Can You Still Get Free Windows 10 Upgrade

Microsoft'due south free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended more than v years ago, but no one told the people who run the Windows activation servers. Every bit a effect, you can still upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows seven or Windows 8.ane and merits a free digital license for the latest Windows 10 version, without being forced to spring through whatever hoops.

That upgrade became more important than ever when back up for Windows 7 officially ended in January 2020. And it turned out to be a neat relief to household budgets when the pandemic made working from home (or going to school via remote sessions) suddenly popular. In the past 2 years, millions of people have taken old PCs out of storage and gotten up to speed quickly, cheers to these free upgrades.

As well: Windows xi FAQ: Here'due south everything you need to know

You can besides notwithstanding upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows ten Pro by using a product central from a previous business edition of Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 (Pro/Ultimate). That can save you every bit much as $100 in OEM upgrade charges if you purchase a new PC with Windows 10 Dwelling house preinstalled. (For details, see "How to upgrade from Windows ten Home to Pro without hassles.")

Every technique I draw in this article works the same for Windows xi also, although most older PCs volition be blocked from upgrading to Microsoft'southward newest operating system by the stringent Windows xi hardware compatibility requirements. For those PCs, Windows x remains a viable pick until at least October 2025.

In this post, I'll cover the basics of how to install Windows 10 as an upgrade on older hardware. I'll as well talk about the licensing issues involved, which are (as ever) disruptive.

I wrote and published the first version of this post in early 2017, several months after Microsoft'south initial free upgrade offer ended. The free upgrade offer had just concluded, and when I downloaded the Windows 10 upgrade tool and ran information technology on an old Windows 7 PC, I fully expected that the upgrade would neglect activation and I'd exist asked for a product key.

Imagine my surprise when, instead, I was greeted with this screen.

One digital license, no production cardinal required.

Over the side by side four-plus years, I repeated those steps on test PCs at regular intervals and confirmed that the complimentary upgrade tool nonetheless works. I go along to receive e-mail messages regularly from readers offering firsthand reports that their complimentary upgrades were successful, with no purchase or product key required.

A minor number of readers have reported that the upgrade fails because of a Setup error or a compatibility block. For details on how to troubleshoot these errors, see "This free Windows 10 upgrade offer still works. Here'due south why - and how to get it." For assist decoding setup errors, see "Windows 10: Use setup log files to troubleshoot installation issues."

Want your own digital license to the latest Windows 10 version? Follow these instructions.

How to upgrade an old PC to Windows ten

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If you accept a PC running a "genuine" copy of Windows vii/eight/viii.1 (Windows 7 Dwelling house, Pro, or Ultimate edition, or Windows viii.x Dwelling house or Business, properly licensed and activated), you tin follow the aforementioned steps I did to install Windows x as an upgrade.

Before getting started, I recommend a few preliminary tasks that can head off potential problems:

• Confirm that your re-create of Windows is properly activated. This is especially important if you recently reinstalled Windows.
• Bank check for any recent commuter updates, especially for network and storage hardware.
• Download and install whatsoever bachelor BIOS updates for your hardware; this step is peculiarly important for systems that were originally sold in 2022 or earlier, when hardware makers were still shaking out bug with Windows 10.
• Back up your information files to an external difficult drive or cloud storage (or both). Consider doing a full system backup to an external hard drive using the Windows 7 backup program, which is also available in Windows 8.x and Windows 10. Just run the command Sdclt.exe, and then choose the Create A Arrangement Image option.
• Temporarily uninstall third-party security software and depression-level system utilities that tin interfere with the upgrade. Yous can reinstall those programs after the upgrade is complete.
• Finally, disconnect any unnecessary external devices, especially USB flash drives and external hard drives. (Several common installation errors can be traced to the Setup plan beingness confused past these additional drives.)

With those preliminaries out of the way, become to the Download Windows 10 webpage and click theDownload tool at present button. Afterward the download completes, double-click the executable file to run the Media Creation Tool.

You tin can upgrade directly using this tool, or create separate media.

If y'all've downloaded the Media Creation Tool on the auto y'all program to upgrade, and you plan to upgrade that PC and only that PC, you lot can choose theUpgrade This PC Now option. That option installs the most recent version of Windows x. It typically takes about an hour, depending on your hardware. (Having an SSD every bit your system drive is the all-time way to speed up the process.)

