[SOLVED] Install Windows 7 on Windows 10 machine

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Andrew_Werber

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Nov 24, 2020
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I have an expensive piece of software that runs on Win 7 that would be even costlier to run on Windows 10. I have a spare Windows 10 machine (a Lenovo tower). I've been looking into installing Win 7 on it (32 bit Win 7 is fine). I'm looking for the cheapest and easiest way to do this. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Solution
USAFRet
Not for a business?
Why are you using TFS for?

And that should be properly run on WindowsServer, not simply Win 7.


The "boot choices" you were presented is what is on the system. I image if you had a bootable Win 7 USB, that would appear.
Now...whether the Lenovo BIOS and motherboard would alllow a Win 7 install...who knows.
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"I have an expensive piece of software that runs on Win 7 "
Does that mean you had W7 installed previously on another comp?
If so, use it's product number & install W7 on the Lenovo. With a bit of luck it will activate, MS are very generous.
 
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Andrew_Werber said:
I have an expensive piece of software that runs on Win 7 that would be even costlier to run on Windows 10. I have a spare Windows 10 machine (a Lenovo tower). I've been looking into installing Win 7 on it (32 bit Win 7 is fine). I'm looking for the cheapest and easiest way to do this. Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
What software is it that runs on 7 but not 10?

What about Compatibility Mode?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10-783d6dd7-b439-bdb0-0490-54eea0f45938

What are the hardware specs for the Lenovo? Some newer systems won't support Win 7.

There is no "cheap" version of Win 7. A valid license costs what it costs, around $100.
 
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Johnwmel said:
"I have an expensive piece of software that runs on Win 7 "
Does that mean you had W7 installed previously on another comp?
If so, use it's product number & install W7 on the Lenovo. With a bit of luck it will activate, MS are very generous.
Click to expand...
Thank you for taking the time to address my question. I upgraded the old Win 7 to Win 10 and I used that machine's license number to do the upgrade. That upgraded machine replaced the Lenovo.
 
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USAFRet said:
What software is it that runs on 7 but not 10?

What about Compatibility Mode?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10-783d6dd7-b439-bdb0-0490-54eea0f45938

What are the hardware specs for the Lenovo? Some newer systems won't support Win 7.

There is no "cheap" version of Win 7. A valid license costs what it costs, around $100.
Click to expand...
Thank you for taking the time to address my question. The program is Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010. The reason for not running under Win 10 has something to do with IIS 6 versus newer version os IIS. I'll try Compatibility Mode. As for the hardware, I'll have to look into that. The machine is about 3-4 years old, and cost $500, so it's probably not very 'new'.
 
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Used to be that you could find REALLY cheap Windows 7 refurbs. I took a very quick spin on eBay and found one for $130 shipped. I would be willing to bet that you could use filters on Newegg or their Business side and find one even less expensive.

Something to keep in mind. If you are actually using the Lenovo's key on another machine, and you actually have the OS installed on the drive inside...there is a possibility that if you turn that on and give it internet access that it could boink your other activation.
 
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Andrew_Werber said:
Thank you for taking the time to address my question. The program is Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010. The reason for not running under Win 10 has something to do with IIS 6 versus newer version os IIS. I'll try Compatibility Mode. As for the hardware, I'll have to look into that. The machine is about 3-4 years old, and cost $500, so it's probably not very 'new'.
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I get that upgrading TFS is not inexpensive.

But...all support from MS ran out last year.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/visual-studio-team-foundation-server-2010

Combine that with support for Win 7 also ended.
Combine that with getting Win 7 to reliably run on recent hardware...

I'd seriously seriously look to moving up.
 
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Andrew_Werber said:
Thank you for taking the time to address my question. I upgraded the old Win 7 to Win 10 and I used that machine's license number to do the upgrade. That upgraded machine replaced the Lenovo.
Click to expand...
If your old lenovo came with win7 then it's capable of running win7 and that license number you used to upgrade to 10 is still valid for installing win7, so just download win7 for free from microsoft on a USB and install it, if it doesn't pick up the license from the bios you can use the number.

Technically and legally you can only use the license on a single PC at a time (unless it's a volume license which is extremely rare) so you would have to stop using the win 10 system when using the win 7 one, practically there is only an extremely small change of anything happening.
 
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TerryLaze said:
He said he used the old license number so he probably has that, or can find it.
There are ways to look up the license from within win 10.
Click to expand...
If the Win 7 license came with the Lenovo, it is almost certainly an OEM license.
Downloading Win 7 from MS, you cannot use that. It WILL refer you back to the manufacturer.

If it was a Retail license that they purchased, then maybe.
But it was still consumed in the Upgrade to Win 10.

But.....in the context of a business and using Team Foundation Server...$100 for a NEW valid license is trivial.
A business expense.
 
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Thank all of you who have addressed my situation. I tried using the Win 10 license number to download Win 7, and that did not work. As an FYI, it would cost me $900 to use the most recent TFS ($500 for TFS and $400 for SQL Server), and this is not for a business. But, more importantly, I booted into the BIOS of the Lenovo. The only choices for boot device were the hard disk and the network adapters. So, does this mean that I could not install Windows 7 even if I bought a copy?
 
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Not for a business?
Why are you using TFS for?

And that should be properly run on WindowsServer, not simply Win 7.


The "boot choices" you were presented is what is on the system. I image if you had a bootable Win 7 USB, that would appear.
Now...whether the Lenovo BIOS and motherboard would alllow a Win 7 install...who knows.
 
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Solution
Here are 4 pages of TFS open source alternatives.
alternativeto.net

Microsoft Team Foundation Server Alternatives: 25+ Similar Version Control Systems and Project Management Apps | AlternativeTo

The best Microsoft Team Foundation Server alternatives are GitHub, GitLab and Git. Our crowd-sourced lists contains more than 25 apps similar to Microsoft Team Foundation Server for Windows, Linux, Online / Web-based, Mac and more.
alternativeto.net
2 pages of Free.
https://alternativeto.net/software/microsoft-team-foundation-server/?license=free
 
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USAFRet said:
Not for a business?
Why are you using TFS for?

And that should be properly run on WindowsServer, not simply Win 7.


The "boot choices" you were presented is what is on the system. I image if you had a bootable Win 7 USB, that would appear.
Now...whether the Lenovo BIOS and motherboard would alllow a Win 7 install...who knows.
Click to expand...
I posted this question to find out if I could degrade a Win 10 machine to a Win 7 machine cheaply and without much of a hassle. Many of the replies suggested that it would not be very cheap and might not even be possible. The reply I chose as the best answer helped quite a bit to make that decision. I had already been working on installing GIT. If I had been able to get my old TFS database running, I could have either just used that, or used it to to set up a GIT repository. But I'm not going to do either now.
 
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