Can I Upgrade Windows 8 To Windows 10

Microsoft's gratis upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended more than five years ago, but no ane told the people who run the Windows activation servers. Equally a event, you tin still upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8.i and merits a costless digital license for the latest Windows 10 version, without being forced to bound through any hoops.

That upgrade became more important than ever when support for Windows 7 officially ended in Jan 2020. And it turned out to be a peachy relief to household budgets when the pandemic made working from abode (or going to school via remote sessions) suddenly popular. In the past two years, millions of people accept taken onetime PCs out of storage and gotten up to speed rapidly, thanks to these gratuitous upgrades.

Also: Windows eleven FAQ: Here's everything you need to know

You tin can also yet upgrade Windows ten Home to Windows ten Pro by using a product key from a previous business concern edition of Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 (Pro/Ultimate). That can save you as much equally $100 in OEM upgrade charges if you purchase a new PC with Windows 10 Home preinstalled. (For details, meet "How to upgrade from Windows 10 Dwelling to Pro without hassles.")

Every technique I describe in this article works the aforementioned for Windows eleven likewise, although well-nigh older PCs volition be blocked from upgrading to Microsoft'due south newest operating system by the stringent Windows 11 hardware compatibility requirements. For those PCs, Windows ten remains a viable option until at to the lowest degree Oct 2025.

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

I wrote and published the first version of this post in early 2017, several months after Microsoft'south initial complimentary upgrade offer ended. The free upgrade offering had just ended, and when I downloaded the Windows ten upgrade tool 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.

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

I digital license, no product key required.

Over the side by side four-plus years, I repeated those steps on exam PCs at regular intervals and confirmed that the free upgrade tool still works. I continue to receive electronic mail letters regularly from readers offering firsthand reports that their free upgrades were successful, with no buy or production key required.

A small number of readers accept reported that the upgrade fails because of a Setup fault or a compatibility cake. For details on how to troubleshoot these errors, see "This free Windows x upgrade offer still works. Hither's why - and how to get it." For help decoding setup errors, see "Windows 10: Use setup log files to troubleshoot installation bug."

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

How to upgrade an old PC to Windows x

ZDNet Recommends

The best tablets

Whether you're looking for a tablet to stream videos or to replace your laptop, here are some compelling options.

If yous have a PC running a "18-carat" re-create of Windows 7/8/8.1 (Windows 7 Home, Pro, or Ultimate edition, or Windows eight.x Habitation or Business, properly licensed and activated), you tin can follow the aforementioned steps I did to install Windows 10 as an upgrade.

Before getting started, I recommend a few preliminary tasks that can caput off potential issues:

Ostend that your copy of Windows is properly activated. This is especially important if you recently reinstalled Windows.
Check for whatsoever contempo driver updates, especially 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 ten.
Back up your data files to an external difficult bulldoze or deject storage (or both). Consider doing a full system backup to an external difficult drive using the Windows vii backup plan, which is too bachelor in Windows 8.x and Windows 10. Just run the control Sdclt.exe, and so cull the Create A System Prototype selection.
Temporarily uninstall third-political party security software and depression-level system utilities that can interfere with the upgrade. You lot tin reinstall those programs afterward the upgrade is complete.
Finally, disconnect any unnecessary external devices, especially USB flash drives and external hard drives. (Several common installation errors can exist traced to the Setup program being confused by these additional drives.)

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

You lot can upgrade directly using this tool, or create separate media.

If you lot've downloaded the Media Creation Tool on the car yous plan to upgrade, and y'all plan to upgrade that PC and only that PC, you can choose theUpgrade This PC At present choice. That pick installs the most recent version of Windows 10. It typically takes about an hour, depending on your hardware. (Having an SSD as your organisation bulldoze is the best style to speed up the process.)

If y'all know you'll want to upgrade to Windows 10 on more than one PC, or if you just want more flexibility in the upshot that the instant upgrade fails, choose the second option and save the installation files to a USB drive or equally an ISO file. The download takes a niggling fourth dimension but when it's complete, yous can run the Windows Setup program manually to install Windows ten on whatever PC running whatever supported Windows version (distressing, this won't piece of work with PCs running Windows Vista or Windows XP). The verbal steps depend on which download option you chose:

USB wink drive Insert the USB flash drive yous just created into a complimentary USB slot on the PC you want to upgrade. Then open up File Explorer (Windows Explorer in Windows vii) and double-click Setup to install Windows ten. Note that you lotcannot kicking from the newly created USB bulldoze 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 Later on the download is consummate, you'll need to mountain the ISO file and open information technology in a Windows Explorer/File Explorer window. On a PC running Windows eight.ane or Windows 10, you tin can double-click the ISO file to open information technology as a virtual drive. On a PC running Windows 7, you lot'll demand to install a third-party utility such equally the free, open up-source WinCDEmu. After mounting the ISO file, double-click Setup to start the install process.

And then just follow the prompts to complete the upgrade to Windows ten. You volition not be asked for a product cardinal, and when the upgrade is complete and you've connected to the cyberspace, yous'll have a digital license to the most recent Windows 10 version, which you can confirm by going to Settings > Update and Security > Activation. All your apps and data files will be available.

The digital license is associated with that specific device, which ways y'all can reformat the disk and perform a clean installation of the same edition of Windows x anytime. (If you're thinking of upgrading your former arrangement drive to an SSD, perform the upgrade to Windows 10 on the old hardware; afterward confirming that the new Windows 10 version is properly activated, install the SSD and and then either restore from a fill-in image or kick from the USB flash bulldoze to do a clean install. You won't need a production 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 entire "gratis upgrade" offer was always accompanied by language that was, to put it politely, a bit squishy. And the language effectually the end of that offer was similarly vague. For example, meet the answers I've highlighted hither on Microsoft's Windows ten Upgrade FAQ:

That's very odd language. The free upgradethrough the Get Windows x app concluded on July 29, 2016. Also, the discussion of product keys says a primal will exist necessary "for this tool to piece of work" (not true) but doesn't say a word most licensing.

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

Anyhow, the free upgrade offer was extended briefly, at least for people who use assistive technologies. The FAQ on a separate folio fifty-fifty chosen it a "free upgrade offer extension" and pointedly noted that it was not limited to specific assistive technologies. (I regularly utilise the Magnifier utility in Windows, which is indisputably an assistive technology.)

Of course, I'm not a lawyer, and this column isn't legal advice. Simply I will say that I am personally confident in the activation status of any 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 information technology easy for those who wanted a Windows ten upgrade to still get it while placating the OEM partners who were none too happy nearly the twelvemonth-long emphasis on upgrades rather than new PC sales.

Alas, I say "was," considering the extension (which was itself extended) officially ended on Jan. 16, 2018. The page that formerly ran an Upgrade Assistant now returns an error message.

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 connected to exam that scenario, and I can confirm, long after the end of support for Windows vii, that information technology 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 pinnacle of this post and use the contact form to allow me know how it went for you.

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