Anyone freshly installed Win7 lately?

[IDEngineer]

I run Win7 on all of my personal machines, both desktop and portable. I prefer Win7 because it's stable, it doesn't phone home all the time, it doesn't upgrade autonomously, my toolset runs great on it, I know how to tune it for my needs, and its risk of being targeted by hackers is shrinking along with its percentage of installed base. Yes, someday I may be forced to "upgrade" to Win10+ or Linux or whatever, but not today. This is not meant to be "Yet Another Win10 Bashing Thread" so please don't try to "convince" me that I need to leave Win7 behind. That's another conversation for another day.

I've been thinking that it would be a good insurance policy to build a duplicate desktop and install Win7 on it as a backup in case something happens to my primary desktop. I can still get the motherboard and CPU, so there's little doubt I can replicate the hardware environment. But it's been a long time since I installed Win7 from the original DVD's. As I recall it was one of the versions that required "activation" via either an Internet connection or a manual phone call with a long string of digits.

My concern is that Microsoft may have turned off the Win7 "activation" system, meaning that in addition to ceasing ongoing bug fixes (which I understand) they may have literally orphaned fully-purchased copies of their product (which I would consider near-criminal). It's not like I'm trying to steal something here, I'm just building a backup system in case my primary box's SSD stops booting or something so I have somewhere to install my spinning drives and retain access to them.

The problem with Microsoft's "activation" system used to be that it attempted to register the hardware configuration of your machine. In particular they used the MAC address of your NIC if your machine had one (which was why I always disabled the Ethernet interface in BIOS before "activation"), but they also tried to tie in the CPU type and other characteristics such that if you replaced/upgraded "too much" a fresh "activation" was required. It wasn't sufficient to "activate" one time, major changes required a fresh "phone home" session. If they stop providing that, a whole lot of existing Win7 machines will become both orphaned and literally unrepairable.

Has anyone tried a fresh install of Win7 lately? Have you exercised this phone-home "activation" system recently? Does it still work? I don't want to invest in an admittedly older CPU+motherboard only to find out that the sole reason for their purchase has become impossible.

Thanks!

Has anyone

[andy3055]

I did the internet method of activation a couple of months back and it worked.

Anyway, why not clone the drive itself? Unless your MB and the NIC dies, it is a simpler method. I have used Samsung drives and they always came with a cloning software CD and I never had to re-activate the new drive. As long as the new drive is equal or larger (in relation to the OS partition on the existing drive, it works. Just in case you have done this, my apologies.

[IDEngineer]

True, cloning is exactly how I intend to start. I want to take the existing SSD and clone it straight to another one that is plug compatible (SATA6) even if the capacities aren't the same. However, I expect that since it will be a physically different CPU and a different physical SSD that Win7 will demand to "reactivate", so it's basically the same end game.

Also, I don't want to use my primary system to do the cloning. I learned long ago, from painful experience, not to mess with a reference device when creating a second one! One wrong step and you can end up exactly where you were trying to avoid - ZERO working devices/systems.

There is a bit of a chicken-egg problem here, in that I need an operational system to run the cloning software. That may drive me to do a fresh basic install of Win7 just to run the clone software.

I used to clone drives using a DOS-based program and just boot the machine from a bootable CD/DVD. That was utterly painless and foolproof, and very fast since it didn't require setting up a complex OS. But that was back in the days of IDE interfaces and AFAIK there aren't any DOS compatible SATA6 drivers, so I'm probably condemned to a Windows based cloning operation today.

[alpher]

Last year I installed a XP ! and it activated !

[Zero999]

There is a bit of a chicken-egg problem here, in that I need an operational system to run the cloning software. That may drive me to do a fresh basic install of Win7 just to run the clone software.

My advice is don't bother with that. Run Clonezilla from a live Linux distribution.

EDIT:
Just use Clonezilla Live, a live Linux distribution, specially configured to run Clonezilla.
https://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live.php

[Mechatrommer]

its not that. we cloned and backup our drive everytime. can be run/restored anytime as long as its running on the same machine. once you try it on entirely new system, different motherboard and cpu, the install can fail miserably in BSOD limbo. you maybe lucky but most of the time i failed during my WinXP time. i suspect newer Windows will experience the same thing. you will need install fresh from zero on a new system. and with later licensing scheme starting Win Vista? you'll need new key as well. i left WinXP naturally a month a go for Win7. more and more newer programs cant be run on it anymore and i upgraded to 64 bits to enable 8GB RAM, i used to 3GB but how fun is that when i bought used 8GB DDR2 for just $20. now i got activated Win7 for about a month, yes activation server still work i guess, even got update (security) reminder and hence i installed all the bugfixes before i make another backup point using my fav AOMEI Backupper (free version). if you have vision to use Win7 for another decade i suggest you buy latest hardware, new or used that can possibly survive that period, make a fresh install, activate it, install bugfixes you can at current time and make a restore point that you are going to use as install point from thereon. i hope my 12yrs old machine with current new Win7 64 bits can survive that long. ymmv.

