Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. Microsoft's free upgrade offer unable to download windows 8.1 free Windows 10 ended more than four years ago, but no one told the people who run the Windows activation servers.
As a result, you can still upgrade to Windows unable to download windows 8.1 free from Windows 7 or Windows 8. The best Windows laptops. Read More. That upgrade is more important than ever, now that support for Windows 7 has officially ended. And it could be a great relief to your budget if you're required to work from home or go to school via remote sessions and you need to take an old PC out of storage and get up to speed quickly.
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. 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 earlyseveral months after Microsoft's initial free upgrade offer ended. The free upgrade offer had just ended, unable to download windows 8.1 free 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 have repeated those steps on test PCs at regular unable to download windows 8.1 free and confirmed that the free upgrade tool still works.
I continue to receive email messages every day 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. 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 an hour, more or less, 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 unable to download windows 8.1 free installation files to a USB drive or as an ISO file.
The download takes a unable to download windows 8.1 free time but when it's complete, you can run unable to download windows 8.1 free Windows Setup program manually to install Windows 10 on any PC running any supported Windows 10 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 unable to download windows 8.1 free that offer is 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 unable to download windows 8.1 free upgrade specifically confirm the existence of a "digital license. The best laptops: Our recommended models for every use case and platform. New year, new laptop? These are the devices that should be at or near the top of your shortlist.
Anyway, the free upgrade offer was extended, 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 unable to download windows 8.1 free 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 displays a message about the expiration of the offer.
The unable to download windows 8.1 free 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 Unable to download windows 8.1 free 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. Windows 11 FAQ: Our upgrade guide and everything else you need to know. Best internet speed test Test your connection.
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