As many Windows 7 users will know, Microsoft will be discontinuing support in January, leaving them with a choice of using an increasingly vulnerable PC/laptop or paying through the nose for Windows 10. What is not widely known however, is that it is still possible to get Windows 10 for free, if you're willing to do a bit of extra work.
Getting Started
Before installing Windows 10 there is a little preparation involved. You will need:
- To know the Windows 7 product key
- To know if your PC is 32 bit or 64 bit
- To know the version of Windows presently running on your PC, (ie Windows 7 Home, or Windows 7 Professional, etc)
- A USB flash drive with at least 8Gb of storage
- To back up your PC (not essential but recommended)
1/ Firstly, you need to know your present copy of Windows' product key as you'll be asked to enter it during the installation process. It will of course need to be a genuine key.
If you don't know the product key there is software available that will find it for you. One such app is called ProduKey.
Visit the web site and scroll down the page until you find the above options, then select the one that suits your system.
2/ This is where the second preparation step comes in, as you'll need to know if your PC/laptop is 32bit or 64bit.
If you don't know this, the place to find out is under the Control Panel, and the System tab. The above shows the path where System information can be found. Bear in mind this is from a PC running Windows 10, so may look a little different on a Windows 7 PC.
3/ Armed with this knowledge, select the appropriate option from the list shown above to download the app. When updating a 64 bit Windows 7 laptop I selected the zipped version, which worked well.
After I downloaded and opened this app a warning from the PC's antivirus software popped up. This was a false positive, but if you're in any doubt, use another app.
4/ Once its downloaded unzip the folder and hit the exe file. The app will start and immediately show your product key. Write it down as you'll need it.
5/ The next step is to find out what version of Windows the PC is currently running, ie Windows 7 Home, or Professional etc. This will also be displayed under the System tab.
6/ Now you will need to have either a USB flash drive with at least 8GB of storage, or DVR discs. This is to download Windows 10 to. (We'll now assume that the easiest option of a USB flash drive is
used).
7/ The final step is to back up your PC, just in case.
We're now ready to get a copy of Windows 10
Downloading A Free Copy of Windows 10
