As per the title, is there still a legal way to upgrade a Win7 machine to Win10? I know there was a way if you said you needed to use some support tools, but I'm not sure if that is still available. This article suggest it is still possible: https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/ Thanks.
Yes you can still upgrade for free. Instead of doing an upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.x, you can do a clean install of Windows 10 and activiate it with your Windows 7 or 8 product key, if you prefer.
Well in either case you get a digital license that never exipres, so you can reinstall Windows 10 anytime without requiring a product key.
Here is why free upgrades to Windows 10 still work November 30, 2019 https://www.ghacks.net/2019/11/30/here-is-why-free-upgrades-to-windows-10-still-work/
What was the reason given by the retailers for opposing the free upgrade? Were they complaining about wanting Windows 10 available in new computers only?
Legal or not legal? Weird question. From the moment the first public version of Windows 10 was released on July 29, 2015, all Windows updates are free for all non-commercial customers who have at least the legal and activated version of Windows 7, ie for non-commercial users who have Windows 7 or Windows 8.x and Windows 10 non-commercial version. Microsoft has never said it plans to stop free upgrades for non-commercial customers. Only new users must pay for Windows 10 and that is why Microsoft have been disabled selling computers wit older versions and have made restrictions to install older os versions to new computers. And even, if Microsoft wants to disable such a updats, they must make deep changes into current activation system, because now even every Windows 10 update/upgrade uses the same method to check legimity of activation as it does if upgrading from Windows 7 or from Windows 8 to Windows 10. So, at least in the near future, there is no point in hoping that they will take in use new activation system and will no longer be able upgrading older versions to Windows 10.