[WGH]

The Windows 7 free upgrade to Windows 10 program officially ended in July 2016, but unofficially it never went away. People with old laptops or computers running Windows 7 can still update to Windows 10 legally and completely free. Of course nobody knows for how long this offer will last but my advise is to do it before January 14th. Why?

Because Windows 7 support ends January 14th, no more software or security updates and without updates the Windows 10 Free Update may not work.



I have a Toshiba Satellite M305D from 2008 that was running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit. Vista reached it's end of life long time ago but the laptop was rarely used and practically brand new. Even though Vista ran perfectly there were no more software or security updates and no current applications would install into Vista, too many security leaks. The laptop became a time capsule.

I have a 11 year old Windows 7 OEM install disk that was first used when I built a computer in 2009, so throwing all caution to the wind I updated the Vista OS to Windows 7 and to my preasant surprise everything went perfectly. Windows 7 even activated and was legally registered. Step 1 accomplished!

12 hours and over 100 updates later Windows 7 was totally up to date.
Next I used the FREE Paragon Backup & Recovery Community Edition to image the pristine Windows 7 partition to a USB hard drive as a backup in case anything went wrong.
https://www.paragon-software.com/us/free/br-free/#
Time for Step 2 - the Windows 10 update.

Yesterday, 01-04-2020, I went to the Windows 10 Update page and installed the Media Creation Tool and picked the "Upgrade this PC now" button although you can also create a disk or USB thumbdrive to use later.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

8 hours later I now have Windows 10 activated and legally installed on my old laptop and I'm good for another 12 years.

[srb]

I don't see anything on your linked download page about it being free. 

It says:

To get started, you will first need to have a license to install Windows 10

• You have a license to install Windows 10 and are upgrading this PC from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
• You need to reinstall Windows 10 on a PC you’ve already successfully activated Windows 10."

[WGH]

Any Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 that has been registered and activated with a valid 25 digit Product Key is still eligible to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Even if free is never mentioned the "Create Windows 10 installation media" link still works as it always has. Download and run the Media Creation Tool, it will check your computer, make sure you have enough disk space, then download and install Windows 10, that is exactly how I did it a day ago.

Windows 8 and 8.1 users are on their own, all I know is the link and update absolutely works for 7.

[srb]

I have Windows 7 Ultimate Retail/OEM version that is activated and registered, however it is a 20-digit product key in the format xxxxx-xxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxx.

[WGH]

Looks the Windows 7 Home Premium has a different product key format than the Windows 7 Ultimate Retail/OEM version

Go for it! The upgrade likes to see a Windows 7 completely updated with all security and important updates. Also uninstall all old firewall and anti-virus software just to be sure.

With a "genuine" copy of Windows 7/8/8.1 (Home or Pro edition, properly licensed and activated) you will not be asked for a product key (I wasn't), and when the upgrade is complete and you've connected to the Internet, you'll have a digital license to Windows 10, which you can confirm by going to Settings > Update & Security > Activation.

The digital license is associated with that specific device, which means you can reformat the disk and perform a clean installation of the same edition of Windows 10 anytime. You won't need a product key, and activation is automatic.

Also you can also still upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro by using a product key from a previous business edition of Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 (Pro/Ultimate). That can save you $50-100 in OEM upgrade charges if you buy a new PC with Windows 10 Home preinstalled.

[richidoo]

Good info! Thanks WGH

I've still got Win7 Pro on a Thinkpad i5 that I love. I'd upgrade it but backup and restore (and getting used to Win10 GUI) are daunting. Nothing I haven't done before, just being a wuss. But to keep getting OS updates I guess I have no choice.

