Note: This article was originally published in September 2019 and has been significantly updated and republished several times since then. The current version contains details about major changes Microsoft has made to the September 2023 free upgrade program.
In January 2017, I wrote an article titled “Here’s how you can still get a free Windows 10 upgrade.” It became the most popular post I’ve ever published at ZDNET, and it remains one of the site’s most popular pages.
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In the months that followed that initial publication, I re-examined, revised, and updated the post several times. However, after the first few updates, I ran out of my old PC to upgrade; so I’ve included a note at the end of the article, asking readers who have tried this technique to use the contact form and let me know how the experience went.
The response to that request was overwhelming and I am still receiving reports today.
Alas, today, most of those reports are from people confirming that the free upgrade offer no longer results in a valid digital license. That vulnerability was officially closed on September 20, 2023, when Microsoft posted a discreet notice on a website for its hardware partners. (For details, see “It’s official: No more free Windows 10 upgrades”.)
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Although the upgrade to Windows 10 still works, the newly upgraded PC reports that it is not activating properly. In the Settings app, all options on the Personalization page are unavailable and this message appears at the top of the page, in red:
“You need to activate Windows before you can personalize your PC.”
So why does Microsoft offer free upgrades in the first place? And is there any chance of it revoke those digital licensesNow that the free upgrade offer is officially no longer available?
Why does Microsoft do this?
The answer to that first question is easy. Remember, Microsoft’s Windows business relies on partnerships with PC manufacturers, who pay a licensing fee for each copy of Windows they install on a new PC. Those OEMs weren’t too happy with the idea of extending the life of an old PC; instead they want you to buy a completely new PC.
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So, to appease its OEM partners, Microsoft put a time limit on the free upgrade offer, and when the offer expired after a year, the company simply didn’t talk about it. Today, the Windows marketing team is enthusiastically promoting new PCs running Windows 11, and enterprise salespeople continue to sell volume licenses of Windows Enterprise editions and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. No one is talking about upgrade.
Honestly, at this point, the only people still interested in upgrading to Windows 10 for free are enthusiasts, home users, and very small businesses running hardware that’s at least 8 years old. . Of course, that doesn’t mean the upgrade will fail. I have received many reports of successful Windows 10 upgrades on PCs since the beginning of the Windows 7 era in 2009-2011.
But most of those ancient PCs have been scrapped. The majority of Windows PCs sold in the past eight years have Windows 10 licenses, and even businesses that have stuck with Windows 7 to the end often do so by exercising downgrade rights. They can install Windows 10 for free at any time without having to jump through any steps.
On PCs that were originally sold with older versions of Windows, Microsoft’s calculus is pretty simple: It’s in the company’s best interest to see those older versions of Windows replaced, for both support and Improves the security of the Windows ecosystem. There is little to no profit in trying to sell upgrades to that market, and there is a lot of goodwill to be gained by making those upgrades easy.
But is there a catch?
The second question is a bit more difficult. To be Is there a trap? Technically no. A PC that upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 before the September 2023 expiration date will report that the PC is activated and has a digital license for Windows 10.
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Is that license legal? As I have said many times, I am not a lawyer so I cannot give legal advice. But I have a lot of experience with Windows licensing and it’s really inconceivable (and yes, that word means exactly what you think it means) that Microsoft would choose to enforce an ambiguous license agreement on its retail customers. After all, they all have the prospect of subscribing to Microsoft 365, buying Xbox hardware and games, playing Minecraft, using Microsoft co-pilotand finally buy a new Windows 11 PC from one of the above partners.
And whatever little money Microsoft’s bean counter might make from those upgrades won’t be able to balance out the very, very bad publicity that comes from sending threatening letters to retirees and businesses I’m trying to make money. get a few more years of life out of their old hardware.
Of course, if you are running a business, the calculation will be different. Do you really want to be uncertain about whether your business software assets are properly licensed? (Your accountant will tell you no.) But here I also believe that it is almost unlikely that the software police will pull any consumer or small business owner away because they decide Upgrade an old PC.
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Ultimately, this all comes down to the new Windows retail licensing model that Microsoft introduced with Windows 10 in 2015. You only have to buy a license once, usually with a new PC, and after that, All upgrades are free, as long as the hardware allows it. That’s the official policy for Windows 10 and Windows 11, and obviously this unofficial policy covers older versions of Windows as well.
