies of the Windows 10 OS. It's a strange state of affairs, with Microsoft being indifferent to the point of what could almost be viewed as an endorsement of sorts to these loopholes. A conspiracy-minded reader might see this as a way for Microsoft to boost Windows-10 transitions after the closure of the Upgrade Program, but why not just make it official then to boost numbers even more? Consider this editor puzzled.

[BenchZowner]

Microsoft will never block any Win7/8 key upgrades to 10 since getting everybody onboard with Windows 10 is their purpose.

It stopped being funny after the several "reserve your upgrade before July" nags with the GWX tooltip and the day after "still possible to upgrade to 10 without doing anything" via "disabilities use".