Has Microsoft left you stranded?
There’s now no support for Windows 7, but you can still upgrade to Windows 10 free. David Court explains how.
If you’re still running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, I’m here to tell you: ‘‘Don’t panic’’. You can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free.
Microsoft has ended its support for Windows 7 this week. The wellpublicised move – Microsoft has been warning customers about this since March last year – marks the end of Windows 7’s 11-year official lifespan.
Windows 7 was a massive hit for Microsoft. And it still is. Some sources suggest that a whopping 26 per cent of desktop PCs continue to run Windows 7. That’s an interesting statistic considering Microsoft made upgrading to Windows 10 free.
The (estimated) 200 million users who make up the 26 per cent figure will, as of this week, be exposed to future vulnerabilities – as Microsoft says it won’t be releasing any more patches for the old operating system.
I’d take that statement with a pinch of salt, though. As Microsoft has released several security updates for Windows XP after it announced it had ended support for the expired OS.
If you’re still running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, I’m here to tell you: ‘‘Don’t panic’’. You can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free.
Here’s how to do it
Windows 10 started life in a slightly odd way. Windows 8 and 8.1 were both so overwhelmingly unpopular that Microsoft took the drastic move of letting customers upgrade to Windows 10 – from Windows 7 and above – for free.
All customers had to do was go to the Microsoft website and download the free Windows 10 upgrade file. There wasn’t a catch or hidden cost down the line. It was a free lunch for anyone who wanted the latest version of Windows.
Some argue that Microsoft did this to keep its market share after a bad few years for the software giant. I think that’s a stretch.
Microsoft has never really faced any serious desktop OS competition apart from MacOS. And I suspect Microsoft knew that it couldn’t win over die-hard Mac users even if it paid them to. Anyway, I digress. Microsoft officially ended its free upgrade to the Windows 10 offer back on July 29, 2016. I say ‘‘officially’’ because I still managed to download and install a free version of Windows 10 via Microsoft’s ‘‘assistive technologies’’ website, several months after the deadline passed.
I assumed that loophole, and others like it, would have been found and closed by Microsoft by now. But nope. A quick search on Google shows that upgrading to Windows 10 is as easy, and free, as ever.
Before we go any further, if you’re looking to upgrade to Windows 10, the first thing I urge you to do is create a backup of all your documents, media and apps.
The easiest and fastest way to do this is by connecting an external hard drive then copying and pasting the files you want to keep.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a big enough external hard drive, you can back up your files to the cloud (OneDrive, DropBox, Google Drive, etc.) but this might take a few hours or even days depending on the speed of your internet connection.
Once your files are backed up and ready to upgrade, head to the Microsoft Windows 10 download site and download the Media Creation Tool.
If you’re planning on upgrading the machine you’re currently using, you only need to select the ‘‘Upgrade this PC now’’ option and follow the idiot-proof steps from there.
This is the simplest way to upgrade to Windows 10 for free.
However, if you want to upgrade another machine, or multiple machines, you’ll need to select the ‘‘Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC’’ option.
When the download is complete, you need to double click the ISO file and select where you want to mount it.
Finally, open the USB drive in File Explorer and click ‘‘run Setup’’ and follow the prompts to complete the upgrade.
If you’re running a genuine version of Windows, the digital licence that’s associated with your specific device will be copied over to your new version of Windows 10.
Note: You have to run the Windows 10 setup from a genuine copy of Windows. Creating a bootable USB drive or DVD with the ISO won’t work.