If you don't like windows 10...

[Anomaly1964]

...can you switch back to 7?

 

[chin311]

Of course, it will be some work, but if you have your 7 product key & media you can reinstall 7 and start again.

 

[Dahak]

...can you switch back to 7?

Yes, it keeps the data in a windows.old folder and in the Backup & Recovery settings there is an option to revert back to the previous install.

This only stays for about 30 days as disc cleanup will remove this

 

[Elixer]

Not so fast... some people have reported that their win 7 key was revoked after they did an upgrade to win 10, as in, it won't activate again.
Not sure if this is because the MS servers are getting hammered, or, if it is indeed revoked, or a bug.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Ugh, I hope that isn't the case. I was going to ghost my current install and throw 10 on a different drive to see if I liked it w/o screwing up my existing. Then if I decided to keep it, do a clean install. Otherwise, wipe it and just continue using my 7 install.

I'll be staying on 7 for another 6 months or so then if I don't really have the option. I'm in no hurry and if they aren't going to give me a good safe route to upgrade I simply won't do it. Free or not, doesn't matter.

 

[Dahak]

Not so fast... some people have reported that their win 7 key was revoked after they did an upgrade to win 10, as in, it won't activate again.
Not sure if this is because the MS servers are getting hammered, or, if it is indeed revoked, or a bug.

I am hoping it might be just the activation servers are hammered.
Been reading that even some win10 activations are not happening right away too

Ugh, I hope that isn't the case. I was going to ghost my current install and throw 10 on a different drive to see if I liked it w/o screwing up my existing.

Yeah, I would make a drive image / clone it to another drive before upgrading

 

[ronbo613]

My Win7 Pro system, that has really given me no reason to change, has been successfully cloned to another SSD. I'll try Windows 10 but keep Windows 7 as an ace in the hole.

My biggest worry is that some of my expensive cough Adobe cough software won't work properly with Windows 10.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I created an image of my current win7 install just in case I want to revert after installing 10.

MS said you can revert if you like. Highly doubt they are revoking keys, likely just the same activation server bludgeoning that's been going on with all the Win10 activations as well.

 

[Puffnstuff]

You have 30 days to use the built in roll back feature and it's as painless a simple mouse click. I did it last night on my desktop and on my tablet this morning returning both of them to 8.1.

 

[PingSpike]

I'm curious about the roll back. I ain't touching this thing if my Windows 7 keys get revoked. Hell, the only thing I saw going for it was that maybe I could get a separate test install of windows for free. I'd rather just stick with my working Windows 7 installation. I guess I'll be waiting a few months to see if there's any answer to the question.

 

[Berryracer]

Once you upgrade, the key which was upgraded can no longer activate the older OS so think twice before upgrading.

I have two keys, Win 7 Pro and Win 8.1 Pro so I used my Win 8.1 Pro key to do the update so if I ever wanna go back my Win 7 Pro license is intact

 

[AdamK47]

...can you switch back to 7?

There are countless backup and restore tools available. Any number of them will work.

 

[readymix]

I have cloned win7-u oem to another drive and installed win10 over it and activated win10. I'm back to using win7 since Wednesday night and it's still activated.

 

[razel]

Win 10 is available for you to install and use without activation or even a key for a very decent amount of time. So just use some common sense and install it clean and test it yourself before the key upgrade route.

 

[Berryracer]

Win 10 is available for you to install and use without activation or even a key for a very decent amount of time. So just use some common sense and install it clean and test it yourself before the key upgrade route.

very wise words, anyone can install Windows 10 Core or Pro or any other flavor by entering one of the default installation keys provided by Microsoft themselves and can use it for a while just to test it just before activating it with a real key