Win10 Free Upgrade Still Working

[Stocky]

Well I bit the bullet and upgraded my two Win7 Pro laptops to Win10 Pro.

 

Took the opportunity while upgrading the older laptop's 5400rpm 1Tb drive to a 1Tb SSD, to upgrade the OS too. Wasn't sure if the free upgrade path was still available, but thought I'd try that before opting for a clean install and an eBay licence. After cloning the old HDD to the SSD and installing, I downloaded the Windows 10 download tool from Microsoft:

 

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10

 

Then just un-installed my AV software, disabled start-up programs, rebooted and ran the download tool and then opted to "Upgrade this PC now", took a while for the download and install to complete, but it did and when I checked I had a legal activated Win 10 Pro licence.

 

Once the one laptop with the new SSD was completed I ran the update on the newer laptop, again no problems.

 

Can't say I particularly like Win10, but the upgrade was painless and a necessary evil, the software I use for work sadly doesn't run on anything except Windows.

 

I'm guessing the free upgrade route is going to stay open, Microsoft just want everyone to migrate eventually.

[KhunHeineken]

Are you sure it's not some sort of trial?  I thought the free Windows 10 promotion ended a long time ago.  

 

As a side question, does Windows 7 Home upgrade to Windows 10 Home, and Windows 7 Pro upgrade to Windows 10 Pro?

 

I am putting off my upgrade until later in the year, but have thought about upgrading earlier. 

[Stocky]

No, not a trial.

 

 

AFAIK a Win 7 Home goes to a Win 10 Home and a Win 7 Pro upgrades to a Win 10 Pro - you stay with the level of licence you originally bought.

[scottiejohn]

Although this link is old all the methods are still available.

 

https://www.howtogeek.com/272201/all-the-ways-you-can-still-get-windows-10-for-free/#duplicate=0

[KneeDeep]

19 hours ago, Stocky said:

No, not a trial.

 

 

AFAIK a Win 7 Home goes to a Win 10 Home and a Win 7 Pro upgrades to a Win 10 Pro - you stay with the level of licence you originally bought.

 

In many cases, you can upgrade your Home Premium to Professional or Ultimate before then moving to Windows 10 Pro.

 

In addition there is no need to upgrade over the top of an existing Windows 7 install. You can simply take a snapshot of the Windows 7 activation, clean install Windows 10 and then apply the snapshot of the Windows 7 activation to Windows 10.

 

This especially useful if wanting to clean install the OS on to a new SSD.

[killerbeez]

On 2/20/2019 at 1:16 PM, Stocky said:

I'm guessing the free upgrade route is going to stay open, Microsoft just want everyone to migrate eventually.

You'd be guessing correctly. The free upgrade from Windows 7 is still available.

[killerbeez]

On 2/20/2019 at 3:06 PM, KhunHeineken said:

I thought the free Windows 10 promotion ended a long time ago.

It never ended. The only free upgrade that ended was the 'Assistive Technologies' freebie.

[killerbeez]

On 2/20/2019 at 3:06 PM, KhunHeineken said:

As a side question, does Windows 7 Home upgrade to Windows 10 Home, and Windows 7 Pro upgrade to Windows 10 Pro?

Yes and yes.

[KneeDeep]

9 hours ago, killerbeez said:

It never ended. The only free upgrade that ended was the 'Assistive Technologies' freebie.

 

That hasn't ended either. Only the link has been removed. Find the link, run the software and it's business as usual. 

[KhunHeineken]

On 2/22/2019 at 3:27 AM, killerbeez said:

It never ended. The only free upgrade that ended was the 'Assistive Technologies' freebie.

So what happened to Microsoft's big cut off date for free Windows 10 that had everyone rushing to install it?  Why no announcement of an extension back then? Why wouldn't they openly publicize it's still for free?

[chrisinth]

32 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

So what happened to Microsoft's big cut off date for free Windows 10 that had everyone rushing to install it?  Why no announcement of an extension back then? Why wouldn't they openly publicize it's still for free?

They still want people to change over to W10 but don't want to openly damage the sales of the operating system.

 

Business 101...........................

[KhunHeineken]

On 3/8/2019 at 11:05 PM, chrisinth said:

They still want people to change over to W10 but don't want to openly damage the sales of the operating system.

 

Business 101...........................

So, it's free, without being free.  That makes sense.  ????

[JamJar]

On 2/22/2019 at 2:20 AM, KneeDeep said:

 

That hasn't ended either. Only the link has been removed. Find the link, run the software and it's business as usual. 

 

Assistive technology upgrade link

 

If you prefer to create a new link for yourself, click here and choose Upgrade Now.

