ISO file For the purposes of this exercise, we are gonna use the. ISO option. Select ISO file, then click Save, Select your location then click Save. Wait while the. ISO image is created. MAKING A BOOTABLE COPY USING RUFUS: You can download Rufus, for free. Click in the list box then choose your partition scheme. If you select the ISO, Rufus will automatically select the appropriate options for you. Next, click in the File system list box, then choose FAT If your thumb drive is larger than 32 GBs, choose exFAT. Leave the default Cluster size then enter a label for your thumb drive. Click the choose disk image icon, browse to where the ISO file is located, select it then click Open. Click Start to copy the files to the thumb drive. If you have any files on the thumb drive, they will be deleted.

Wait while the files are copied to your thumb drive. Close when complete. Hello, although Windows 10 is not free, you can use most of the basic features for free on trial mode. When you see the option to enter the Licence key, you can click on skip for now. Hope this helps, and let me know if you have further questions! Actually 1 version of Win 10 OS has a free installation,it's Win 10 Enterprise. DaveM Independent Advisor. Take Screenshot on Windows Mount an ISO image in Windows What Is svchost. Boot Into Safe Mode Where to Download Windows Legally Find Your Lost Product Keys Clean Install Windows 10 the Easy Way. Enable Windows Administrator Account Use Windows 10 Without Product Key Find Your Wi-Fi Password Best Antivirus for Windows 10 and 11 Electronically Sign PDFs Open HEIC Files on Windows Use the Linux Bash Shell on Windows. Edit the Hosts File See Who's Connected to Your Wi-Fi Use tar on Linux The Difference Between GPT and MBR Stop Windows From Downloading Updates Get a Lost, Off-Screen Window Back Add Check Boxes to Word Documents.

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Browse All DevOps Articles Browse Buying Guides. When my old Windows 7 starter re-boots, the whole automatic background download starts again and then I get asked to commence the upgrade again. Having now had 3 downloads on this one machine, I am not going to bother starting the next upgrade until I can resolve what is preventing this upgrade from happening. Windows Update History shows it failed with error code of C, which indicates some sort of incompatibility. Any ideas about how I can narrow it down. Was this comment helpful? I'm looking into this; some users are experiencing problems that are exceptionally difficult to diagnose because of all the variables associated with the issue.

Edit: Try this using the USB device to start the upgrade instead of Windows Update:. Uninstall your antivirus, unplug any unnecessary peripherals, disconnect from the Internet entirely, and perform a clean boot. Then, while in the clean boot environment, try starting the upgrade from there. If you need instructions on how to perform a clean boot, see this support page. If you do happen to run into the same issue as TimWG, try following the same suggestion I gave him in my last reply and see if that works. Will It Upgrade my Existing Windows 10 Installation Because I have had not luck With Windows Update or Media Creation Tool. You can give it a try and see what happens. Note that you must perform this from your current Windows 7. What was the problem that occurred using Windows Update and the MCT and at what stage of the installation? But why does it tell me: "Uninstall latest preview build" in View Your Update History. This is the only version that installed properly: All other ways would hang on the second reboot.

Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community. Search the community and support articles Windows Windows 10 Search Community member. aakkam22 Article Author. Technical Level : Basic Summary Windows 10 was released with a free upgrade offer that lasted for 1 year. Details Use a Windows 7 or Windows 8. x product key While the free upgrade offer ended last year, Microsoft will still let you install Windows 10 and activate it using a valid Windows 7 or Windows 8. Assistive Technologies Offer Microsoft is offering Windows 10 for free for customers who use "assistive technologies". Reinstall Windows 10 If you took advantage of the free upgrade offer, or you obtained Windows 10 using the methods in this article, you can reinstall Windows 10 on that same machine however many times you'd like without providing a product key.

Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to RSS feed. How satisfied are you with this article? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. Comments . Previous Next. Now on to my next machine, my daughter's Lenovo S netbook, running Windows 7 Starter. AS part of this process, the checker tells me It takes a long time on such a slow machine so I cant be sitting next to it for the whole process.

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. Also: Windows 11 FAQ: Here's everything you need to know. 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 , shortly after Microsoft's initial free upgrade offer ended. 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. For the past five-plus years, I have 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. x Home or Business, properly licensed and activated , you can follow the same steps I did to install Windows 10 as an upgrade. 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 now button. After the download completes, double-click the executable file to run the Media Creation Tool. If you've downloaded the Media Creation Tool on the machine you plan to upgrade, and you plan to upgrade that PC and only that PC, you can choose the Upgrade This PC Now option. 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. For example, see the answers I've highlighted here on Microsoft's Windows 10 Upgrade FAQ :. 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, send a note to edbott at realworldwindows dot com 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. Written by Ed Bott, Senior Contributing Editor on Jan. 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 Hackers are still finding - and using - flaws in Internet Explorer. Hackers are still finding - and using - flaws in Internet Explorer.

Windows 11's screenshot tool gets a screen recorder. These file types are the ones most commonly used by hackers to hide their malware.

The free upgrade through the Get Windows 10 app ended on July 29, Would I be able to use your download upgrade to have it properly installed? Save money on your tech purchases and gifts with the hottest deals in our newsletter. It retained all my files, desktop shortcuts, and programs. But it still works right now. Manage consent.

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