Free Win 10 Upgrade

Anyone know if this legit?


https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ill-upgrade-to-windows-10-for-free-heres-how/

 

Yes, the free upgrade is still possible as long as your Windows version is activated OEM/Retail. It is just not advertised. You will receive a digital entitlement that will be tied to your machines HWID.

After the free upgrade, you will be able to achieve a fresh install if needed. But you must upgrade first.

 

Thanks! Will all my files, email (Windows Live Mail 2012), etc., transfer cleanly from my Wins 7? I know I need to backup first.

 

Assume that nothing will survive and that you will have to install all your software again. Same goes for your personal files unless they are on a different partition. Email history will be ok if you use IMAP but POP3 you will have to restore from backup.

 

I recommend to run WUA (Windows Update Assistant), this will check all the prerequisites for you my friend.

Go to the link and click 'Update Now'. Microsoft are very odd with wording now. This will check your system and software for upgrade potential. But like @Earthling said, the W10 upgrade process generally causes a lot of instabilities since this rolling WAAS change. Backup is 100% necessary for this.

 

Very interesting. Followed the instructions to a tee for updating to Win 10 and it appears all files including '12 Live Mail, 2000 MS Office, and '08 Quicken Deluxe made it cleanly as well as Comodo and Malwarebytes. Amazing! Now I've got to figure out how to move around. One other point is that Belarc Advisor shows Win 8.1.

 

I used the link to upgrade my room mates computer, I already upgraded mine during the free period. I had no problem and it even upgraded while keeping all my personal file, my browser settings, and my program settings the same.

 

Don't worry about Belarc Advisor reading your Operating System as Windows 10. They've probably made the mistake of reading OS versions from either the Registry, or .NET. If you look in 'HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT', the CurrentVersion gives a string value of 6.3 (which is Windows 8.1), where as a matter of fact this is incorrect. Windows 10 lies about version numbers in multiple places.

To combat this, they should be reading the version information from somewhere like kernel32.dll. Hence why you're seeing Windows 8.1.

Hope this helps.

 

As mentioned, I did the free upgrade from Win 7 to 10. The one and only problem I seem to be having is with M/S Word 2000. The file transferred fine but won't always open. After a reboot, it works fine, for a while. Then it won't open with the message, "MS Word has stopped working correctly", then goes on say Win will close the program and notify you if a solution is available but I've never heard back. I did check compatibility but the os selection only goes as high as Win 8. Any solution to this? FYI, MS Works 2000 runs fine.

 

No compatibility for Win 7?

 

Yes there is...I'll try that. Thanks!

 

Might even be best with XP.

 

Went with XP and all is well so far. Thanks again.

 

Good! Thanks for the feedback

 

OOps, spoke too soon. Word is back to not opening.

 

hi, first off, wishing everyone Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! thanks to ALL for all the help thru the year.

ok, so have a laptop and desktop, both win7 - laptop is home, desktop is Pro. can I use the above link to update to win10 both of them? and will the laptop update to win10 home and desktop to Pro automatically? both have active OEM. thanks!~ hate to have to go to win10, but....thanks for answer asap.

 

Yes, as long as they're activated. Home will upgrade to home, professional will upgrade to professional. Make sure to backup your data as the upgrade process can be problematic.

However, please remember Microsoft could close this at any point, since technically they said it had drawn to a close anyway (FWIR).

 

As the OP who used the above link to upgrade to 10, after 10 days I would say that I'm not pleased. While all files made the transfer with no effort on my part, Windows Live Mail 12 has a few minor problems, as does MS Word 2000 which is understandable I guess as MS says they are not compatible. MS Works run fine.

As far as 10, it has its share of problems and I'd much rather have my 7 (basically flawless). (My system is Intel I5, CPU @ 3.10 GHz with 8 GB of mem.) Problems are 10 runs great and fast at times and very slow once in a while. A reboot generally corrects this but a couple of times it freezes in reboot mode. My copy/paste function is not working but is probably something I did. And then once in a while you get the message "preparing security options" and it will sit there frozen for a minute or 2. I haven't found a fix for this but it pops up on Google as a problem.

While I hate to do it, I'll probably buy a new computer with 10 already installed which many recommend. I have a feeling prices will drop after MS patches stop on 7 in Jan. as MS will have captured most of the suckers at higher prices by then. I don't see a lot of good sale prices now.

From what I understand, when you download 10, you get the version, PRO or Home, based on what you currently have. That's what happened to me.

If I were you, I'd try one of your PC's and see how it works. Perhaps you'll do better than I.

 

Now you have 'successfully' upgraded you would be able to do a clean install. Then you would experience 10 as it really is. I've upgraded four systems here and they are all a pleasure to use. No way would I ever want to revert to 7.

 

What's involved with that re current files and where do you get the new install version?

 

You would have to create backups of all your personal files located on the system partition which are irreplaceable - only you know. Reinstalling is simple using the Media Creation Tool. Also, if you have installation files for favoured software that is not easily replaced, backup those too.

 

So where does the new version come from, purchase???

 

The Media Creation Tool gives you the new version. Nothing else is needed.

 

I did the clean install thru The Media Creation Tool and it went flawlessly. In fact all my files, including Docs., OLM 2012, Word 2000 and Works made the trip also. This makes me wonder if I actually have the clean Win 10 version. Is there a way to check?

 

I'm a bit puzzled as Word 2000 shouldn't have survived. What version of 10 do you now have? (type winver in search)

 

I guess it was a good install as I see I have W10 version 1909, Nov. 2019. Thanks for the help.

 

Please do as I asked, it gives the build version.

 

Well, sorry, I must have missed that instruction. Anyway, I assume you are saying I have an updated version but with all my old files which is not the same or as good as the build version and are suggesting I redo it. Correct? Thanks again.

 

No, I'm not suggesting you redo it, I would just like the build number please.

 

OS Build: 18363.535

 

Thanks, you are bang up to date. The process does allow the user to choose what to include but would not normally allow any software the user had installed, so Word 2000 and OLM (Live Mail?) should not have carried over. If you experience any more problems then come back. You may find this MS article useful.

 

Thanks a bunch for the help and patience. And yes, Windows Live Mail 2012.

 

I've been procrastinating this whole upgrade thing. My laptop came preloaded with Win7. Can I upgrade that for free?

My desktop does have a retail copy of Win7 that I purchased and installed. I do have the key for that so I'm hoping I'm good to go as far as my desktop is concerned. All files are backed up.

 

Take system images before attempting any upgrade. You then have a means of reverting to your start point if if it doesn't work.

 

Yes you can still upgrade for free. As @Earthling said, take a system image or backup all of your data before-hand.

Sometimes the upgrade process can go wrong and not register your HWID. So in reality, a system image is best as you can revert to where you were before. However if you still have a license key, you could just reinstall Windows 7.