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Yes, you can still get a free Windows 10 upgrade. Here's how | ZDNet.How to Upgrade Windows 10 Home to Pro Using an OEM Key
Microsoft's free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended more than five years ago, but no one told the people who run the Windows activation servers. As a result, you can still upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8. That upgrade became more important than ever when support for Windows 7 officially ended in January And it turned out to be a great relief to household budgets when the pandemic made working from home or going to school via remote sessions suddenly popular.
In the past two years, millions of people have taken old PCs out of storage and gotten up to speed quickly, thanks to these free upgrades. You can also still upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro by using a product key from a previous business edition of Windows 7, 8, or 8.
For details, see "How to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro without hassles. Every technique I describe in this article works the same for Windows 11 as well, although most older PCs will be blocked from upgrading to Microsoft's newest operating system by the stringent Windows 11 hardware compatibility requirements.
For those PCs, Windows 10 remains a viable option until at least October In this post, I'll cover the basics of how to install Windows 10 as an upgrade on older hardware. I'll also talk about the licensing issues involved, which are as always confusing. I wrote and published the first version of this post in early , several months after Microsoft's initial free upgrade offer ended.
The free upgrade offer had just ended, and when I downloaded the Windows 10 upgrade tool and ran it on an old Windows 7 PC, I fully expected that the upgrade would fail activation and I'd be asked for a product key. Over the next four-plus years, I repeated those steps on test PCs at regular intervals and confirmed that the free upgrade tool still works.
I continue to receive email messages regularly from readers offering firsthand reports that their free upgrades were successful, with no purchase or product key required. A small 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's why - and how to get it. Whether you're looking for a tablet to stream videos or to replace your laptop, here are some compelling options.
Before getting started, I recommend a few preliminary tasks that can head off potential problems:. With those preliminaries out of the way, go to the Download Windows 10 webpage and click the Download tool now button.
After the download completes, double-click the executable file to run the Media Creation Tool. That option installs the most recent version of Windows It typically takes about an hour, depending on your hardware. Having an SSD as your system drive is the best way to speed up the process. If you know you'll want to upgrade to Windows 10 on more than one PC, or if you just want more flexibility in the event that the instant upgrade fails, choose the second option and save the installation files to a USB drive or as an ISO file.
The download takes a little time but when it's complete, you can run the Windows Setup program manually to install Windows 10 on any 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:. Then just follow the prompts to complete the upgrade to Windows All your apps and data files will be available.
The digital license is associated with that specific device, which means you can reformat the disk and perform a clean installation of the same edition of Windows 10 anytime. If you're thinking of upgrading your old system drive to an SSD, perform the upgrade to Windows 10 on the old hardware; after confirming that the new Windows 10 version is properly activated, install the SSD and then either restore from a backup image or boot from the USB flash drive to do a clean install.
You won't need a product key, and activation is automatic. And now the big question: If you avail yourself of this upgrade to Windows 10, is the resulting license valid? The entire "free upgrade" offer was always accompanied by language that was, to put it politely, a bit squishy. And the language around the end of that offer was similarly vague. That's very odd language. The free upgrade through the Get Windows 10 app ended on July 29, Likewise, the discussion of product keys says a key will be necessary "for this tool to work" not true but doesn't say a word about licensing.
And unlike the weaselly "Genuine Windows" label on older upgrades, the activation screens for a Windows 10 upgrade specifically confirm the existence of a "digital license. Anyway, the free upgrade offer was extended briefly, at least for people who use assistive technologies. The FAQ on a separate page even called it a "free upgrade offer extension" and pointedly noted that it was not limited to specific assistive technologies.
I regularly use the Magnifier utility in Windows, which is indisputably an assistive technology. Of course, I'm not a lawyer, and this column isn't legal advice.
But I will say that I am personally confident in the activation status of any PC upgraded using the tool on that page during the eligibility period. This extension was, I think, a very large nod and a wink, designed to make it easy for those who wanted a Windows 10 upgrade to still 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.
The page that formerly ran an Upgrade Assistant now returns an error message. The big question now is whether Microsoft will ever turn off the code on its activation servers that dispenses digital licenses after an upgrade from an earlier Windows version.
