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Free upgrade might end earliest after Creator's Update, MS has to alter MCT/ISO to accommodate for changes.
Free upgrade might end earliest after Creator's Update, MS has to alter MCT/ISO to accommodate for changes.
Hi there
If you have valid retail W7 / W8 / W8.1 products you can still upgrade FREE. Enter the key of your qualifying product.
I'm still using some of my old Technet keys - and the upgrade works fine.
Note though edition must be similar --you can go from HOME-->HOME or with W7 PRO / ULTIMATE -->PRO.
I last did an upgrade yesterday (Jan 4).
Cheers
jimbo
Here's how you can still get a free Windows 10 upgrade | ZDNetMicrosoft's much-hyped free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended months ago, right? Maybe not. The GWX tool may be gone, but all the other upgrade tools still work, and the end result is an apparently valid digital license. Here's how to get yours.
I did a free upgrade of a Windows 8.1 system to Windows 10 yesterday. Did nothing special, just mounted the ISO and ran startup under Windows 8.1. After installation completed, Windows 10 was activated.
Following the earlier post in this thread I Upgraded an HP G60 Notebook from Vista to Win7 Home [using an unused Upgrade Product Key from the 3-disc-pack we used to be able to get], installed SP1 from disc and got Activated. Then I followed the information in that link of You Can Still Upgrade to Windows 10 for Free, Even After Offer Expired - TechSpot to get Win10. After stalling in the Install phase at 99% twice I turned off Windows Update in services.msc, sure enough the old saying still applies, the third time is a charm. I got Version 1607 Build 14393.0 and turned Windows Update back on, checked for updates and got Build 14393.576 along with Windows Defender updates and an updated driver for the nVidia Display Adapter [that HP didn't have on their site]. Things are fine.
Of course, this forum does not (rightly) condone use of the assistative programme to upgrade if the user does not genuinely require assistance.
Indeed (shamefully) many abused this and MS stated they may need to withdraw this programme, making it a requirement for genuine persons to contact MS making life harder for such persons.
The article by Ed Bott referenced by Borg386 does NOT rely on the assistive technologies program in order to get the upgrade. It points you to the MS standard Windows 10 download page where you can install Win 10 or download the Upgrade Tool. It seems only the GWX app has been discontinued by MS at this point.
As near as I can tell, like you said, only the GWX App has been removed. On paper, and on the Internet, Microsoft States the free offer is over. But you can still get it by the usual means, Digital Licenses are still being given out under the old rules. And you don't even actually have to upgrade first. Just input your qualifying Windows 7 or 8/8.1 key and activate. The tap could be turned off at any time though, with no notice.
EDIT: Disclaimer, I have no way to test it myself. All my PC's now have multiple Digital Licenses for Home, Pro and Education as a result of test installs I've done. I'm just going by reports of others that it still works. The last free upgrade I did was weeks ago.
Completely incorrect. If the person is upgrading to the same version and edition of Windows 10 from and installed Windows 7 or 8, the upgrade will not even ask for a product key, the user can keep their programs and files, and the Windows 10 will activate with the matching generic Windows 10 product key using the existing Windows 7 or 8 product key as the basis for the digital license.
If the user wants to upgrade by doing a clean install of Windows 10 then they do a clean install of Windows 10 and skip entering a product key. Still as of less than 24 hours ago, after the Windows 10 is installed they can go to the activation screen, click change product key, and enter a matching Windows 7 or 8 product key to activate it.
If you want to upgrade your Windows 10 Home to Pro using a Windows 7 or 8 Pro product key, then you first trigger the upgrade to Windows 10 Pro by changing the product key to the Windows 10 Pro generic product key. Once the upgrade to Pro is finished, it will not be activated, then you go back to the activation screen and enter the Windows 7 or 8 Pro product key to activate it. This exact procedure used to be published on the Microsoft website, including the Windows 10 Pro generic product key to use, but they removed that section when the free upgrade period "officially ended".
Because it failed on one computer with obvious problems does not mean that it won't work on any computer.
Right here in this thread:
https://www.tenforums.com/installati...tml#post905902
https://www.tenforums.com/installati...tml#post906483
https://www.tenforums.com/installati...tml#post906903
https://www.tenforums.com/installati...tml#post907032
Notice in particular this one:
A proper upgrade to the correct version of Windows 10 from an installed Windows 7 or 8 has never even asked for a product key and still doesn't. People get asked for product keys during the upgrade when they are either attempting to upgrade to the wrong version/editions of Windows 10 or there is something wrong with their current Windows activation like they are using an illegal activation method.