can you still get free win 10

[badatmath]

I have seen that you can in some places but the person for who I am asking is pretty technically challenged and 81 years old. And 2K miles away. . . . Any suggestions what would be the easiest thing to tell him to do?


It may be "order a new computer" but it really seems like overkill.

 

[Sunset]

What does this person have now, and what do they do with their computer ?
Do they run tax software directly on their computer or other such programs, or is it all just email, and browse the web ?

 

[badatmath]

Email and useless stuff mostly, but they do banking and a few financial things. . . has a desktop win 7. Not sure what hardware they have precisely but I think it is probably adequate other than security risks coming with end of win 7 support.

 

[NW-Bound]

On the Web, as of a few months ago people said they could still update from a legitimate Win 7 copy to Win 10.

See the following article, and read the comments below it.

https://windowsreport.com/windows-10-free-upgrade-2018/


More recent info here (Nov 16, 2019):

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/upgrade-to-windows-10-free-heres-how/

 

[Sunset]

OP - The distance is really the killer here. I was going to offer various suggestions, but I seriously doubt they will be able to upgrade to Win10, or switch to Ubuntu. Maybe they won't even be able to copy over financial files to a new computer.

The easiest is a new computer, they are cheap now for something that will be a lot better than what they are using. But again the distance, how will they connect to the internet, migrate their email, etc....

 

[easysurfer]

Here's an article discussing the fact that Win 7 is a dead OS walking :

What to do after Windows 7 support ends

At this point, you have several choices:

1. Ignore the deadline, including the popup warnings you’ve probably already received.
2. Buy a new copy of Windows 10 ($140 from Microsoft), and install it.
3. Hope that the free upgrade loophole still exists.
4. Buy a new Windows 10 PC and migrate your existing files over to the new machine

https://www.pcworld.com/article/348...to-move-from-windows-7-to-windows-10.amp.html

For me, when MS was [-]suckering[/-] giving us Win 10 as a free upgrade, I tried upgrading my PC then. But found out the pc would crash due to a chip on the mother board that would crash Win 10. So, I ended up going with option 5 (not mentioned in the article).

That is, bought a decent used PC off of ebay that already had Win 10. Used the Win 10 media creation tool to reinstall Win 10 from scratch for totally clean install. Total cost of OS and machine cheaper than a license alone .

 

[jim584672]

You can get the bits from Microsoft as an ISO. Use the Rufus program to create a bootable USB drive. Then install and activate with your Win 7 key.

 

[easysurfer]

You can get the bits from Microsoft as an ISO. Use the Rufus program to create a bootable USB drive. Then install and activate with your Win 7 key.

Great tip. I may have to try this setting up a laptop as my spare Win 10 computer. Currently, I have may main desktop that uses Win 10.

Also have two laptops. Both, I've put linux on. But one of them was a Win 7 computer that I've upgraded to also use Win 10 if needed, but that is an old Dell that with Win 10 runs like a dog. (The old Dell still is functional with a good linux distro, however)

I have an unused DVD copy of Win 7 around. So, could install that on my better laptop and get Win 10 for that machine just in case my desktop goes bad. But I might be too lazy and just roll the dice too and not do the effort of diving in the loophole upgrade .

 

[jim584672]

Even if you have no key it still works, but puts a watermark on your Desktop.

 

[statsman]

You can get the bits from Microsoft as an ISO. Use the Rufus program to create a bootable USB drive. Then install and activate with your Win 7 key.

Isn't this true just for Win 7 Pro and not Win 7 Home?

 

[jim584672]

Not sure about Home or Pro, for more info:
https://www.howtogeek.com/266072/yo...ws-10-for-free-with-a-windows-7-8-or-8.1-key/

 

[badatmath]

thanks for the thoughts all. Really do not think he could handle a download or anything. My guess is he will see this as foolish fuss over nothing and keep using 7 . . . . /sigh. . . But I will ponder on it. He might be less inclined to "waste" money on a used system but not sure.

 

[easysurfer]

thanks for the thoughts all. Really do not think he could handle a download or anything. My guess is he will see this as foolish fuss over nothing and keep using 7 . . . . /sigh. . . But I will ponder on it. He might be less inclined to "waste" money on a used system but not sure.

Did he bring up the idea of moving away from Win 7 to you or more something you are concerned about for his computer safety? Reason I ask is if he brought up the topic, he'd probably me more convinced of change.

Otherwise, he may may need a little nudging like you telling him once upon a time there was this gentleman who didn't protect against ransomware. Just saying ... .

 

[NW-Bound]

Isn't this true just for Win 7 Pro and not Win 7 Home?

Supposedly, you have to update Win 7 Home to Win 10 Home, and Win 7 Pro to Win 10 Pro.

I don't know if you can update Win 7 Pro to Win 10 Home, but why would one want to do that?

 

[statsman]

Supposedly, you have to update Win 7 Home to Win 10 Home, and Win 7 Pro to Win 10 Pro.

I don't know if you can update Win 7 Pro to Win 10 Home, but why would one want to do that?

I thought I read somewhere that this free, backdoor upgrade to Win 10 (any version) was limited to those with Win 7/8/8.1 Pro licenses. Maybe that's changed or I misread the information.