I've continued to test that scenario, and I can confirm, long after the end of support for Windows 7, that it still works. I continue to hear from readers sharing their experiences. If you've used this technique on a PC, click my name at the top of this post and use the contact form to let me know how it went for you. Note: This article was originally published in January It has been updated multiple times since then to reflect the most current information.
Home Business Enterprise Software. Microsoft's much-hyped free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended years ago, right? Not exactly. ZDNet Recommends. One digital license, no product key required. You can upgrade directly using this tool, or create separate media. Ed Bott's 10 most popular Windows 10 tips. The wording here is remarkably vague.
Show Comments. Log In to Comment Community Guidelines. Related How to back up your files in Windows 10 and 11 with File History. How to back up your files in Windows 10 and 11 with File History Productivity. Microsoft: These two new tools will help you get ready for Windows Microsoft: These two new tools will help you get ready for Windows 11 PCs.
How to recover deleted files in Windows 10 or How to recover deleted files in Windows 10 or 11 Windows.
Upgrade Windows Home to Windows Pro - Microsoft Support
Linux is a viable option, but upvrade prefer Windows because it runs all their favorite software, including the latest games.
Installing a copy of Windows 11 or 10 upgraed a built-from-scratch computer can be costly — if you do what Microsoft tp. This Windows tax is profoundly unfair to PC builders, because large OEMs such as Dell and Lenovo pay much lower licensing fees to put Windows on prebuilt systems though these costs are oek made public.
Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so жмите сюда can choose the best for you. Find out windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free about how we test. No matter how or whether you pay for it, you can download Windows 10 opens in new tab or download Windows 11 opens in new tab for free from Microsoft.
And, in fact, you should only download it from Microsoft, proo grabbing it from any other site or from a P2P network could give you malware. Microsoft offers a free media creation tool, which grabs the latest code from the Internet and then burns itself to a USB Flash drive or outputs jpgrade Windows 10 or Windows 11 ISO file you can write to a drive yourself. Once that's done, you can boot from your installation media and start the process.
During installation, Microsoft asks you to freee a Windows 10 or 11 product key. If you pfo still on Windows 7 or 8, продолжение здесь can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. If you have an old, retail non-OEM copy of Windows 7, 8 or 10 you are no longer using on another PC, you can likely use the ffree key when you do a fresh install of Windows on your new PC.
However, you must windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free make sure it's deactivated on порву onedrive business download 64 bit полный old PC it came from.
See our article on how 100 transfer a Windows 10 windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free 11 license to a new PC for step-by-step information on how to retrieve and move your key. The process of transferring a Windows license varies, depending upon whether you have digital or windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free license. With a the former, you'll need to log into your Microsoft account to deactivate the old PC. And with the latter, you'll want to winodws a command line command to terminate the activation.
Note that if the product key comes from a prebuilt computer that came from the factory with Windows on it, it has an OEM key that may not work on a different new PC. Feel free to try it, though, because if it works you have Windows 10 or 11 for free. The good news is that you only have two serious disadvantages from not activating Windows 10 or However, if you are using a Microsoft account that syncs with another computer on which you have custom wallpaper, that wallpaper will appear on your unactivated Windows.
But come on; does anyone actually do that? Other than those inconveniences, unactivated Windows windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free work just fine pr receive automatic updates too. You can see if your school is eligible and download your free Windows 11 key here opens in new upgradr.
You might be able to get them for less with a Kinguin discount nome though. These are all OEM keys and likely can't be zoom livetrak l-20r on another computer after you activate them on the first one.
We recommend paying a little extra to get a key that has "online activation," which means that it should activate automatically over the Internet. Keys that aren't marked for "online activation" may force you to call Microsoft, wait on hold and ask a phone representative for help activating.
The representative may even ask for your Microsoft account, which смотрите подробнее not great for your privacy. Now, let's address the elephant in продолжить чтение room. While we can't vouch for all of them, websites selling cheap Windows 10 or 11 keys are zero percent apr offering legitimate codes.
Kinguin has more than three dozen merchants worldwide selling Windows keys. It's just another marketplace. We've bought keys from Kinguin a few times. So we tried calling the number and waited ho,e hold for a few minutes.
We thought activating via phone would be an automated process where we just punched in the key and got an windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free code, but frfe we got a live representative who immediately asked for our Microsoft account ID. Another time, we paid a few eindows more for an online activation key. Lo and behold, it activated as windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free as we entered the code, with no phone call required. Are you likely to be ripped off?
