How to Get Windows 11 or Windows 10 for Free (or Under $20) | Tom’s Hardware – Thank you for your feedback!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

When prompted, be sure to choose Windows 10 Pro as the edition to install. The system was properly activated, because Microsoft’s servers recognized the hardware and used the digital license. Looking for technical information about Windows 10 releases, new features, known issues, troubleshooting, and tech support?

Start here. The one gotcha in this series of scenarios comes when you have a system that includes digital licenses for both Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro. In that scenario, you can inadvertently restore Windows 10 Home. This happened recently when I used a recovery image to reinstall Windows 10 on a Surface Pro PC that had originally shipped with Windows 10 Home and had been upgraded to Windows 10 Pro.

Not surprisingly, using the recovery image gave me an installation of Windows 10 Home. If that happens to you, don’t bother searching for the product key you used to upgrade. Instead, use Microsoft’s generic product key to force the upgrade. Next, enter the default Windows 10 Pro product key:. Follow the prompts to upgrade from Home to Pro. Because your hardware already has a digital license for the Pro edition, it will activate automatically. That generic product key isn’t magical, of course.

Other than those inconveniences, unactivated Windows should work just fine and receive automatic updates too. You can see if your school is eligible and download your free Windows 11 key here. These are all OEM keys and likely can’t be used on another computer after you activate them on the first one.

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room. While we can’t vouch for all of them, websites selling cheap Windows 10 or 11 keys are likely offering legitimate codes.

Kinguin has more than three dozen merchants worldwide selling Windows keys. It’s just another marketplace. So we tried calling the number and waited on hold for a few minutes. We thought activating via phone would be an automated process where we just punched in the key and got an approval code, but instead we got a live representative who immediately asked for our Microsoft account ID.

However, both sites play host to a number of third-party sellers whose product keys may or may not be legit. The easiest but most expensive way to get Windows is to buy your key directly from Microsoft. You can get these either as downloads or on USB drives.

If you have an old Windows key you can carry over from a previous build, that’s your best option and effectively gives you Windows 10 or Windows 11 for free. If you don’t have a key on hand, you need to decide whether you’re comfortable using an unactivated version of Windows 10 or 11, which limits your customization options, has an ugly watermark and leaves you ineligible for Microsoft support. The big question now is whether Microsoft will ever turn off the code on its activation servers that dispenses digital licenses after an upgrade from an earlier Windows version.

I’ve continued to test that scenario, and I can confirm, long after the end of support for Windows 7, that it still works. I continue 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 form to let me know how it went for you. Note: This article was originally published in January It has been updated multiple times since then to reflect the most current information. Home camera cctv monitoring monitor system alarm smart house video phone view concept – stock image. Home Business Enterprise Software. Microsoft’s much-hyped free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended years ago, right?

Not exactly. She has experience editing countless advice pieces and has written over 8, articles — including news, how-tos, explainers, and reviews on technology and even TV and entertainment-focused content — for several leading online publications.

She was also a US contributor at Pocket-lint. Before that, she worked as a beat reporter at different regional newspapers in Northeast America and freelanced for global websites such as the BBC.

One digital license, no product key required. Previously, she was an editor at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, and Pocket-lint. Tablets like Apple’s market-leading iPad line are increasingly ubiquitous in work and play.

You can upgrade directly using this tool, or create separate media. The wording here is remarkably vague. These are the devices that should be at or near the top of your shortlist. He doesn’t need the added convenience that much. Keep tabs on the latest threats.

Best Ergonomic Keyboards. Best Tripod Heads. Reader Favorites Best Linux Laptops. Best Wi-Fi Routers. Awesome PC Accessories. Best Wireless Earbuds. Best Smartwatches. Best Meta Quest 2 Accessories. Best Home Theater Systems.

Browse All News Articles. Google Photos Updates. Ethereum’s “The Merge” is Finally Here. Windows Terminal 1. This means you don’t have to worry about if it is legal to get Windows 10 for free. And, if you’re worried about if you can upgrade to Windows 11 if you already got WIndows 10 for free, well, it’s just as easy and painless. Your upgrade to Windows 10 will give you a digital entitlement to Windows, which means if your hardware fits Microsoft’s requirements to run Windows 11, you can download Windows 11 at any time for no extra cost.

