"Running" as some people like to say a vintage HP Elitebook 840 G2 on Windows 7. Works fine. Updating to Win10 is $140. Not going to happen.

Updated the BIOS and drivers already. Can't see a reason to do much more than that.

Probably need only to create an admin user and let this one serve somewhere else.

You may still be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free if you're running 7. I did this a few months ago.

https://www.howtogeek.com/5090...windows-10-for-free/

https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...e-download/windows10

I wish they let you upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit.

Why not go modern and upgrade to Linux? MX Linux is a fabulous replacement for Windows, and its interface is close enough that you can get used to it in no time! It's the #1 Linux on DistroWatch, but you can choose literally hundreds of others if you don't like the MX offering.

quote:

Originally posted by fpuhan:

Why not go modern and upgrade to Linux?

I would do this in a heartbeat if the two programs that I use for business -- QuickBooks, and Medlin Accounting, had versions that would run under Linux, or any UNIX variant.

As it is, I am stuck with Windows for these, but I am doing it with Windows 7 in a Virtual Machine, on Mac OS X hosts. Mac OS is used for everything other than QuickBooks and Medlin.

If you have a 10gb thumb drive you can do a fresh install of windows 10. A windows key is not required to install or use the program. If you decide to register the program some people have luck with using their windows 7 key in windows 10 or you could buy one on ebay for a couple bucks.

quote:

Originally posted by J387:
some people have luck with using their windows 7 key in windows 10 or you could buy one on ebay for a couple bucks.

I just Activated a fresh Win10 install with an old Win 7 Key.

Thanks for reminding me.

I am stupid for tossing a recovery USB in Win 7 that probably had a key.

I just sent you a copy of a Win7 Pro Product Key from a retired \ scrapped PC.

Thanks to your question I finished a laptop upgrade I never finished.

Good Luck.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
I am stupid for tossing a recovery USB in Win 7 that probably had a key.

There are apps for getting serial numbers. For example.

Thanks for all the help. Managed to upgrade at no cost.