[chris_leyson]

Yes but on a Win 10 machine with no Win 7 drivers for the wifi chipset or ethernet. Think I'm going to have to rethink this and find some older hardware 

[Alex Eisenhut]

I run Win7 on all of my personal machines, both desktop and portable. I prefer Win7 because it's stable, it doesn't phone home all the time, it doesn't upgrade autonomously,

Hmmm. Maybe you installed GWX Control Panel and disabled the Task Scheduler service and forgot about it, because Win 7 definitely upgrades itself. There was a big fuss about it a few years ago.

[Bud]

It gives options, at least it used to. Just notify, notify and download but wait for confirmation to install, download and install automatically, That sort of things. They turned to automatic Win10 download and update at some point, so care needs to be exersized nof to apply those last updates. Perhaps the exact updates numbers can be found on Inet so you can avoid them.
I have not updated since FTDI scandal, and am still well and alive.

[IDEngineer]

The problem with buying the latest hardware (CPU + motherboard) and trying to run Win7 on it is the lack of Win7 drivers for the latest chipsets on the motherboard. Sure, I'd love to build a Ryzen based system today and run Win7 on it but finding drivers for all the on-board peripheral chips may be impossible. And if the HAL layer can't deal with the main chipset you may not even be able to boot.

Since my reason is insurance, not performance increase, I'm going to get the same proven motherboard and same proven CPU.

EDIT: This is how I selected my latest laptop, too. I went to the various laptop vendor websites and went backward in time until I found the latest models from each that offered Win7 driver downloads. Then I selected from those. Ended up with the ThinkPad X260 which has turned out to be pretty much the ultimate Road Engineer machine.

[SilverSolder]

One option for continuing with Win 7 on newer hardware is to use something like VirtualBox - you can then use Linux or Win 10 just as a "boot manager" and hardware interface, while your Win 7 machines stay snug and safe in their virtual machines (which use very basic virtual hardware that Win 7 has no problems with - this solution will probably work forever, pretty much).

[IDEngineer]

The goal is to NOT install anything beyond Win7 on the machines at all. I'm not simply trying to replicate the "Win7 experience", I want Win7 to be the one and only OS on the box. Period.

[grumpydoc]

The problem with buying the latest hardware [...] is the lack of Win7 drivers for the latest chipsets on the motherboard.

This has been a problem on Intel since 6th gen chips removed the EHCI interface in favour of the xHCI interface so Windows would suddenly not be able to find USB install media. IIRC I did manage to get W7 installed on Skylake but it involved going through several hoops the details of which I now forget (but the memory of the pain lingers on). It only got worse with subsequent generations.

On a related note - if you want W10 but without the spyware you could try "Windows Ameliorated" https://ameliorated.info/ - though I think the conclusion of one reviewer was that, while it worked, it sucked in day-to-day use.

One option for continuing with Win 7 on newer hardware is to use something like VirtualBox - you can then use Linux or Win 10 just as a "boot manager" and hardware interface, while your Win 7 machines stay snug and safe in their virtual machines (which use very basic virtual hardware that Win 7 has no problems with - this solution will probably work forever, pretty much).

You beat me to this suggestion - yes that works but requires some degree of technical ability and not everyone wants to spend time setting that sort of thing up plus, of course, you have to install the host OS - and if that is W10 you have still got the same problems that cause most people to dislike Windows.

[IDEngineer]

This has been a problem on Intel since 6th gen chips removed the EHCI interface in favour of the xHCI interface so Windows would suddenly not be able to find USB install media. IIRC I did manage to get W7 installed on Skylake but it involved going through several hoops the details of which I now forget (but the memory of the pain lingers on). It only got worse with subsequent generations.

If I were more conspiratorally minded, I'd think this sounds like the very definition of collusion.

[Monkeh]

This has been a problem on Intel since 6th gen chips removed the EHCI interface in favour of the xHCI interface so Windows would suddenly not be able to find USB install media. IIRC I did manage to get W7 installed on Skylake but it involved going through several hoops the details of which I now forget (but the memory of the pain lingers on). It only got worse with subsequent generations.

If I were more conspiratorally minded, I'd think this sounds like the very definition of collusion.

There's no secrecy about it at all. Intel video drivers for Skylake and later are built for and work on 7, but the inf is not filled out. Being signed, using them is a huge pain. It's very intentional.

[SilverSolder]

The goal is to NOT install anything beyond Win7 on the machines at all. I'm not simply trying to replicate the "Win7 experience", I want Win7 to be the one and only OS on the box. Period.

That's exactly what I do...   but I run Virtual Box on Win 7,  and have essentially several copies of Windows 7 running in parallel on the machine, for different purposes.  I can also test other operating systems, applications, or whatever, at will.   I can copy a virtual machine to another hardware device (e.g. a laptop) and use all the applications that I only need to install once.

Bottom line, even the hardest core Win 7 fans like us can find many uses for Virtual Box!

