Windows 7

Assuming you have a Win 10 / 11 machine, can you run your software in compatibility mode?

That is a very good point, I will give it a try and see if that solves the problem.

Andrew.

The item in question is a 3.2Mb exe file which I have used myself to activate a windows 7 installation for the same reasons as the OP. You run the program once after installing the operating system and it is then activated. I run windows 7 with internet dis-abled and have had no problems. I use Linux most of the time for just about every thing else. Linux can of course "see" the windows operating system and can manipulate the files.

Windows 7, what's that? I gave up with ghastly M*crosoft at XP. Now, I could do with an XP machine, to run some ancient software. I have an installation CD (deep in strata of junk, hopefully not yet fossilized). Does anyone know whether Microsoft will condescend to allow one to use it? Can an installation be activated still?

While I appreciate the original problem - how to activate a copy of Windows 7 I think the suggestions have probably gone a bit far for a public forum.

The example of the key finder that Ady1 posted was useful as it shows how to find the key and in the example given it said that it was not OEM so it could quite legally be be transferred to another computer.

However the suggestion that non approved cracks to activate Windows without Microsoft's involvement are contrary to the licence agreement for the software and basically illegal.

I expect to receive posts saying that the software has been bought and paid for so why not? - but this is not the case. A purchaser purchases a licence to do only what the supplier say they can do with the software - it is not owned by you.

As a result i should like to ask the moderators to consider when a post like this approaches the suggestion of copyright theft - even for old and no longer supported software.

I would be interested to know whether this is, in fact, the case. I use Free software these days. When I bought software, I think that there was a Dire Warning on the disc's package seal saying something to the effect that by breaking the seal, one agreed to a whole raft of conditions laid down by the manufacturer. But, at the time one broke the seal, one could not have knowledge of those conditions. Manufacturers like to restrict individual freedom for all sorts of reasons (generally to try to duck responsibility or for their commercial advantage), but such restrictions may not be allowed by the law of the land. Does a hammer have packaging warning the purchaser that it must not be used to commit murder? I suspect that British law allows a purchaser of a physical item to do pretty much what he will with it, provided that it is not against the law of the land. Such commercial licences are not enshrined in British law. If a manufacturer withdraws a purchaser's right of enjoyment of their purchase, without, for instance, warning the purchaser that that right may be enjoyed for only a limited time, is this legal?

I admit that I have no special legal knowledge, but I'm very sceptical of manufacturers' manoeuverings. I expect SOD or Mr Gilligan will be along soon with an authoritative opinion...

Well, I've just looked at the page 'Software license' (sic) on Wikipedia. It answers most of my questions above. It also reinforces my belief that we are all sleepwalking into a kind of hell, where we are mere pawns in someone-else's game. The law seems to have dispensed with common sense and reasonableness. Orwell was so prophetic.

Thank you for all the input. I tried the graphite trick on the worn label and it worked! So Win 7 legally reinstalled on my old lap top!

Regards and thanks,

Andrew.