Windows 7 free trial

[thechief73]

Hello,

I wanted to load up Windows 7 and dual boot to give it a try since I am still using Windows XP Pro 32-bit.

I have done this once before but I cannot remember one very important thing, I know I got a warning about the hardware being changed and that my Windows 7 was now invalid in red ominous letters across the screen, it locked the OS and I just uninstalled it and forgot about it. I just don't remember if I had changed a BIOS setting that caused this or if it was a new GPU or HDD that brought on the lock out.

Now I don't plan on changing my hardware while dual booting this time, I DO want to be able to OC and tweak my BIOS settings, will this cause Windows 7 to lock me out of the trial?

Thanks.

 

[Hawkeye22]

If you are/were running the beta, it is no longer valid. You will need to purchase a copy of windows 7.

 

[geofelt]

If you can borrow a copy of windows 7, you can install it, but not activate it. You will then have a valid copy for 30 days.

 

[thechief73]

Thanks Guys,

I know the Beta is no longer valid. You can install windows of from any disk as geofelt has said and use it for 30-days. I knew all this, but it does not answer my question, if you can please do so.

 

[Saga Lout]

I suspect the trial failure was more date related than anything you did in the BIOS. It would have had a sunset date imprest on it when it was loaded to DVD and any date beyond that, it would fail to load again.

If it had been running right up to the sunset date, it would also have failed as does my RC1 but it's still a good disk to keep for StartUp repair and Command Prompt access to other systems - that's quite legitimate.

 

[Herr_Koos]

To my knowledge, no hardware change besides changing your motherboard will cause Windows to complain. New CPU, GPU, RAM, makes no difference. If you have an OEM version, it's a whole other story of course, since the license is tied to the hardware.

 

[apache_lives]

why bother with dual boot and trials and all that junk

buy windows 7 and jump into it with a fresh install, save yourself all the work and junk with messing around with all that and do it right first go, you wont look back

xp is dead, its old, its boring, its falling apart - make the jump

 

[geofelt]

Thanks Guys,

I know the Beta is no longer valid. You can install windows of from any disk as geofelt has said and use it for 30-days. I knew all this, but it does not answer my question, if you can please do so.

One exploit to get free windows used to be to continually change the date in the bios to an earlier date. Windows now knows how to detect this, and will give you all sorts of grief. I think they have a record of the bios date, and the info necessary to identify your specific pc. It would include the mac address of your internet connection and your motherboard info. If you have a valid copy of windows and it's activation code, I would think you should be able to get it installed. If you have a problem, just call Microsoft.

 

[thechief73]

I suspect the trial failure was more date related than anything you did in the BIOS.

Thanks, That right there jogged my memory, I had a failed boot and had to reset the CMOS and return to default settings. That is what caused the lock out. :lol:

To my knowledge, no hardware change besides changing your motherboard will cause Windows to complain. New CPU, GPU, RAM, makes no difference. If you have an OEM version, it's a whole other story of course, since the license is tied to the hardware.

Yes. OEM is tied to the MOBO and only if a hardware failure of that is replaced with the EXACT same model will Microsoft be willing to re-activate your OS for you.

why bother with dual boot and trials and all that junk
buy windows 7 and jump into it with a fresh install, save yourself all the work and junk with messing around with all that and do it right first go, you wont look back
xp is dead, its old, its boring, its falling apart - make the jump

Well, I would rather do it this way and try it and then decide if I can wait until Windows 8 instead of dropping a good sum of money on software that will only be around for about another year. I rather mess around and save some $$$, I know it will be nicer than XP but I can live with it, its not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be.

One exploit to get free windows used to be to continually change the date in the bios to an earlier date. Windows now knows how to detect this, and will give you all sorts of grief. I think they have a record of the bios date, and the info necessary to identify your specific pc. It would include the mac address of your internet connection and your motherboard info. If you have a valid copy of windows and it's activation code, I would think you should be able to get it installed. If you have a problem, just call Microsoft.

I am not planning on using any exploits of the software, I just want to decide if its worth the extra $$$ or wait until Windows 8. I currently do not have a activation code due to the fact I recently was sent a counterfeit copy of Windows 7 from a unmentionable auction site, all is resolved now, money is back in my pocket.

 

[Saga Lout]

If you buy a full version of Windows 7 now, you have only to buy an upgrade when Windows 8 has been around long enough to settle itself down. M$ software costs aren't as bad as they seem at first sight - my XP Pro cost me £150 in 2002 and continues to be serviced and updated every month - albeit only for security reasons. I can buy a W7 upgrade for £90 and probably keep that going for the next ten years so a total of £240 over nineteen years - £12 a year?

The spending would still be a no-brainer even if I didn't need a computer to earn my living.

 

[Herr_Koos]

^Very true. People keep moaning about the cost of the OS, but non-one has the slightest hesitation in spending $$$ on hardware upgrades. If you factor the cost in over the lifetime of the OS, it's not really that expensive.