XDA Developers on MSN

What happens if you never activate Windows 10 or 11?

Microsoft allows you to install Windows 10 or 11 without a product key. When asked for one during installation, you can ...
Ars Technica

Microsoft will stop old Windows product keys from activating new Windows installs

At least for now, though, it seems like this change will only apply to future Windows versions. We were able to activate a fresh Windows 11 Pro 22H2 install with a Windows 8 Pro product key as of this ...