How To Upgrade Windows 7

Microsoft's free upgrade offer for Windows 10 concluded more five years ago, but no i told the people who run the Windows activation servers. Every bit a result, y'all can all the same upgrade to Windows x from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and claim a complimentary digital license for the latest Windows 10 version, without being forced to jump through any hoops.

That upgrade became more important than ever when back up for Windows vii officially ended in January 2020. And it turned out to be a great relief to household budgets when the pandemic made working from dwelling house (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 apace, thanks to these free upgrades.

As well: Windows 11 FAQ: Here's everything you need to know

Yous can also still upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows ten Pro by using a production key from a previous business edition of Windows seven, 8, or eight.one (Pro/Ultimate). That tin can salve you lot every bit much as $100 in OEM upgrade charges if you buy a new PC with Windows ten Abode preinstalled. (For details, see "How to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro without hassles.")

Every technique I describe in this article works the aforementioned for Windows 11 as well, although most older PCs will be blocked from upgrading to Microsoft'south newest operating system by the stringent Windows 11 hardware compatibility requirements. For those PCs, Windows x remains a viable option until at least October 2025.

In this post, I'll encompass the basics of how to install Windows 10 as an upgrade on older hardware. I'll besides talk virtually the licensing problems involved, which are (as ever) confusing.

I wrote and published the first version of this post in early 2017, several months after Microsoft's initial gratis upgrade offer ended. The free upgrade offering had but concluded, and when I downloaded the Windows 10 upgrade tool and ran information technology on an old Windows 7 PC, I fully expected that the upgrade would fail activation and I'd be asked for a product key.

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

One digital license, no production primal required.

Over the adjacent iv-plus years, I repeated those steps on test PCs at regular intervals and confirmed that the free upgrade tool nonetheless works. I continue to receive email letters regularly from readers offering firsthand reports that their gratis upgrades were successful, with no purchase or product key required.

A pocket-sized number of readers have reported that the upgrade fails considering of a Setup fault or a compatibility block. For details on how to troubleshoot these errors, see "This free Windows x upgrade offer still works. Hither's why - and how to become it." For help decoding setup errors, see "Windows 10: Use setup log files to troubleshoot installation problems."

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

How to upgrade an onetime PC to Windows 10

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If you have a PC running a "genuine" copy of Windows seven/8/8.ane (Windows 7 Home, Pro, or Ultimate edition, or Windows eight.10 Home or Business concern, properly licensed and activated), y'all can follow the same steps I did to install Windows 10 equally an upgrade.

Before getting started, I recommend a few preliminary tasks that can head off potential problems:

Confirm that your re-create of Windows is properly activated. This is especially important if you lot recently reinstalled Windows.
Bank check for whatsoever contempo driver updates, specially 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 still shaking out issues with Windows 10.
Back up your data files to an external difficult drive or cloud storage (or both). Consider doing a full system backup to an external difficult bulldoze using the Windows 7 backup program, which is likewise available in Windows 8.x and Windows ten. Just run the command Sdclt.exe, and so cull the Create A System Paradigm option.
Temporarily uninstall third-political party security software and depression-level organization utilities that can interfere with the upgrade. You can reinstall those programs afterward the upgrade is complete.
Finally, disconnect any unnecessary external devices, specially USB flash drives and external hard drives. (Several common installation errors can be traced to the Setup plan being dislocated by these additional drives.)

With those preliminaries out of the manner, get to the Download Windows 10 webpage and click theDownload tool now push button. After the download completes, double-click the executable file to run the Media Creation Tool.

You can upgrade direct using this tool, or create divide media.

If you've downloaded the Media Cosmos Tool on the car you program to upgrade, and yous plan to upgrade that PC and only that PC, you can choose theUpgrade This PC Now pick. That choice installs the most recent version of Windows ten. Information technology typically takes almost an hour, depending on your hardware. (Having an SSD as your system drive is the best way to speed up the process.)

If yous know yous'll desire to upgrade to Windows 10 on more than ane PC, or if yous merely want more flexibility in the event that the instant upgrade fails, choose the second option and save the installation files to a USB bulldoze or as an ISO file. The download takes a little time but when it'southward consummate, you can run the Windows Setup program manually to install Windows 10 on whatever PC running any supported Windows version (sorry, this won't piece of work with PCs running Windows Vista or Windows XP). The exact steps depend on which download option you chose:

USB flash drive Insert the USB flash drive yous just created into a free USB slot on the PC you desire to upgrade. Then open up File Explorer (Windows Explorer in Windows vii) 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 10 setup program from your currently installed and activated re-create of Windows.
ISO file Afterward the download is complete, y'all'll need to mount the ISO file and open it in a Windows Explorer/File Explorer window. On a PC running Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, you lot tin double-click the ISO file to open information technology as a virtual bulldoze. On a PC running Windows seven, y'all'll demand to install a third-political party utility such every bit the free, open-source WinCDEmu. Afterward mounting the ISO file, double-click Setup to start the install procedure.

Then just follow the prompts to consummate the upgrade to Windows x. You volition not exist asked for a product central, and when the upgrade is complete and you've continued to the internet, you'll take a digital license to the most recent Windows x version, which you can confirm past going to Settings > Update and Security > Activation. All your apps and information files will be available.

The digital license is associated with that specific device, which means yous 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 ten on the sometime hardware; after confirming that the new Windows ten version is properly activated, install the SSD so either restore from a backup image or boot from the USB flash drive to practise a clean install. You lot won't demand a product key, and activation is automatic.)

Is your license valid?

And now the big question: If you avail yourself of this upgrade to Windows 10, is the resulting license valid?

The unabridged "costless upgrade" offer was e'er accompanied by language that was, to put information technology politely, a bit squishy. And the linguistic communication around the end of that offer was similarly vague. For example, see the answers I've highlighted here on Microsoft'south Windows 10 Upgrade FAQ:

That'due south very odd language. The free upgradethrough the Go Windows ten app ended on July 29, 2016. Likewise, the discussion of production keys says a fundamental will be necessary "for this tool to work" (not true) just doesn't say a give-and-take well-nigh licensing.

And dissimilar the weaselly "Genuine Windows" characterization on older upgrades, the activation screens for a Windows 10 upgrade specifically ostend the beingness of a "digital license."

Anyway, the complimentary upgrade offer was extended briefly, at least for people who use assistive technologies. The FAQ on a split folio even chosen it a "gratuitous upgrade offering extension" and pointedly noted that information technology was not limited to specific assistive technologies. (I regularly use the Magnifier utility in Windows, which is indisputably an assistive engineering.)

Of form, I'one thousand non a lawyer, and this column isn't legal advice. Just I will say that I am personally confident in the activation status of any PC upgraded using the tool on that folio during the eligibility period.

This extension was, I think, a very large nod and a flash, designed to arrive easy for those who wanted a Windows 10 upgrade to still go it while placating the OEM partners who were none also happy most 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 January. 16, 2018. The page that formerly ran an Upgrade Banana now returns an fault message.

The big question now is whether Microsoft will e'er turn off the code on its activation servers that dispenses digital licenses after an upgrade from an earlier Windows version. I've continued to exam that scenario, and I can confirm, long after the end of back up for Windows 7, that it yet works.

I continue to hear from readers sharing their experiences. If you lot've used this technique on a PC, click my name at the height of this postal service and use the contact class to let me know how it went for y'all.

Annotation:This article was originally published in January 2017. It has been updated multiple times since then to reflect the nearly electric current information.