Getting best of W10 and W7 ... Will saving images work?

Hi,
I know Windows 10 is pretty okay and anyway inevitable .... but I do want to prolong Win 7 on my two main machines.
This sounds like a reasonable approach - has anyone done it? or do you see any traps?
- Backup Windows 7 with an image backup
- Upgrade to Windows 10
- Make sure W10 is activated
- Do an image backup of W10 and keep it safe (!)
- Restore Windows 7 and use as long as required

That should give me a backup with Windows 10 that I can install anytime, even after the cutoff date, right?
Cheers

Use Macrium Reflect Free to create backup image.

- Backup Windows 7 with an image backup
- Upgrade to Windows 10
- Make sure W10 is activated
- Re-install Windows 10 Fresh to eliminate all remnants carried over from Windows 7.
- Do an image backup of W10 and keep it safe (!)
- Restore Windows 7 and use as long as required

Or maybe this?

Burn an ISO DVD of Windows 10
Back up Windows 7 as above.
Upgrade to Windows 10 and activate.
Roll back to Windows 7
Reinstall Windows 7 image (so it's not messed up after the roll back).
Keep the Windows 10 DVD for a clean install ready for when you stop using Windows 7

Roll back to Windows 7
Reinstall Windows 7 image (so it's not messed up after the roll back).

Why would you do the roll back if you are just going to restore the Windows 7 image anyway?

Probably just me being OCD lol

If possible, I'd like to do this for several PCs just to lock in the 'free' upgrade so it is ready 4 years down the road. Without some real confirmation about how this works today, I am doubtful since MS does not see any benefit.

If upgrading changes the key to be win10 specific, then it seems a full rollback would also be necessary to make the key win7 usable again. Imaging does not overcome this unless there is a clearly stated policy. Without a clear policy MS can always 'delist' free activations that were rolled back, and do so at any time. If anyone has actually done some form of the free upgrade/rollback/clean install, tell us how it works today.

Upgrading to Windows 10 does not affect the Windows 7/8/8.1 product key that it came from in any way. Read the "Go back to your previous version of Windows" here:

That link is excellent, thank you, I've bookmarked it. It's helpful to see Microsoft options for reinstalling Windows 7 after the month rollback has expired, and to see them suggest the download ISO for Windows 7 and using your original product key.

I must admit though, tns1 made a point that made me think. If you did go back to Windows 7 after registering the free Windows 10 upgrade and the product key was linked to Windows 7 for some time, is there a chance that if you then tried to reinstall Windows 10, say two years later, that the product key would no longer be linked to it?

.....
- Re-install Windows 10 Fresh to eliminate all remnants carried over from Windows 7.
....

Thanks for the discussion, much food for thought.
topgundcp, I was coming at it from another direction, ie. the W10 upgrade is the only version upgrade I can remember (though I never touched Vista) that preservesall my applications. In this case, all my W7 applications. That is why I plan the image backups - so I can bounce between them without having to reinstall applications.
I'm assuming the Windows 10 Fresh you refer to is a clean install that removes all the crap, yes - but also all my applications. Right?

Upgrading to Windows 10 does not affect the Windows 7/8/8.1 product key that it came from in any way. Read the "Go back to your previous version of Windows" here:

OK, that link suggests that the roll back process is not necessary at all, and that a saved image of win7 is all you need. That would mean that upgrading just adds win10 rights to your existing key. If this is true it should be possible to create a dual boot win7/win10 at no extra cost simply by cloning your existing win7 image to a separate drive and upgrading that.
Anyone done that? My guess from reading other posts is that this does not work.