If yous know you'll desire to upgrade to Windows ten on more than than ane PC, or if you lot just desire more flexibility in the outcome that the instant upgrade fails, cull the second option and save the installation files to a USB drive or equally an ISO file. The download takes a trivial time but when information technology's complete, you lot can run the Windows Setup program manually to install Windows ten on whatsoever PC running any supported Windows version (sorry, this won't work with PCs running Windows Vista or Windows XP). The exact steps depend on which download option you chose:

• USB flash bulldoze  Insert the USB wink drive y'all but created into a complimentary USB slot on the PC you lot want to upgrade. Then open up File Explorer (Windows Explorer in Windows 7) and double-click Setup to install Windows x. Annotation that youcannot kick from the newly created USB drive or DVD to perform an upgrade to Windows 10. You must run the Windows 10 setup program from your currently installed and activated re-create of Windows.
• ISO file  Subsequently the download is complete, you'll need to mount the ISO file and open information technology in a Windows Explorer/File Explorer window. On a PC running Windows 8.1 or Windows ten, you can double-click the ISO file to open it as a virtual drive. On a PC running Windows vii, y'all'll need to install a third-party utility such as the complimentary, open-source WinCDEmu. Afterward mounting the ISO file, double-click Setup to showtime the install process.

Then just follow the prompts to complete the upgrade to Windows 10. Y'all will not exist asked for a product primal, and when the upgrade is complete and you've connected to the internet, y'all'll have a digital license to the most recent Windows ten version, which you can confirm by going to Settings > Update and Security > Activation. All your apps and data files will exist available.

The digital license is associated with that specific device, which means you tin reformat the disk and perform a clean installation of the same edition of Windows 10 anytime. (If you're thinking of upgrading your old organization bulldoze to an SSD, perform the upgrade to Windows 10 on the old hardware; later confirming that the new Windows 10 version is properly activated, install the SSD and then either restore from a backup image or kicking from the USB flash bulldoze to practice a clean install. Y'all won't need a product key, and activation is automated.)

Is your license valid?

And now the big question: If you avail yourself of this upgrade to Windows x, is the resulting license valid?

The entire "free upgrade" offer was always accompanied by language that was, to put it politely, a scrap squishy. And the language around the end of that offering was similarly vague. For example, see the answers I've highlighted here on Microsoft's Windows ten Upgrade FAQ:

The wording here is remarkably vague.

That'southward very odd language. The free upgradethrough the Get Windows 10 app ended on July 29, 2016. Likewise, the discussion of product keys says a key will be necessary "for this tool to piece of work" (not true) just doesn't say a word near licensing.

And unlike the weaselly "Genuine Windows" label on older upgrades, the activation screens for a Windows x upgrade specifically confirm the existence of a "digital license."

Anyway, the free upgrade offer was extended briefly, at to the lowest degree for people who utilise assistive technologies. The FAQ on a split up page even chosen information technology a "gratuitous upgrade offer extension" and pointedly noted that it was not express to specific assistive technologies. (I regularly employ the Magnifier utility in Windows, which is indisputably an assistive applied science.)

Of grade, I'm non a lawyer, and this column isn't legal advice. But I will say that I am personally confident in the activation condition of any PC upgraded using the tool on that page during the eligibility menstruum.

This extension was, I think, a very large nod and a wink, designed to brand it like shooting fish in a barrel for those who wanted a Windows 10 upgrade to withal get it while placating the OEM partners who were none too happy about the year-long emphasis on upgrades rather than new PC sales.

Alas, I say "was," because the extension (which was itself extended) officially ended on Jan. 16, 2018. The folio that formerly ran an Upgrade Assistant now returns an error bulletin.

The big question now is whether Microsoft volition ever plow off the code on its activation servers that dispenses digital licenses subsequently an upgrade from an earlier Windows version. I've continued to exam that scenario, and I can confirm, long after the end of support for Windows vii, that information technology however works.

I continue to hear from readers sharing their experiences. If you've used this technique on a PC, click my name at the acme of this post and employ the contact form to let me know how it went for yous.

Annotation:This commodity was originally published in January 2017. It has been updated multiple times since so to reverberate the nigh current information.

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Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

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