Difficulty Easy. Duration 15 minutes. What You Need Valid product key or digital license Windows account. The best ultrawide monitors for The best gaming speakers for Improve the sound on your PC or game console. The best budget laptops for Best inch laptop deals for September We may have just seen the Meta Quest Pro, and it looks super sleek.

 
 

Yes, you can still get a free Windows 10 upgrade. Here’s how | ZDNET

 
To purchase the upgrade, select Buy. Entering special characters, including foreign 1 symbols, fractions, and emoji, is a cumbersome task on most physical keyboards. However, in both cases, the tool will temporarily download a disk image of Windows 10, so be sure you have enough space for the file — around 4GB, at least.

 

[Windows 10 upgrade license pro free download

 

Windows 10 upgrade license pro free download free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended more than five years ago, but no one told the people who run the Windows activation servers. As windows 10 upgrade license pro free download result, you can still upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8. That upgrade became more important than ever when support for Windows 7 officially ended in January And it turned out to be a great relief fgee household budgets when the pandemic made working from home or going to school via remote sessions suddenly popular.

In the past two years, millions of people have taken old PCs out of storage and gotten up to speed quickly, thanks to these free upgrades. You can also still upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro by using a product key from a previous business edition of Windows 7, 8, or 8. For details, see “How to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro without hassles. Every technique I describe in this article works the same for Windows 11 as well, although windows 10 upgrade license pro free download older PCs will licdnse blocked from upgrading to Microsoft’s newest operating oicense by the stringent Windows 11 hardware compatibility requirements.

Здесь those PCs, Windows 10 remains a viable option until at least October In this post, I’ll cover the basics of how to downlosd Windows 10 as an upgrade on older hardware. I’ll also talk about the licensing issues involved, which are as always confusing. I wrote and published the first version of this post in earlyseveral months after Microsoft’s initial free upgrade offer ended. The windows 10 upgrade license pro free download upgrade offer had just ended, and when I downloaded the Windows 10 upgrade dowload and ran it on an old Windows 7 PC, I fully expected that the upgrade would fail activation and I’d be asked for a product key.

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 windoas messages regularly from readers offering firsthand reports that their uptrade upgrades were successful, with no purchase or product key required.

A small number of readers have reported that the upgrade fails because of ссылка на страницу Setup error or a compatibility block. For details windows 10 upgrade license pro free download how to troubleshoot these errors, see “This free Windows 10 upgrade offer still works.

Here’s why download hp officejet 6600 driver for windows 10 and how to get it. Whether you’re looking for a tablet to stream videos or to replace your laptop, here are some compelling options. Before getting started, I recommend a few preliminary tasks that can head off potential problems:. With those preliminaries out of the way, go to the Download Windows 10 webpage and click the Download tool now button. After the download completes, double-click the executable file affinity designer for ipad date run the Media Creation Tool.

That option installs the most recent version of Windows Привожу ссылку typically takes about an hour, depending on your hardware. Having an SSD as your system drive licensw the best windows 10 upgrade license pro free download to speed up the process.

If you know you’ll want to upgrade to Windows 10 on more than one PC, or if you just want more flexibility in the event that the instant upgrade fails, choose the second option and save the installation files to a USB drive or as an ISO file. The download takes a little time but when it’s complete, you can run the Windows Licensf program manually to install Windows 10 on any PC running any supported Windows version sorry, this won’t work with PCs running Windows Vista or Windows XP.

The exact steps depend on which download больше на странице you chose:. Then just follow the prompts to complete the upgrade to Windows All your apps and data files will be available. The digital license is associated with that specific device, which means windows 10 upgrade license pro free download 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 10 on the old hardware; after confirming that the new Windows 10 version is properly activated, install the SSD and then either restore from a backup image or boot from the USB flash drive to do a clean install. You won’t need a product key, and activation is automatic.

But it’s still there, if you know where to look. Use this tweak to make Windows search strictly local. Should you defrag your windows 10 upgrade license pro free download drive?

Absolutely not! Here’s how to keep conventional hard disks, SSDs, and even virtual disks running at peak efficiency. In Windows 10, OneDrive is built in. The connections are so tight, in fact, that OneDrive has its own node in File Explorer, with no windoqs way to remove it. But the options to disconnect OneDrive are there http://replace.me/25505.txt you know where to look.

Here are full instructions. One confusing aspect of Windows 10 is the way it keeps some options in the old-style Control Panel and others in the new Settings app.

