Question Can i play games on unactivated windows 10?

[GrappleBois]

So I was planning on upgrading my cpu mobo and ram and i realised that i would need to reinstall windows, except i have OEM windows 7 so i kind of have to buy windows again and i was wondering if i get and use the unactivated windows 10 until i have enough money to buy it, will i be able to download and play games from steam and origin or is the unactivated version super restricted?

 

[Zephyl]

So I was planning on upgrading my cpu mobo and ram and i realised that i would need to reinstall windows, except i have OEM windows 7 so i kind of have to buy windows again and i was wondering if i get and use the unactivated windows 10 until i have enough money to buy it, will i be able to download and play games from steam and origin or is the unactivated version super restricted?

Yes, you can game on unregistered copies of Windows, as well as make full use of most Windows features.

 

[guanyu210379]

Yes, an unactivated Win10 can run almost normally and has only very small limitations.

Just remember, Microsoft is like closing one eye at the moment about those unactivated Win10 copies. They have their own reasons for doing so at the moment.
Microsoft can block those copies from being normally running anytime they want.
I would not run an unactivated Win10 copy for longer term.

 

[TerryLaze]

The only really annoying thing is that you will have a watermark that will show always,even in the games.

Also microsoft was upgrading any windows 7 and 8 system to 10 for free and apparently you can still do this.
Since even those who did this in the time period where this was advertised by MS didn't get a serial key there is no way for MS to distinguish them from people who do this now for the first time,anybody with legal installed win 7 or 8 can upgrade to 10 for free "for ever" .
https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

 

[TerryLaze]

Microsoft can block those copies from being normally running anytime they want.

While they could do this at any time, I doubt they want to deal with the backlash, at any time.

 

[GrappleBois]

The only really annoying thing is that you will have a watermark that will show always,even in the games.

Also microsoft was upgrading any windows 7 and 8 system to 10 for free and apparently you can still do this.
Since even those who did this in the time period where this was advertised by MS didn't get a serial key there is no way for MS to distinguish them from people who do this now for the first time,anybody with legal installed win 7 or 8 can upgrade to 10 for free "for ever" .
https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

So i ended up upgrading to windows 10 for free today on my current pc. Do you know if i can transfer this windows 10 to my new mobo or do i still need to buy it.

 

[TerryLaze]

So i ended up upgrading to windows 10 for free today on my current pc. Do you know if i can transfer this windows 10 to my new mobo or do i still need to buy it.

If you make a windows (store) account it will bind with your OS activation so after upgrading your hardware you can make a fresh install and just connect with that user account and you will be activated.
But windows 10 is pretty solid,you should just try and boot your activated windows on the new hardware it will probably just run without issue.

 

[GrappleBois]

If you make a windows (store) account it will bind with your OS activation so after upgrading your hardware you can make a fresh install and just connect with that user account and you will be activated.
But windows 10 is pretty solid,you should just try and boot your activated windows on the new hardware it will probably just run without issue.

Alright, thanks for the help!

 

[Ryan_354]

if it doesnt work, just type the same oem code again. each code has about 2-4 reuses. nobody really knows. thats how i got 4 of my home pcs activated on the same code.