What Does It Cost To Upgrade To Windows 10

Microsoft's free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended more than five years ago, simply no one told the people who run the Windows activation servers. Every bit a result, you can even so upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and claim a complimentary digital license for the latest Windows 10 version, without existence forced to jump through any hoops.

That upgrade became more important than ever when support for Windows 7 officially ended in January 2020. And information technology turned out to exist a great relief to household budgets when the pandemic fabricated working from domicile (or going to schoolhouse via remote sessions) suddenly popular. In the past two years, millions of people have taken old PCs out of storage and gotten upwards to speed rapidly, thanks to these free upgrades.

Also: Windows 11 FAQ: Hither'south everything yous demand to know

You can too still upgrade Windows 10 Dwelling to Windows ten Pro by using a product cardinal from a previous business edition of Windows seven, eight, or 8.ane (Pro/Ultimate). That can save yous equally much as $100 in OEM upgrade charges if you buy a new PC with Windows 10 Home preinstalled. (For details, see "How to upgrade from Windows ten Home to Pro without hassles.")

Every technique I describe in this commodity works the same for Windows xi besides, although almost older PCs will exist blocked from upgrading to Microsoft'south newest operating system by the stringent Windows 11 hardware compatibility requirements. For those PCs, Windows 10 remains a viable option until at to the lowest degree October 2025.

In this post, I'll cover the basics of how to install Windows 10 as an upgrade on older hardware. I'll besides talk about the licensing issues involved, which are (every bit always) confusing.

I wrote and published the outset version of this post in early 2017, several months after Microsoft's initial gratis upgrade offer ended. The free upgrade offer had just ended, and when I downloaded the Windows x upgrade tool and ran information technology on an old Windows vii PC, I fully expected that the upgrade would neglect activation and I'd be asked for a product central.

Imagine my surprise when, instead, I was greeted with this screen.

One digital license, no product key required.

Over the next four-plus years, I repeated those steps on test PCs at regular intervals and confirmed that the free upgrade tool still works. I continue to receive email letters regularly from readers offering firsthand reports that their gratis upgrades were successful, with no purchase or product central 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, meet "This free Windows 10 upgrade offer even so works. Here's why - and how to get it." For help decoding setup errors, meet "Windows x: Apply setup log files to troubleshoot installation issues."

Want your own digital license to the latest Windows 10 version? Follow these instructions.

How to upgrade an old PC to Windows 10

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If you accept a PC running a "18-carat" copy of Windows vii/8/8.1 (Windows 7 Domicile, Pro, or Ultimate edition, or Windows 8.x Home or Business, properly licensed and activated), you tin 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:

Confirm that your copy of Windows is properly activated. This is especially important if you recently reinstalled Windows.
Check for any contempo commuter updates, especially for network and storage hardware.
Download and install any available BIOS updates for your hardware; this footstep is especially important for systems that were originally sold in 2017 or earlier, when hardware makers were withal shaking out bug with Windows 10.
Dorsum up your data files to an external hard bulldoze or deject storage (or both). Consider doing a full arrangement backup to an external hard bulldoze using the Windows vii backup program, which is also available in Windows 8.x and Windows 10. Merely run the command Sdclt.exe, and and so choose the Create A Organisation Image option.
Temporarily uninstall tertiary-party security software and low-level system utilities that can interfere with the upgrade. You tin reinstall those programs afterward the upgrade is complete.
Finally, disconnect whatsoever unnecessary external devices, especially USB flash drives and external hard drives. (Several common installation errors can be traced to the Setup program being confused past these additional drives.)

With those preliminaries out of the way, become to the Download Windows x webpage and click theDownload tool now button. After the download completes, double-click the executable file to run the Media Creation Tool.

You can upgrade directly using this tool, or create separate media.

If you lot've downloaded the Media Creation Tool on the machine you programme to upgrade, and you lot plan to upgrade that PC and simply that PC, you tin can cull theUpgrade This PC At present choice. That choice installs the most contempo version of Windows 10. It typically takes about an hour, depending on your hardware. (Having an SSD equally your system drive is the all-time way to speed up the process.)