Is 4GB enough RAM for win10?
Rich

[WGH]

4 GB ram is enough, don't worry about adapting, you will get used to the new GUI real quick.

Here is a page of Windows 10 tips to tame and adjust the new operating system:
https://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-upgrade-download-install-tips-tricks/

Note: the upgrade installs Windows 10 Home but don't freak out, there are two places to change the product key if you have the Pro/Ultimate versions of 7/8/8.1





 

[richidoo]

Thanks WGH. My Roon server is Win8.1 so no biggie. But day to day on the laptop I will learn a lot more about it. 

So what key would I enter to change it from Home to Pro? Or do you mean I can buy the upgrade to Pro? Thx

[bacobits1]

Rich, you need to buy the Pro upgrade of course.

I have updated an HP from 2012, AMD A8 processor, 8gig RAM. If you have Win 7 pro it will up date to Win 10 Pro. I put in a Samsung EvO SSD and it boots up in 13 seconds! I'm not kidding.
Now, caution, this is the 1809 build version, it updated in Nov to the 1909 current build and slowed the machine down on boot up to 3 min. BS! I reverted back to the last version and stopped  setting for further Syst updates. My 3 year old i7 Win machine, 12 GIG RAM runs it perfect but does not boot in 13 sec. go figure.

The 2012 machine occasionally gets a "Blue Screen" because of a Radeon Video driver incompatibility (old last updated) somewhere but not very often. Hardware Driver incompatibility can be expected.
The Blue Screen will recover automatically and computer will reboot in say one minute. It sends info to Microsoft about the crash.

Win 7 must be updated for all this to go in. Yup it takes along time

[Doublej]

Even though you may be able to get a free upgrade you might not be able to find Windows 10 drivers for old machines.

[WGH]

Driver support can be a problem. Windows 10 does not have current drivers for the ATI 3100 integrated graphics in the Toshiba Satellite M305D laptop I just updated but luckily the last driver release (2016) works fine. The Catalyst software is not supported so I loose some functions I never use like dual display.

Installing old drivers (and software) in Compatibility Mode sometimes works too.

The only other option is to not upgrade to Windows 10 and keep using Windows 7, but then you are using a computer that will eventually be riddled with security flaws that, at this point, will never be patched. If you keep Windows 7 "air gapped" then you never have to update. An air gapped computer is isolated from networks, meaning that it is not directly connected to the internet, nor is it connected to any other system that is connected to the internet. A true air gapped computer is also physically isolated, meaning data can only be passed to it physically (via USB, removable media or a firewire with another machine).

Even though I keep Windows 10 up to date I still use Eset Antivirus ($30/year), Comodo Free Firewall, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium with real-time protection ($30/year). I regularly get alerts from all three programs as they block malicious web pages and links but then I travel everywhere on the internet. If I did this with an unprotected version of Windows 7 my computer would be filled up with drive-by downloads. Then again all it would take would be one bad link in Facebook to do you in.

Now, caution, this is the 1809 build version, it updated in Nov to the 1909 current build and slowed the machine down on boot up to 3 min. BS! I reverted back to the last version and stopped  setting for further Syst updates.

Seems like you are trading boot speed for security, not something I would be comfortable doing.

[bacobits1]

Windows Security Virus updates are done regularity along with running Malwarebytes Full.
Every time Microsloth comes out with these cumulative updates they fuck something up.
It's happened with sound drivers more than once.

[WGH]

Like me, most people upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 have older, slower computers. By default, a new Windows installation has almost everything turned on, so after the update your computer may be indeed slower, as bacobits1 discovered.

In addition to turning off "features" in my previous post above (with the screen shots) there are other settings that will dramatically increase performance:

19 best tips to increase performance on Windows 10
https://www.windowscentral.com/15-tips-increase-performance-windows-10

12 & 13 are the most effective, if you don't have time or want to bother with a computer, just do these two and call it a day.
#12 Disable system visual effects
#13 Disable search indexing

#12 Disable system visual effects - Uncheck all boxes except "Show thumbnails instead of icons" and "Smooth edges of screen fonts"


#13 Disable search indexing - In Windows search box (magnifying glass) type in "Indexing Options" and uncheck the drives and folders listed using the Modify and Advanced buttons.

