Windows 10

Note: This article was originally posted on December 1st, 2019, only has since been updated to reverberate the current version of Windows 10 and new steps that should exist taken to prevent issues with the upgrade.

When Windows 10 was first released, Microsoft announced a promotion that immune Windows seven and Windows 8.1 users to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. This promotion ended in 2017, just a method withal exists to upgrade older computers to Windows 10 for free.

Almost half-dozen years after and the latest Windows 10 version 2004 feature update released in May 2020, Microsoft has quietly turned a blind eye to the fact that yous can utilise the Media Creation Tool to upgrade to Windows 10 for free.

When upgrading a Windows 7 and Windows viii.1 computer with the Media Cosmos Tool, your older license will be converted to a Windows ten digital license tied to that device.

After upgrading, this digital license allows you to perform a clean install of Windows 10 on the device, go along upgrading to newer versions of Windows 10, and potentially get a free upgrade to time to come versions of Windows.

According to a Reddit user named CokeRobot, who claims to be a Microsoft worker, Windows x's costless upgrade for a yr was 'marketing fluff' to maximize the operating system's adoption.

CokeRobot also shed some light on the now-expired Windows x free upgrade offering.

"You nevertheless tin do this no problem, notwithstanding careful, do an upgrade keeping everything as if you lot choose to yeet everything and start fresh, you lose your free upgrade. That sometime 7 license converts to a 10 digital license and from there you tin can clean install no problem. As for audits, this mainly is for volume licensing than anything. An SMB with 10-200 Windows 7 machines that were OEM licensed don't really affair. If you try this with 1,000 computers, iffy. At the end of the day, Microsoft had four years to close that loophole and never did and so if worse came to worse, you could technically get through legal avenues equally the EULA for 10 literally doesn't have a clause for this at all. You can't shit on someone taking reward of an activation workaround when yous as the manufacturer never closed it."

How to upgrade to Windows ten for free

Before beginning your free upgrade to Windows ten, you showtime need to perform a few steps to prepare your computer so that it is not blocked from being updated.

Before performing the upgrade, please review this checklist and complete the steps before standing.

  • Install the latest hardware drivers for your computer, including chipset, audio, network, USB, and graphic drivers. Using older drivers may block the upgrade from beingness allowed.
  • Unplug USB devices such as flash drives, external storage, and printers.  These devices have been known to prevent updates from installing correctly in the past.
  • Microsoft sometimes blocks upgrades due to older antivirus software. Right before performing the upgrade, uninstall your antivirus software so that it does non conflict with the upgrade.

When the upgrade is finished, you can reinstall your antivirus software and plug your USB devices dorsum into the figurer.

Once you accept finished getting your computer prepared, you can perform the post-obit steps to update Windows seven and Windows viii.one to Windows ten for free.

  1. Visit the Windows 10 download page and click the 'Download tool at present' button to download the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool.

    Media Creation

  2. Open up the Media Creation Tool and click on the 'Take' push button to accept the license terms.
    Media Creation Tool license agreement
    Media Creation Tool license understanding
  3. At the "What do you want to do?" screen, select the 'Upgrade this PC now' option and clickAdjacent. The Media Creation Tool will now begin to download the Windows 10 installation files, which tin take a while.

    Upgrade

  4. When washed downloading the files, the tool volition prompt you as to whether you wish to keep everything or kickoff from scratch. Select to Keep all apps and files and keep.

    Keep everything

  5. One time y'all click on the Install button, Windows 10 volition begin to be installed. This process can have quite a while, and the estimator will restart numerous times.

    Installing Windows 10

  6. After Windows ten is finished installing, connect to the net and open Settings > Windows Update > Activation,and the PC will be activated with a digital license. You can also enter your Windows 7 or Windows 8.x product key and activate Windows ten if the device is non already activated.

Call back that the offering only works if you are using a genuine license of Windows seven or Windows viii.1. Past following this guide, you will receive a digital license valid for the life of the hardware.

When washed, install your antivirus software again and connect any USB devices, printers, and external storage.

During the upgrade process, Windows will connect to Microsoft's activation servers, and your PC will  acquire a digital license for Windows 10.

Y'all can now get into the Windows 10 activation page (Settings > Update & security > Activation), and it will state, "Windows is activated with a digital license."

Windows 10 activated with a digital license

The digital license is associated with the device, and unless the hardware is changed, y'all tin perform a clean installation of the same edition of Windows ten with Media Creation Tool or the ISO files, and activation is automatic.