Windows 10 Free Upgrade ??

[jace1969]

Just a few things on this windows 10,had the 'free upgrade' as i'm on windows 7 ultimate.

Can't stand windows 8 as i like the lay out of 7 and will never have a touch screen laptop

as i use a Tablet if i want to use touch screen.

If i do the free upgrade will it kill my windows 7 licence key.

When upgrade done will you be ok to use 10 on another p.c as you will have the licence key

when you look at the info in the setting ( saying it is activated )and the program is easy

to get as it's just the key what is the main thing.

Cheers.

[Brigante]

I saw this appear last night something on about upgrading to 10. Is it worth doing/safe to do?

Again currently on 7 as I hate 8

[jace1969]

I saw this appear last night something on about upgrading to 10. Is it worth doing/safe to do?

Again currently on 7 as I hate 8

Yes the same as me,i have tried windows 8 for a week and ended up giving it a format and 7.

As these are so £££ to buy when out would it be a good option the upgrade but don't want to kill 7 key.

[Goodkat]

Okay lads, the upgrade will indeed be free, but it is exactly that, an upgrade.

Microsoft will let you download 10 onto a PC with a currently live genuine version of windows 7.1 or 8.1. It doesn't affect your licence key, 10 will be official. However, they do not give you a new key, so you cannot do a fresh install on another PC without an operating system.

If you try it and don't like it, you can rollback to 7 or 8 using your key and it will work.

As for 10, I am currently running the beta version on my 4 year old laptop. There are still a few final glitches to iron out, but from what I have seen, it is faster, the start menu is different but definitely usable, there are some handy tools it has built in and all the programs run straight off the bat. (Except iTunes).

I will put some screenshots up shortly.

Hopefully this helps.

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GNU STP

[Phil 87]

I've heard a lot of good stuff about 10, but I'll be waiting until it's released so I can install it fresh (I should be able to get it for free through work's MSDN account). It looks like it'll be basically the same as 8.1 just with a proper start menu, but I don't know about what other features it has.

There's nothing wrong with 8.1 as long as you don't use Metro ;)

[Randoms]

Do you just visit Microsoft website for the free update? Fathering law bought a new laptop yesterday (loaded with 8.1) and is really struggling so this could be a good help/fix.

[Phil 87]

Do you just visit Microsoft website for the free update? Fathering law bought a new laptop yesterday (loaded with 8.1) and is really struggling so this could be a good help/fix.

In the meantime here are some things you can do to make it easier to use:

• Set it to boot up to the desktop by default.
• Add a programs toolbar (similar to the old start menu) with these instructions: http://blog.laptopmag.com/how-to-add-an-all-programs-button-to-the-windows-8-taskbar
• Pin any commonly used programs to the taskbar.

He shouldn't have any problems with it then.

[Randoms]

Cheers thanks for the reply/info I'll give that a go.

[Goodkat]

Windows 10 is officially due to start rolling out on the 29th July, the laptop will come up with an icon in the taskbar, which will notify you of the imminent release and if you wish to opt in for the download.

[jace1969]

So if you dowload it after the 29th as it will be all sorted and done for free upgrade you will get

the full windows 10 and roll back before the update install back to my windows 7 or format and

install off my disk with the key again.

Be good if you got a free key for 10 lol....we live in hope :)

[Goodkat]

You will most likely have to format and reinstall the original OS using either a DVD/Flash drive iso file. I would recommend backing up all files, and creating a bootable disc for Windows 7/8. If you do not have a disc, a lot of newer computers have a recovery partition which often contains the bootable file. There should be a method of creating a Windows disc there.

If not, you can download Windows 7/8 from the internet easily enough.

[Incontro]

@Goodkat:

I have a genuine copy of Windows 8/8.1, with a key, installed on my laptop. So if I wanted to format the laptop (wipe it completely) - do you think I will be able to install Windows 10 directly from an ISO (flash drive)? Or will I have to install Windows 8 as normal, and then upgrade to Windows 10 all over again inside the OS, every time I format?

[jace1969]

@Goodkat:

I have a genuine copy of Windows 8/8.1, with a key, installed on my laptop. So if I wanted to format the laptop (wipe it completely) - do you think I will be able to install Windows 10 directly from an ISO (flash drive)? Or will I have to install Windows 8 as normal, and then upgrade to Windows 10 all over again inside the OS, every time I format?

I see your point here,this is how i would try it as i have loads on my p.c and don't want to mess it up or need

for a format,well yet i say.

[Phil 87]

^ Yes I think without a Windows 10 key you would need to do the upgrade from 8 / 8.1. That is unless MS allow you to use a Win 8 key to install 10, if they recognize that copy of 8 is eligible for the upgrade (unlikely I think).

[thatfiestaguy]

^ Yes I think without a Windows 10 key you would need to do the upgrade from 8 / 8.1. That is unless MS allow you to use a Win 8 key to install 10, if they recognize that copy of 8 is eligible for the upgrade (unlikely I think).

Very much doubt that would work, I suspect you'd have to use said Windows 8 key to install Windows 8, and then once installed download the free windows 10 upgrade.

It is a lot of work for something that is in essence the exact same thing, but generally speaking a key for a lower version of windows won't entitle you to an upgrade of a higher version of windows (the same applies backwards).

IE Windows 8 key will not work for Windows 7 install, etc....