[SilverSolder]

[...]
You beat me to this suggestion [use VirtualBox] - yes that works but requires some degree of technical ability and not everyone wants to spend time setting that sort of thing up plus, of course, you have to install the host OS - and if that is W10 you have still got the same problems that cause most people to dislike Windows.

If Windows 10 is only ever used to start VirtualBox, and allow VirtualBox to access the hardware, it is hard for it to track anything you do inside them?

I use Windows 10 at work, and it is certainly adequate to start VirtualBox, if little else! 

[james_s]

I did a fresh install of Win7 on my daily driver about 6 months ago when I replaced the hard drive with a SSD and figured it was a good time to start fresh. It activated without any issues.

I was forced to use Win10 for about 2 years at a former job and hated every moment of it. Maybe it has improved since then but it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I'm not interested in taking another look. I have never encountered such a user-hostile OS before in my life. It felt like it was actively fighting against me on a constant basis.

[grumpydoc]

If Windows 10 is only ever used to start VirtualBox, and allow VirtualBox to access the hardware, it is hard for it to track anything you do inside them?

Well, W7 also phones home, albeit to a lesser extent but, yes, you will probably wind up sending less overall to the mothership. You keep the disadvantage that M$ will push updates at your container when you might not want them and your W7 instances aren't getting security updates.

If you are truly paranoid I'd give Windows Ameliorated a test drive - or run Linux which is what I do.

[BravoV]

Don't want Windows to call home ? Only two ways, fully air gaped and off lined all the time  , or just stop using it.

The idea of elite hacking that hacks Windows down to make it fully silent that doesn't call home is just ... stupid  , ... EXCEPT ... you have the full Windows source code.

Time to move on to Linux, even its painful at start, and yes, long time Windows user here, currently dual boot at dual boot drives W10 and Linux Mint, and currently W10 is now <50% booted, its been few months now.

[Mechatrommer]

Time to move on to Linux, even its painful at start, and yes, long time Windows user here..

can you suggest how can i run Photoshop, Altium, AutoCAD, Inventor, Ms VB6/VC++ etc and make my printers running Epson L360, L1800, Surelab D700. ColorVision Spyder PRO2 Monitor/Printer Calibrator?. without VM BS.

Yes but on a Win 10 machine with no Win 7 drivers for the wifi chipset or ethernet. Think I'm going to have to rethink this and find some older hardware 

today is internet age.. maybe you can buy an acer workstation from 5 years ago (to get reasonable price for a "serious workstation") 7th or 8th Gen Intel w Win10 installed. and then if you really need install Win7 in it maybe you can follow this cute guy?...

https://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Signatures-Updates/ASUS-EZ-Installer.shtml#download

[Circlotron]

I installed Windows 7 in VirtualBox with permanently no network connection to hopefully keep viruses away. Activated it by ringing MS and getting an activation code. No network connection is as good as no activation connection to MS. Should work repeatedly for the same installation media I expect.

[BravoV]

Time to move on to Linux, even its painful at start, and yes, long time Windows user here..

can you suggest how can i run Photoshop, Altium, AutoCAD, Inventor, Ms VB6/VC++ etc and make my printers running Epson L360, L1800, Surelab D700. ColorVision Spyder PRO2 Monitor/Printer Calibrator?. without VM BS.

Your Google broken ? 

Just don't understand the allergy of VM  , go try more serious and more polished one like VMWare, yes, I do have Workstation Pro Linux host, and it works just fine on my W10, W7x64 , oh .. includes NT 4.0  VMs.

Your problem is not unique, pretty sure you're smart enough to find a "compromise", and no, we have not live in paradise yet that everything will be perfect.

[Wilksey]

I am running Windows 7 x64, don't see the need to "upgrade", the newest incarnation of Windows 10 borked printing and scanning for me.  All new machines come with 10 preinstalled and I was apprehensive about trashing 10 and installing 7 as I didn't know what the driver support would be like.
So I have 1 machine running 10 (came with it) and the rest are 7 or 8.1 (Again, preinstalled, it's not that bad with tweaks).  Once you run a few scripts to turn off the Windows 10 telemetry it is ok, they also lock you into newer OSes by limiting what you ca install on older ones (Direct X 12 springs to mind).
The trouble with VBox is the 3D support, for example KiCAD / Altium, RDP has the same issue, so unless you can use a hypervisor that passes through the GPU then VBox is little use for that kind of work, I have a VMWare setup which, although my version does not do GPU passthrough is fine for installing a number of operating systems for most things (Jenkins build for ex).

I guess it ultimately depends what you need to do as to what solution is best for you, I have a collection of activation patchers for most of the "obsolete" operating systems so when the activation servers do go down I can still use them, as I think even if you wanted to install 10 on top of 7 you need 7 to be activated first before 10 can go on as an activated version, although saying that, I don't think 10 does much other than stop you from changing the wallpaper and puts the message in the bottom right hand side of the screen and there are ways around that.

[Circlotron]

^^ I tried out 10 unactivated for a short time and I couldn’t set screen res to 1920x1080, only some lower res ones with wrong aspect ratio.