If you don’t have your Windows 7 or 8 product key, and if you’re currently coasting along in an unactivated version of Windows 10, you can still upgrade to the full version at any time. You could buy the full-priced Windows 10 from Microsoft, of course, but there are many places where you can get the keys cheaper. If you don't have a valid key, you can still use Windows 10 for free on your PC even if you don’t activate the OS. I have colleagues who have used non-activated versions of Windows for years. Microsoft admits you can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free - here’s how. Thread warned that upgrading via a fresh install isn’t guaranteed to work, so be sure to stick to the former. When download is completed, you have 2 options: 1. Do an In-place Upgrade Install: RIGHT click at the ISO click Mount click Setup.exe ( or Setup.) That will begin installing Windows 10. You have the choice of keeping settings, files and apps, or keeping nothing. No product key is required. Jun 11, 2021 If you don't have a valid key, you can still use Windows 10 for free on your PC even if you don’t activate the OS. I have colleagues who have used non-activated versions of Windows for years.

What, you thought that free upgrades to Windows 10 ended on July 29, 2016? That might be what Microsoft would like you to think, but actually you can upgrade to the new OS for free as easily now as you could before the 'official' free period ended.

There are a couple of ways to get Windows 10 for free, and if you haven’t already done so, then it’s worth doing as who knows when Microsoft will close these loopholes? Windows 10 is getting much, much better -- as evidenced by the latest Creators Update Insider Build -- and once you’ve upgraded you can always roll back your system to your current OS if you decide that Windows 10 really isn’t for you. Having performed the upgrade once, you’ll be able to reinstall Windows 10 for free at any point in the future.

The first method for getting Windows 10 is to simply upgrade an existing (and activated) version of Windows 7 or 8.1. As discovered by Ed Bott over at ZD Net, and independently confirmed by myself, the old method still works. All you have to do is go to the Download Windows 10 page, click the 'Download tool now' button and run the Media Creation Tool. Select the 'Upgrade this PC now' option and it will go to work and upgrade your system.

You can also save the ISO to a hard drive or USB flash drive and run it from there.

Can You Download And Install Windows 10 For Free

Once upgraded, check that everything is fine by going to Settings > 'Update & security' > Activation. Indica vista tdi review team bhp.

The other way to get a free Windows 10 upgrade is to use the assistive technologies method which I covered here previously. This lets customers with accessibility needs (and who use assistive technologies) to get hold of Windows 10 for free. Although Microsoft threatened to close the free upgrade loophole to stop just anyone using it, the offer remains open and you can still use this method to upgrade to Windows 10 for free.

It’s obviously not meant to provide just anyone with a freebie, but if you can live with yourself for lying, or you use any of the assistive technologies (which include the Magnifier), then it’s an option.

Photo credit:imging / Shutterstock

Windows 7 is exiting support on the 14th January 2020, and in theory, this would mean anyone still stuck on Windows 7 will need to pay $120 to upgrade to the newest OS.

In practice, however, it appears that if you do an in-place upgrade using the Media Creation tool you will be able to activate your new Windows 10 installation without any issue (note this does not work with a clean install).

According to someone who claims to be a Microsoft employee this is by design, Microsoft prefers to have home users on Windows 10, even if it is technically on an unpaid copy. Microsoft did offer a free upgrade to Windows 10 in 2016, which supposedly ended, but Microsoft never bothered to fix the MCT loophole despite it being widely exploited through the years.

Cokerobot writes on Reddit:

Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag…

I work at Microsoft and have been since before the Windows 10 launch. That whole “free” upgrade for a year was fully marketing fluff. After the cut off happened, the direction given was that it requires a paid license HOWEVER, this was brought up by the brick and mortar stores that they were doing simple clock changes on customer devices during the upgrade challenge to get around it and then ultimately it was clear two years later that anything Windows 7 and up would go to 10 fully activated and still to this day.

WDG didn’t care pretty much at all because Terry Meyerson at the time cared more about his upgrade stats than license revenue as Windows isn’t Microsoft’s cash cow anymore. It’s the same stance back in the day where Microsoft would allow Windows Updates on pirated copies of Windows 7 as the bigger picture was to thwart security threats based from those copies.

You still can do this no problem, however careful, do an upgrade keeping everything as if you choose to yeet everything and start fresh, you lose your free upgrade. That old 7 license converts to a 10 digital license and from there you 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 matter. 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 so if worse came to worse, you could technically go through legal avenues as the EULA for 10 literally doesn’t have a clause for this at all. You can’t shit on someone taking advantage of an activation workaround when you as the manufacturer never closed it.

You Can Still Install Windows 10 For Free 2021

Whether CokeRobot is credible or not, the fact is that you can upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 using the Media Creation Tool relatively easily, and if you have been worrying about the impending end of support of Windows 7, with good back-ups of your data you really have nothing to lose from attempting the free upgrade to Windows 10 before Microsoft closes the loophole.

Download Windows 10 For Free

How To Still Get Windows 10 Free

Via WindowsLatest.com