[KhunHeineken]

If it's free to upgrade, why are members posting in the other thread running at the moment where to buy a Windows 10 license?  

[JamJar]

2 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

If it's free to upgrade, why are members posting in the other thread running at the moment where to buy a Windows 10 license?  

 

Maybe they don't have a licence for Windows 7 or 8.

[billd766]

I have a problem described on the other thread that the Win 10 Pro that my local fixit shop works great BUT I cannot get the Ethernet icon in Network and Internet.

 

I have followed the advice on that thread to do an upgrade but each time the response comes back

 

"Cannot install Win 10 Pro.

0xC1900101-0x30018

Installation failed in the first boot phase with an error during SYSPREP operation.

 

The shop concerned is part of a national chain and does have a licence for Win 10.

 

Can somebody please explain to me how to do a new fresh installation of Win 10 Pro which is what I had before the HDD hard drive died.

 

I have an external WiFi antenna and the system works fine. When I plug the lan cable in from the router it lights up showing that I have a lan connection. When I load the Broadcom driver from Acer ir loads but then doesn't activate.

 

HHeeeeelllllllllllllllppppppppppp

 

It is driving me nuts.

 

 

[gamb00ler]

I know MSoft likes to give very cryptic error messages but next time just use google to find the REAL explanation.

 

Read THIS LINK for info about your situation and determine how to fix it.

[billd766]

9 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

I know MSoft likes to give very cryptic error messages but next time just use google to find the REAL explanation.

 

Read THIS LINK for info about your situation and determine how to fix it.

Thank you very much for the useful information.

 

I used the link and it described my situation and if the current try doesn't work then I will follow your suggestion.

 

I am just trying for a clean installation by going through Windows Defender Device Performance & Health. If it fails again I am no worse off.

[Scott]

Inflammatory posts and replies reported and removed.  Please keep it civil and avoid a suspension.

 

[billd766]

On 3/14/2019 at 11:28 AM, billd766 said:

Thank you very much for the useful information.

 

I used the link and it described my situation and if the current try doesn't work then I will follow your suggestion.

 

I am just trying for a clean installation by going through Windows Defender Device Performance & Health. If it fails again I am no worse off.

Well I tried for a clean install and it failed that.

 

When I tried to revert to the existing Win 10 pro it started to do that and managed to end up chasing itself with a blank screen and the little blue worm spinning in space.

 

I let it run all night but it was still the same on Friday morning. 

 

I have just turned it on and tried F12 to set it up. The SSD light if flickering as is the external WiFi led so something must be happening, but what that is I have no idea.

 

The blue worm hasn't showed up yet. I will leave it running all day and see if something else happens.

[JamJar]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

Well I tried for a clean install and it failed that.

 

When I tried to revert to the existing Win 10 pro it started to do that and managed to end up chasing itself with a blank screen and the little blue worm spinning in space.

 

I let it run all night but it was still the same on Friday morning. 

 

I have just turned it on and tried F12 to set it up. The SSD light if flickering as is the external WiFi led so something must be happening, but what that is I have no idea.

 

The blue worm hasn't showed up yet. I will leave it running all day and see if something else happens.

 

Those two statements are incompatible. It is clear that you do not know what you are doing. But it is also clear that you are resistant to any kind of instruction.

 

 

[userabcd]

23 hours ago, billd766 said:

Well I tried for a clean install and it failed that.

 

When I tried to revert to the existing Win 10 pro it started to do that and managed to end up chasing itself with a blank screen and the little blue worm spinning in space.

 

I let it run all night but it was still the same on Friday morning. 

 

I have just turned it on and tried F12 to set it up. The SSD light if flickering as is the external WiFi led so something must be happening, but what that is I have no idea.

 

The blue worm hasn't showed up yet. I will leave it running all day and see if something else happens.

It is unusual for an installation of windows to take more than an hour or so.

 

It seems your ssd is now corrupt and you need to clean the disk and start anew.

 

• Plug the windows bootable usb in a usb port and reboot the pc.
• When it tries to install windows and this fails click on repair windows in the lower left corner.
• Open trouble shooting.
• Open the cmd prompt.
• Type diskpart
• Type list disk
• Type select disk # (Note select the disk you want to clean - Substitute # in the command above with the actual disk number (ex: "0") of the disk you want to clean. For example: type select disk 0)
• Type clean and press enter. Leave until the clean operation completes.
• Exit and reboot the computer and see if this fixed the ssd problem. It usually fixes the problem and windows 10 can be installed.