Edit: I found the article, and I realize it is a different sort of upgrade. From Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro, using a Win 7/8.x Pro/Ultimate key. I read this in a few places (I was looking at purchasing a desktop PC that only had Windows 10 Home as an option, and I wanted Windows 10 Pro). I am not sure whether this still works:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/going-pro-how-to-upgrade-windows-10-home-without-hassles/

 

[NW-Bound]

There's conflicting info on the Web, and I don't know who to believe.

Here's another Web page dated Dec 12, 2019, which says:

To upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10, you’ll need a valid Windows 10 product key, as you can’t any longer use a Windows 7 product key. If you try, you’ll get a “This product key didn’t work. Please check it and try again, or try a different key” message.

The above means neither Home nor Pro versions can be updated now.

See: https://pureinfotech.com/upgrade-to-windows-10-from-windows-7/

 

[Jerry1]

Any chance there’s a family friend that could help him through it? Like a high school kid next door or a college kid that he knows? You’re right about the distance. My dad is 89 and out of state. I fix things when I’m there. I gave up trying to walk through things on the phone with him years ago. I was telling him there should be a shortcut on his desktop. He insisted there wasn’t. Little did I know that even though we were downloading something onto his laptop, when I’d ask about the shortcut being on his desktop, he was going over and looking at his “desk top pc”. That was it. I was done.

 

[camfused]

badatmath, see the thread here on Chromebooks. You might be able to get a young nerd to convert his machine to a Chromebook and his files (docs and spreadsheets) over to Google drive (and install MS Office for Chromebook). Or, just buy a cheap Chromebook. Then he (mostly) cant/wont mess it up too much, and it is easy to use, and nothing to install, virus free, etc.

I wish I had done this for my dad when he was still around. He liked to accidentally drag stuff when he would click on it. I was frequently straightening things out for him.

 

[calmloki]

We went with refurb Win 10 machines from Amazon because ~$250 cheap for the desktop with Win 10 vs. about $190 for Win 10 alone. Hope the ostensible safety is worth it, because I find Win 10 to be a PITA vs Win 7.

 

[camfused]

^^^^^ FYI, for everyone in my family running Win 10, I installed Classic Shell. It makes Windows 10 look/act like Windows 7. Works good, and is free.

 

[jim584672]

I just has a Windows 10 experience. Trying to upgrade a Dell E6410 laptop. Installed Win 10 and find out this Dell model is not compatible, it boots into a blank screen. It works with an external monitor, but that defeats the purpose of a laptop.

It does run Win 10 in Linux in Virtualbox without a problem. Just be aware some older models may have problems with the Win 10 upgrade.

 

[easysurfer]

^^^^^ FYI, for everyone in my family running Win 10, I installed Classic Shell. It makes Windows 10 look/act like Windows 7. Works good, and is free.

Just thought I'd mention that the original Classic Shell is not longer actively developed but has been picked up as Open Shell.

https://open-shell.github.io/Open-Shell-Menu/

I used Classic Shell in the past but decided to go with a similar type paid program (one time cost of under $5 at the time) for a program called Start10.

I think Classic Shell more closely mimicked the Win 7 look but Start10 seems more current in adjusting to any chances MS would make to Win 10. Overall, I'm quite happy with Start10 just to avoid those Win 10 tiles .

 

[NW-Bound]

I had a few PCs that were updated from Win 7 Pro to Win 10 Pro during the initial offer period. They have been running Win 10 since.

Recently, I noticed one of them could not update itself from version 1803 to version 1903. It just failed, and never provided a reason. I took it as a challenge to solve, but numerous troubleshooting methods failed.

I decided to reinstall Win 10, but with the option to keep all apps and files. Nope. It did not work. OK, how about just keeping files and wiping out all apps. NOPE! What the heck? It said "Cannot update to Win 10. Your system has been restored back to where it was". No blank screen. Just stuck forever at 1803 version.

I decided to reinstall Win 10 from scratch, but onto a new SSD that I was going to migrate to. This way, I still had the old HD to go back to, if the fresh install did not work. Win 10 installation recognized the hardware, and honored the digital license of the previous installation. Seems fine so far.

On another machine, the migration from an HD to an SSD failed due to a bad cable. Rebooted to the HD, and Win 10 managed to trash the HD while booting due to said bad cable that I did not know to replace. Repeating crashes during boot, but with different error codes given at each BSOD (blue screen of death). Tried to reinstall Win 10 with the option to keep all apps+files. It worked this time. Hah! I then managed to migrate to the SSD this time, but with the cable replaced.

Computer software is getting so complex, it's like a living organism. No two persons age and die the same way, not even twins. How did the digital world evolve to this state? I think it is alarming.

 

[statsman]

Your issues upgrading to Win 10 is why I won't do that with my Win 7 Pro desktop. I just find it easier to get newer hardware with each OS upgrade: 3.1 -> XP Pro -> 7 Pro -> 10 Pro (next). Now, if Microsoft releases a new OS in the next couple of years, I might be tempted to upgrade the Win 10 PC seeing as it is newer. But after 5-6 years, I start to worry about compatibility issues and hardware failures, particularly motherboard related.

 

[oldtrig]

Isn't this true just for Win 7 Pro and not Win 7 Home?

Keep trying. It might just work