Don't do #14 Increase page file size - that used to work with Windows 98 but no longer needed and now may lead to crashes, let Windows do it's thing.

[ctviggen]

Thanks for discussing this.  We had an old laptop, with windows 7, that I replaced with an all-in-one computer, bought on black Friday of last year.  I kept the old laptop just in case we needed anything off it.  I thought we were going to toss it.

With the coronavirus, however, everyone was suddenly home. We had a windows 10 laptop we used basically mainly for when we went on vacation, or I'd use for various projects (such as a second screen when debugging Kodi on a different computer).  That went to my 9 year old, so she could do homework.

Then, dance and karate and other extracurricular items went to Zoom.  We took the old laptop with Windows 7 and was using it for those, which were in the basement.  The "nice" thing about this laptop is that is has a large screen, so it works well with Zoom.

Using your techniques, I was able to upgrade to Windows 10.  I did not have to enter in a Windows 7 key, although I did copy it down (it's on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop).  According to the system, my version of Windows 10 is registered.

Now, we have a Zoom-only, windows 10 computer that stays in one spot. Thanks for the info.

[bacobits1]

Found this out also. The newest drivers are not always the best drivers. On an old Raltec WiFi adapter driver runs better if you rollback the driver. It was getting a "blue screen" ( not often ) with the newer driver.

[ctviggen]

Yeah, one issue I had was there was no driver (or the driver did not work) for wireless.  So, I had to connect the laptop to our hardwired network, download more updates, and then the wireless started working. 

This might have been caused by me, because I did not want to go through the sign-in process of Windows (making a Windows account online), so I said there was no Internet connection.  After that, the install finished, but then there really was no Internet connection, as I couldn't connect to a wireless network. 

It' pretty stripped down, just a few programs (Zoom, Adobe reader, Firefox, ESET anti-virus), but it still seems to be working well.  There's over 40Gb of stuff, with just that! 

[andy_c]

Another interesting thing that can be done with the Media Creation Tool linked in WGH's original post is to create an ISO file.  These are pretty big at around 4 GB.  After the download, the tool checks the ISO file's CRC code to make sure there were no download errors.  I end up making a bootable USB stick from the ISO using a tool called Rufus, that's very easy to use.

I end up doing all my version upgrades using this USB stick, rather than using Windows Update.  The reason is, I have a Tascam US-16x08 USB sound device attached to my HTPC.  Tascam tends to be about 6 months behind when certifying their drivers with new Windows 10 versions.  They've had trouble in the past and I've had to wait a long time before upgrading.  So I configure windows to wait the maximum of 365 days before version upgrades.  When Tascam finally certifies their drivers, I make a USB stick using the latest Media Creation Tool.  To upgrade using the USB stick, just run its setup.exe from within Windows - don't boot from the USB stick.  Then just choose the option to keep all data and apps, and you get a local version upgrade using a CRC-verified source.  There's another option that asks you if you want to download all the latest changes.  I choose "no" so that the upgrade takes place entirely locally.  Afterwards, I run Windows Update the normal way to get the latest changes.  In this way I get to choose exactly when the update takes place.  I hold off upgrading all my machines until the HTPC is ready to be upgraded, then do them all at once.

Clearly this isn't for everyone, or even very common, but it's a useful alternative for some.

[WGH]

I had to use the ISO burned to a DVD to initially upgrade my music server to 10. There is no Windows 10 video driver for the ancient Mini-ITX Intel Pine Trail D motherboard so the online computer check stopped the install. The ISO install didn't care about the driver, it installed a generic video driver and everything has been hunky-dory ever since.

[Doublej]

For certain basic functions, this Chrome OS like Operating System works great.  Runs from a USB stick. Zoom works fine but last time I ran it did not have all of the bells and whistles of Zoom on other platforms.

https://www.neverware.com/freedownload#intro-text