 

[billd766]

1 hour ago, userabcd said:

It is unusual for an installation of windows to take more than an hour or so.

 

It seems your ssd is now corrupt and you need to clean the disk and start anew.

 

• Plug the windows bootable usb in a usb port and reboot the pc.
• When it tries to install windows and this fails click on repair windows in the lower left corner.
• Open trouble shooting.
• Open the cmd prompt.
• Type diskpart
• Type list disk
• Type select disk # (Note select the disk you want to clean - Substitute # in the command above with the actual disk number (ex: "0") of the disk you want to clean. For example: type select disk 0)
• Type clean and press enter. Leave until the clean operation completes.
• Exit and reboot the computer and see if this fixed the ssd problem. It usually fixes the problem and windows 10 can be installed.

 

Thank you very much for your ideas.

 

I will try that tomorrow depending on when my friend and his wife go back home.

[JamJar]

2 hours ago, userabcd said:

It is unusual for an installation of windows to take more than an hour or so.

 

It seems your ssd is now corrupt and you need to clean the disk and start anew.

 

• Plug the windows bootable usb in a usb port and reboot the pc.
• When it tries to install windows and this fails click on repair windows in the lower left corner.
• Open trouble shooting.
• Open the cmd prompt.
• Type diskpart
• Type list disk
• Type select disk # (Note select the disk you want to clean - Substitute # in the command above with the actual disk number (ex: "0") of the disk you want to clean. For example: type select disk 0)
• Type clean and press enter. Leave until the clean operation completes.
• Exit and reboot the computer and see if this fixed the ssd problem. It usually fixes the problem and windows 10 can be installed.

 

 

It's nothing to do with the SSD being corrupted. He is misleading everyone with statements such as;

 

Quote

The shop concerned is part of a national chain and does have a licence for Win 10.

 

and claiming to have run a clean install. Neither od which is true.

It's an easy fix, but in this case I'll just sit back and let him get on it with it.

 

[userabcd]

2 hours ago, JamJar said:

 

It's nothing to do with the SSD being corrupted. He is misleading everyone with statements such as;

 

 

and claiming to have run a clean install. Neither od which is true.

It's an easy fix, but in this case I'll just sit back and let him get on it with it.

 

It is probably better to do a complete new windows installation, with or without a license, he can always enter an original license key later. Some prep needs to be done to the existing windows files and ssd to enable windows 10 to be installed from the usb.

 

I had a similar problem yesterday, could not install complete new windows and had to do a clean all from the cmd line.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, userabcd said:

It is probably better to do a complete new windows installation, with or without a license, he can always enter an original license key later. Some prep needs to be done to the existing windows files and ssd to enable windows 10 to be installed from the usb.

 

I had a similar problem yesterday, could not install complete new windows and had to do a clean all from the cmd line.

Thank you for that information.

 

Could you post the steps that you took or send me a pm.

 

The laptop boots up enough to use the function keys and I think I can boot it from an external drive or memory stick.

[JamJar]

23 hours ago, userabcd said:

It is probably better to do a complete new windows installation, with or without a license, he can always enter an original license key later. Some prep needs to be done to the existing windows files and ssd to enable windows 10 to be installed from the usb.

 

I had a similar problem yesterday, could not install complete new windows and had to do a clean all from the cmd line.

 

I already supplied him with the correct instructions, but because of what appears to be false pride, he chose to ignore them.

So now here he is floundering around without a rudder.

It's very simple...

 

[SpaceKadet]

On 2/21/2019 at 12:31 PM, KneeDeep said:

 

In many cases, you can upgrade your Home Premium to Professional or Ultimate before then moving to Windows 10 Pro.

 

In addition there is no need to upgrade over the top of an existing Windows 7 install. You can simply take a snapshot of the Windows 7 activation, clean install Windows 10 and then apply the snapshot of the Windows 7 activation to Windows 10.

 

This especially useful if wanting to clean install the OS on to a new SSD.

 

I am computer savvy, but can be Windows challenged, especially Win 10. Can you explain what a snapshot of the Win7 activation is?

[JamJar]

5 hours ago, SpaceKadet said:

 

I am computer savvy, but can be Windows challenged, especially Win 10. Can you explain what a snapshot of the Win7 activation is?

 

What has this to do with what I have written?

A snapshot of Windows 7 activation is exactly what it says on the tin. In the case of transferring activation from Windows 7 to Windows 10, you can utilise the gatherosstate method, which takes a 'snapshot' of the Windows 7 activation. You can 'Google' to discover the details.

 

 

[Rimmer]

Flames and replies have been removed, can we talk about the subject please and not other mebers