The Best Ways to Get Windows 10 for Free
Even Windows enthusiasts clinging to the Zune have to admit that Mac owners are doing great – at least for now. Apple hasn’t charged macOS or macOS updates for years. Sure, you have to buy a computer from Apple in order to use macOS ( pretty much ), but at least the operating system is free.
Windows … not that many. While your new desktop or laptop is almost guaranteed to ship with a copy of Windows 10, the price of the OS will likely count towards the amount you paid for your system. Build your own computer and you’ll have to pay for a copy of Windows 10 yourself. And if you’re upgrading from an older operating system, the question of whether you have to pay for a newer version of Windows is confusing.
To ease your financial burden, here’s a roundup of all the best methods you can use to get a free or discounted version of Windows 10.
Free: Start Windows 10 without activating it.
Yes, you can install and run Windows 10 without activating it. Your system won’t shutdown after 30 days, and Microsoft won’t block you from accessing your apps or anything like that. You will be gnawed to activate your copy of Windows 10, and you will not be able to personalize your desktop – not its color – but these are Microsoft’s biggest obstacles in the way of running an unactivated copy of the operating system.
You will continue to receive all the latest Windows updates, although Microsoft certainly reserves the right to change this approach in the future (or block you from accessing other parts of your OS if you wish).
Free: Upgrade from a much older version of Windows.
When Windows 10 first debuted, Microsoft put a lot of emphasis on how users of its older operating systems, in particular Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. While Microsoft is not talking about the “promotion” expired anymore, the trick is all still works for a lot of people . It’s not even such a big gimmick, to be honest.
Just run Windows Update on your older version of Windows, and if prompted to upgrade to Windows 10, do so. Otherwise, use Microsoft Update Assistant or Media Creation Tool to run the update:
I haven’t done this process in years, but I suppose you want to make sure that you are updatin r Windows, and not wiping the disk and cleaning the installation of a completely new version of Windows 10. This should ensure that Windows 10 correctly provides you with free upgrade – a digital license that you can then link to your Microsoft account when upgrading to a new version of the OS.
It’s also worth writing down ( or locating ) your Windows 7 / 8.1 product key before starting this process, in case you need to activate Windows 10 during or after an upgrade. Not worth it, but just in case it comes in handy.
You can also try activating Windows 10 with your Windows 7 key – home for home, pro for professionals, and more – if you go the route of a clean install instead of an upgrade.
Free: be a student (or have a graduate email account)
Windows 10 Education is very similar to Windows 10 Enterprise, which is undoubtedly overkill for what most people do in their daily life with Windows. However, if you’re a student – and you can prove it using OnTheHub (which Microsoft itself links to) – you can get a free copy of Windows 10 Education edition without any strings attached.
(I tried this with my alma mater, hoping that my graduate’s email address would bring me some free Windows 10. Alas, I was prompted to log into my school’s web portal to access software products, which I obviously can’t do it since then. I don’t go there anymore. It was worth trying!)
Discounted: buy cheap OEM key.
This is the final “buyer beware” step. You can find super cheap Windows 10 OEM keys all over the internet. The problems with them are numerous. First, it is technically not supposed to be able to buy them, but someone makes money selling you (hopefully) valid keys they acquired in less attractive ways – unused volume keys, gray market keys bought locally. where Windows 10 costs a lot less, stolen keys, etc. In the worst case, you buy a key that has already been used, or a regular key found on the popular BitTorrent list, and you lose the paltry amount you paid.
Second, your OEM key will be linked to one machine. You can still get by with some sensible upgrades – a new graphics card, perhaps a different hard drive, or more memory – but if you do a radical operation on your PC, like replacing the motherboard, you might find that your dongle is no longer working. Windows will think that you are trying to use the key on a different computer, and it will not be happy with that (as will the Microsoft support representative you call to try to fix this problem).
Finally, it’s possible that your key may work for a while, but Microsoft could revoke it at any time, especially if the not-quite-legitimate location you’re from tries to resell that key to someone else. You never know when you might be tagged, and even if it does happen pretty soon after you bought the key, the place where you bought it may not be very willing to help you get your money back (subject to the circumstances).
Common: Buy Windows 10 from Microsoft
To save you a trip, Windows 10 full versions purchased directly from Microsoft will return the following to you:
- Windows 10 Home: from $ 139
- Windows 10 Pro: from $ 200
- Windows 10 Pro for Workstations: From $ 309 (Most people won’t need this version.)