I still use Windows 7 on my main PC, but plan on dual booting with Windows 10 to run some newer games.

Funny thing is, I was running Windows 10 virtualized on a Win 7 host when I first saw the Win 10 end of support nag screen.

Using W7 on a 2nd Gen i5 laptop, used for an OBD-II interface to my cars. It didn't have a Win10 driver.
I installed it back in 2019 I think, and already then, it was tedious to unreal Win 7 due to updates needed to be installed manually to enable automatic updates. Wonder how impossible it is to install in 2025

I'd agree, that if you start with a new Windows 7 installation, it will take a lot of work to get it up to date. Put aside a few days just for that.

Fortunately I kept my machines up to date as the changes progressed, but there was still the ESU stuff and a few KBs that had to be done manually.

pixel_workbench wrote on 2025-09-28, 22:03:

Funny thing is, I was running Windows 10 virtualized on a Win 7 host when I first saw the Win 10 end of support nag screen.

Maybe not that uncommon... I'm running Win7 on one of my lab desktops, and use "VMware Player" with:

DOS/Win31, a couple flavors of Linux, Win98, Win2K, WinXP, Win7, Win8 and Win10

all set up as smaller virtual machines.

My main reason is I have a directory of .7Z backups of the "fresh install" .vmdk fikes.
This allows me to test "most anything" and easily restore the machine afterward.

Much easier than my old method of using GHOST.