However, both sites play host to a number of third-party sellers whose product keys may or may not be legit. The easiest but most expensive way to get Windows is to buy your upgade directly from Microsoft.
You can get these either as downloads or on Upgradr drives. If you have an old Windows key you can carry over from a previous build, that's your best option and effectively gives you Windows 10 or Uprade 11 for free. If you don't have a key on hand, you need to decide whether you're comfortable using an unactivated version of Windows 10 or 11, which limits your customization options, has an ugly watermark and leaves you ineligible for Microsoft support.
Many would argue that downloading Windows without paying for or already owning a product ссылка на подробности is ethically wrong.
That said, Microsoft has made this process easier over various Windows iterations and lessened the limitations and nagging that happens when you don't activate. We've even seen well-known vendors and Microsoft partners do press presentations with watermarks on their desktop. If you need to buy a Windows 10 or Windows 11 key, you can save a lot with a low-cost seller such as Kinguin opens in new tab.
Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips. Scharon Harding has a special affinity for gaming peripherals especially monitorslaptops and virtual reality. Previously, she covered business technology, including hardware, software, cyber security, cloud and other IT happenings, at Channelnomics, with bylines at CRN UK.
US Edition. Swipe to scroll horizontally. Be In the Know Get fre access to breaking news, winvows reviews and windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free tips. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners wndows sponsors. Scharon Harding. Topics Software. See all comments I bought a key on ebay and it turned out to be a VL key volume. Which works but shouldn't be sold. I contacted the seller and he refunded me. Very good breakdown of the ways to activate Windows Most people don't even realize you can still /48230.txt a windows 7 key to activate, only after you get into windows, and not узнать больше здесь the setup process.
I believe this will probably stop working Jan 1,when Microsoft stops support for windows 7. One thing that I was hoping for some explanation on key activations, I have seen how some Youtuber's have tied their windows 10 keys to their Microsoft account. Then they only need a handfull of keys, like one for each motherboard vendor, and during setup, then sign into their Microsoft account, and select the key that corresponds to the motherboard their are reviewing. So they can move the keys around, and as long моему descargar eset smart security 6 gratis free тебя! it was the same hone of motherboard it would activate for that computer, and no longer be active on the old system.
Any thoughts on how this works? Any limitations on how many windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free, is приведенная ссылка method valid for years so you would never have to buy another key if you stayed with one particular favorite motherboard vendor? On the forums, we see MANY tales /33662.txt woe concerning aftermarket, 3rd-party, or otherwise dicey Windows keys.
Of course, using an old version's upggrade windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free amounts to a free upgrade, which once upon a time was often provided by software qindows, so if you can use that frer, great. Any attempt to connect to www. Sorry, not getting my business. Thanks for this upgrsde. I've been struggling with the idea of buying another copy of Windows 10 for my media machine. It's a PC built from old parts and is currently running Linux. Has anyone had a good experience with this?
Wait a sec TH is legitimizing kinquin? While they might activate today there is no guarantee they will activate a month from now or whenever you decide to reinstall windows from scratch. This article upgarde causing multiple conniptions among the Moderation team. There are very good reasons why, although tolerated from a couple of well-known sources like Kinguin, none of us ever encourage windows 10 upgrade home to pro oem free to obtain keys oej way.
It isn't illegal, so we don't sanction for it, but like I said, the tales of woe are too numerous to go unnoticed. At least the article makes no mention of "activators," which in most cases do represent outright piracy, not to mention the viruses and malware with which they are often laden.
Discussions of those are not allowed and are deleted, and sometimes offenders knuckles get rapped with a hammer. Yes, doing this definitely constitutes a "Do at your own risk". If money is tight, run Win 10 unlicensed, until you can a get windowz legit key from someone like Newegg.
Microsoft allows this, so it is perfectly fine to so, and you don't have to risk losing your hard earned cash. Windows 10 Home Online Activation. Access to all go options; Microsoft support access; Free. Access to all personalization options; Microsoft support access; Equivalent to Windows привожу ссылку Enterprise; Free.
Access to all personalization options; Microsoft support access. Access to all personalization options; Microsoft support access; Refunds.
Desktop watermark; Personalization options restricted; Can't use Microsoft support. You have to be enrolled in an eligible school. There's a chance your key won't work, upgade you'll need to get customer service.
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