Http://replace.me/5993.txt good news is you don’t have to guess where to look, once you learn these two search secrets. Buried deep in the Settings app on a Windows 10 laptop or tablet is a list of which apps and ваше autodesk maya with softimage 2018 free может programs have been burning through your больше на странице lately.

You’ll also find special Battery Saver settings that can extend your remaining battery life dramatically. Entering special characters, including foreign currency symbols, fractions, and emoji, is a cumbersome task on most physical keyboards.

Use this hidden Windows 10 option to open an on-screen keyboard that puts a ll those options at your fingertips. By default, Windows 10 apps even desktop programs like Outlook can interrupt you with notifications. Here’s how to take windows 10 upgrade license pro free download of those pop-ups and sounds so they windows 10 upgrade license pro free download become a distraction. Is your Windows 10 laptop or tablet running low on free space? Built-in storage management tools удалена activate adobe acrobat xi pro offline free свой you pinpoint exactly which files http://replace.me/3528.txt apps are to blame.

In many cases, you can recover that free space with just a click or two. If our Windows 10 PC is operating perfectly right now, great. Take advantage of the opportunity to create a recovery drive so you have a way to http://replace.me/20645.txt repairs if something ever goes wrong. Who needs Windows Cant anything windows 10 Cortana can do simple math, and with one extra keystroke you can display a full-featured calculator in the Start menu.

And now the big windows 10 upgrade license pro free download If you avail yourself of this upgrade to Windows 10, is the resulting license valid? Winddows entire “free upgrade” offer was always accompanied by language that was, to put it politely, a bit squishy. And the language around liccense end of that offer was similarly vague.

That’s very odd language. The free upgrade through por Get Windows 10 app ended on July 29, Likewise, the discussion of product keys says a key will be necessary “for this tool to work” not true but doesn’t say a word about licensing. And unlike the weaselly “Genuine Windows 10 upgrade license pro free download dpwnload on older upgrades, the activation screens for a Windows 10 upgrade specifically confirm the existence of a “digital license.

Anyway, the free upgrade offer was extended briefly, at least for people who use assistive technologies. The FAQ on a separate page even called it a “free upgrade offer extension” and pointedly noted that it was not limited to specific assistive technologies. I regularly use the Magnifier utility in Windows, which is indisputably windowe assistive technology.

Of course, I’m not a lawyer, and this column isn’t legal advice. But I will say that I am personally confident in the activation status of увидеть больше PC upgraded using the tool on that page during the eligibility period. This extension was, I think, a very large nod and a wink, designed to make it easy for those who wanted livense Windows 10 upgrade to still get it while placating the OEM partners who were none too happy about the year-long emphasis on upgrades rather than new PC sales.

Alas, I say “was,” because the extension which was http://replace.me/8049.txt extended officially ended on Jan. The page that formerly ran an Upgrade Assistant now returns an error message. The big question kpgrade is whether Microsoft will ever turn off the code on its activation servers that dispenses digital licenses after an upgrade from an earlier Windows version.

I’ve continued to test that scenario, and I can confirm, long after the end of support for Windows 7, that it still works. I continue to hear from readers sharing windows 10 upgrade license pro free download experiences.

If you’ve used this technique on a PC, click my name at the top of this post and use the contact form to let me know how it went for you. Note: This article was originally published in January It has been updated multiple times since then to reflect the most current information.

Home camera cctv monitoring monitor system alarm smart house video phone view concept – stock image. Home Business Enterprise Software. Microsoft’s much-hyped free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended years ago, right? Not exactly. She has взято отсюда editing countless advice pieces and has written over 8, articles — including news, how-tos, explainers, and reviews on technology and even TV and entertainment-focused content — for several leading online publications.

She was also a US contributor at Pocket-lint. Before that, she worked as a beat reporter at different regional newspapers читать полностью Northeast America and freelanced for global websites such источник the BBC.

One digital license, no product key required. Previously, she was an editor at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, and Pocket-lint. Tablets like Apple’s market-leading iPad line are increasingly ubiquitous in work and play. You can upgrade directly using this tool, or create separate media. The wording here is remarkably vague.

These are the devices that should be at or near the top of your shortlist. He doesn’t need the added convenience that much. Keep tabs on the latest threats. Suddenly, it wasn’t. A screenshot from a McDonald’s ad. His writing has been published all over the world, most recently on CNET. He does not hold investments in the companies he writes about. So, is it worth upgrading? But there are other windows 10 upgrade license pro free download if you want the best phone available.