If you lot know y'all'll want to upgrade to Windows 10 on more than 1 PC, or if y'all just want more than flexibility in the event that the instant upgrade fails, choose the second pick and salvage the installation files to a USB drive or as an ISO file. The download takes a footling time but when information technology's complete, you can run the Windows Setup program manually to install Windows 10 on whatever PC running any supported Windows version (sad, this won't work with PCs running Windows Vista or Windows XP). The verbal steps depend on which download option you chose:

USB wink drive Insert the USB flash drive you just created into a free USB slot on the PC y'all want to upgrade. So open File Explorer (Windows Explorer in Windows seven) and double-click Setup to install Windows 10. Note that youcannot boot from the newly created USB drive or DVD to perform an upgrade to Windows 10. You must run the Windows x setup programme from your currently installed and activated copy of Windows.
ISO file Afterwards the download is complete, you'll need to mountain the ISO file and open up it in a Windows Explorer/File Explorer window. On a PC running Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, you lot can double-click the ISO file to open it every bit a virtual drive. On a PC running Windows 7, y'all'll demand to install a third-political party utility such as the free, open-source WinCDEmu. Later on mounting the ISO file, double-click Setup to start the install process.

Then just follow the prompts to consummate the upgrade to Windows 10. You volition non be asked for a production central, and when the upgrade is consummate and you've continued to the cyberspace, you'll have a digital license to the most recent Windows 10 version, which you can confirm past going to Settings > Update and Security > Activation. All your apps and data files will exist available.

The digital license is associated with that specific device, which means yous can reformat the disk and perform a make clean installation of the aforementioned edition of Windows ten someday. (If you're thinking of upgrading your erstwhile system drive to an SSD, perform the upgrade to Windows x on the quondam hardware; after confirming that the new Windows ten version is properly activated, install the SSD and then either restore from a fill-in image or kick from the USB flash drive to do a clean install. Y'all won't need a product fundamental, and activation is automatic.)

Is your license valid?

And now the big question: If you avail yourself of this upgrade to Windows ten, is the resulting license valid?

The entire "costless upgrade" offering was e'er accompanied past language that was, to put it politely, a bit squishy. And the linguistic communication around the end of that offer was similarly vague. For case, come across the answers I've highlighted here on Microsoft'southward Windows 10 Upgrade FAQ:

That'due south very odd language. The free upgradethrough the Get Windows 10 app ended on July 29, 2016. Likewise, the discussion of production keys says a key volition be necessary "for this tool to piece of work" (non true) merely doesn't say a word about licensing.

And dissimilar the weaselly "18-carat Windows" characterization on older upgrades, the activation screens for a Windows 10 upgrade specifically confirm the beingness of a "digital license."

Anyway, the free upgrade offer was extended briefly, at least for people who use assistive technologies. The FAQ on a carve up page even called information technology a "free upgrade offer extension" and pointedly noted that it was not limited to specific assistive technologies. (I regularly utilize the Magnifier utility in Windows, which is indisputably an assistive technology.)

Of course, I'yard not a lawyer, and this column isn't legal advice. But I will say that I am personally confident in the activation status of whatsoever PC upgraded using the tool on that page during the eligibility catamenia.

This extension was, I retrieve, a very large nod and a wink, designed to arrive easy for those who wanted a Windows 10 upgrade to withal become it while placating the OEM partners who were none too happy almost the year-long accent on upgrades rather than new PC sales.

Alas, I say "was," because the extension (which was itself extended) officially ended on January. 16, 2018. The folio that formerly ran an Upgrade Assistant now returns an fault message.

The big question now is whether Microsoft will always plow off the code on its activation servers that dispenses digital licenses later an upgrade from an earlier Windows version. I've continued to examination that scenario, and I can confirm, long after the end of support for Windows seven, that it still works.

I go along 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 grade to allow me know how it went for you.

Notation:This article was originally published in January 2017. It has been updated multiple times since then to reverberate the about current data.