Microsoft support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020

Microsoft has announced that as of January 14, 2020, support for Windows 7 has ended. Microsoft technical support and automatic updates ended on this date, and platform updates for Microsoft Security Essentials ceased as well.

Dell recommends that you move supported devices to Windows 10. See Dell Knowledge Base Dell Computers Tested for Windows 10 2022 Update and Previous Versions of Windows 10, for more information about computers tested for upgrade.

If your computer has not been tested for upgrade, Dell does not recommend upgrading to Windows 10. Consider purchasing a new personal computer with Windows that will receive regular security updates. Alternately, if your computer supports a non-Windows operating system, you can install that operating system if it is still supported and secure. See our page on Supported Operating Systems for your computer model for more information.

For information about upgrading a computer tested by Dell for Windows 10, see Dell Knowledge Base article, Windows 10 upgrade walkthrough. This article provides step-by-step instructions on updating drivers and software before moving to Windows 10. If you encounter a problem with Windows 10 and want to go back to Windows 7, see Dell Knowledge Base article, How to roll back Windows 10 upgrade to a previous operating system.

For questions about activating Windows 10 after upgrade, see Microsoft Knowledge Base articles, Find Your Windows Product Key or Activate Windows 10 .

For more information about Microsoft's support retirement for Windows 7, browse to the Microsoft Windows 7 End of Life Support page .