[RAIDER32]

I'm hoping that after Upgrading we get issued with a Windows 10 key, which then can then be used for a clean installation later,

which would probably be straight away for me, as I would prefer a clean installation.

I'm really hoping my Surface Pro 3 gets a clean copy to save space, there is a hidden partition for factory resetting Windows 8.1,

so having the Windows 8.1 OS, it's Back-Up and the Windows 10 Update will suck up a lot of space on portable devices.

[Goodkat]

I think that in time Microsoft will confirm exactly how they will go about it, and what will happen in regards to after the year's free upgrade has expired. I would assume to avoid piracy, they would insist that the original OS is reinstalled after reformatting, so the key can be verified, then upgrade to 10. I can almost guarantee though that hackers are already working on a keygen for it.

The question I wonder, is why are they trying to give the new revolutionary OS away free? What is in it for them?

I guess more market share, and get more people to use onedrive, makes snooping a lot easier when people willingly hand over their data... #cynical

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GNU STP

[Incontro]

I'm hoping that after Upgrading we get issued with a Windows 10 key, which then can then be used for a clean installation later,

which would probably be straight away for me, as I would prefer a clean installation.

I'm really hoping my Surface Pro 3 gets a clean copy to save space, there is a hidden partition for factory resetting Windows 8.1,

so having the Windows 8.1 OS, it's Back-Up and the Windows 10 Update will suck up a lot of space on portable devices.

Same here mate, clean installs are the only way to go for me. OS always runs 100% smoothly/reliably with a clean install. And if it doesn't, then 90% chance the problem is hardware.

It would be such a long and painful process if Windows 8 keys didn't work directly for Windows 10 installs, imagine having to install 2 operating systems one after the other all the time. Yawn.

[RAIDER32]

The question I wonder, is why are they trying to give the new revolutionary OS away free? What is in it for them?

I would imagine they need that clean slate, and as you suggest, to push more of their own services down the line.

There is also a huge amount of people & business still on XP, since that there is Vista/Win7/Win8, and now Windows 10,

that's a long line of 'active' Operating systems in use, they want to copy Apple and have free platform updates, that's impossible with 5 OS's.

With their Good/Bad/Good/Bad OS releases, most have stuck to Windows 7 right now because Windows 8 sucks,

Charging people for yet another OS isn't going to have much pull factor for anybody using older OS's as hardware lasts longer.

[Phil 87]

Same here mate, clean installs are the only way to go for me. OS always runs 100% smoothly/reliably with a clean install. And if it doesn't, then 90% chance the problem is hardware.

It would be such a long and painful process if Windows 8 keys didn't work directly for Windows 10 installs, imagine having to install 2 operating systems one after the other all the time. Yawn.

Yes exactly, and especially when we can install from a USB stick onto an SSD, the whole install takes hardly any time.

and get more people to use onedrive, makes snooping a lot easier when people willingly hand over their data... #cynical

I share your cynicism there. I never let Windows 8.1 have access to my Microsoft account so it doesn't do any of that cloud stuff. They really want you to do it though, I had to disconnect my internet during the install just to force it to continue without signing in to the account lol.

[RAIDER32]

Same here mate, clean installs are the only way to go for me. OS always runs 100% smoothly/reliably with a clean install. And if it doesn't, then 90% chance the problem is hardware.

It would be such a long and painful process if Windows 8 keys didn't work directly for Windows 10 installs, imagine having to install 2 operating systems one after the other all the time. Yawn.

In my head it makes sense for Windows to Generate a Windows 10 key,

that is then tied to your hardware when you initially update to Win10.

From there you would be allowed to use that key as normal when installing a fresh OS later.

You can download full copies of Windows, it's just the key you actually own to activate it,

so it shouldn't make any difference to them how you get to Windows 10, clean or update.

[Goodkat]

They may generate a key yet, not sure. I think they are now mainly working on removing the last of the obvious bugs.

The thing about XP, despite what claims Microsoft make, a lot of older machinery will not run on newer OS. At my old work, they run a Océ 9400 plan printer, which is still fully functioning and due to the fall in demand, not financially viable to upgrade. However, it will not run on anything newer than XP, as the drivers are NLA.

I don't think anyone needs to consider Vista, that was truly awful.

I reckon die-hards will stick to 7 (I may go back to 7 yet, as I am a huge fan of it) and a lot of 8 users will make the switch happily.

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GNU STP

[RAIDER32]

The thing about XP, despite what claims Microsoft make, a lot of older machinery will not run on newer OS. At my old work, they run a Océ 9400 plan printer, which is still fully functioning and due to the fall in demand, not financially viable to upgrade. However, it will not run on anything newer than XP, as the drivers are NLA.

Yeh old hardware just wants to live on, but it will have to eventually die,

There are still a couple of PC's at work running Win95, our Retail software at work is DOS based, so it can run on anything,

but there are still a few devices that require these old PC to actually work, because they use the old Serial Ports.

I have a scanner that I've not been able to use since I updated to Vista, I've still got hundreds of photos to digitize lol.

[Goodkat]

Yep, SCSI support was not overly good in 7, I think even XP it was slowly being dropped in favour of USB and networking. I think that like 7 is what Vista should have been, 10 is what 8 should have been. I think it will succeed as well as 7 has.

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GNU STP

[Phil 87]

This just appeared on my machine lol:

I'm going to steer well clear of that and wait for the proper release. But now it looks like that windows icon is going to sit there in the bottom right corner taunting me. I hope it doesn't decide to update without my permission.