Free W10 upgrade still available?

[dgsmith]

One of our local primary schools is still largely on Windows 7 without an agreement to update, although their machines are mostly licensed for Windows 8.1 (using downgrade rights). Whilst Microsoft officially encouraged upgrading to W10 for free around 2016, it would seem from various sources that this can still be done using the media creation tool? They don't have a volume license and it's questionable if they would benefit with the few machines actually being used.

 

I was on bargainhardware.co.uk looking at costs to buy machines with Win10 licenses included but noted that even on their site, it suggests this can still be done. Does anyone know anything about the continuing legitimacy of this, especially as it seemingly is all being activated and updated directly via Microsoft's own servers several years after the official push has ended?

 

Their machines were mostly bought in Spring 2015 and have 4th gen core i3s, so from that side of thing will run Windows 10 ok with driver availability, but I would be a little reluctant to advise they shift all to Win8.1 rather than just making the full-jump now.

[LeMarchand]

I did a couple personal laptops just before Xmas and they activated fine. Came across this article earlier in the week that has a Powershell script to save you time: https://lifehacker.com/quickly-upgrade-windows-7-to-windows-10-for-free-with-t-1840843214

 

I have 3 Office machines that I need to do and I'm planning to test it out (might take a P2V copy first, just in case!).

[SpuffMonkey]

Yes - I did one just before Christmas too - it was fine

[hallb15]

I've done about 10 using the media creation tool over the past few weeks, most recent was on the 3rd Jan 2020.

I'll have a go with the powershell script though - thanks @LeMarchand

[dgsmith]

Thanks for the replies - interesting to read those who have actually done this and seem happy to continue doing so (and where I assume it works fine, with a fully activated version that isn't limited in any form). When I read it initially, it seemed wrong as MS had "officially" ended the scheme over 3yrs ago, but whether they simply are unaware (unlikely) or don't mind people still upgrading for free, then it helps immensely from a budget perspective.

[3s-gtech]

It suits them to allow as many users as possible to be on 10 - there's no money to be made from subscription services on old unsupported OSs. The initial 'offer' was to give some initial critical mass to overcome the upgrade phobia many of us have learned!

 

I did a personal laptop the last week before Christmas, as well as a batch of older laptops being repurposed outside of our volume license that had Home keys. All worked and activated perfectly.

[Arthur]

When I read it initially, it seemed wrong as MS had "officially" ended the scheme over 3yrs ago, but whether they simply are unaware (unlikely) or don't mind people still upgrading for free, then it helps immensely from a budget perspective.

Apparently Microsoft had to "officially" end the scheme to make the large OEMs happy. Like @3s-gtech mentioned it's in Microsoft's best interest to get everyone on Windows 10.

 

www.zdnet.com/article/this-free-windows-10-upgrade-offer-still-works-heres-why-and-how-to-get-it

 

Although Microsoft officially ended its free upgrade offer in mid-2016, one year after the initial release of Windows 10, it continues to make the upgrade free (and painless) for its retail customers running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

 

Why is Microsoft doing this? And is there a catch?

 

The answer to that first question is easy. Remember, Microsoft's Windows business is predicated on its partnership with PC makers, who pay a license fee for every copy of Windows they install on a new PC. Those OEMs are none too happy about the idea of extending the life of an older PC; they would much rather have you buy a brand new PC instead.

 

So, to mollify its OEM partners, Microsoft put a time limit on the free upgrade offer, and they simply don't speak of it now. The Windows marketing team continues to promote new models of Windows PCs, and the enterprise sales staff continues to sell volume licenses of Windows 10 Enterprise and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Nobody talks about upgrades.

 

Frankly, at this point the only people who are still interested in a free upgrade are enthusiasts, home users, and very small businesses running hardware that's at least four years old. Several of the reports I received specifically mention successfully upgrading PCs from the very beginning of the Windows 7 era in 2009-2011.

 

On PC's that were originally sold with older versions of Windows, Microsoft's calculus is pretty straightforward: It's in the company's best interests to see those old Windows versions retired, both for support purposes and to improve the security of the Windows ecosystem. There's no profit in trying to sell upgrades to that market, and there's plenty of goodwill to reap by making those upgrades easy.