Free Upgrade to Windows 11 for Windows 10 Users

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• 

  Alan6984 on 23/09/2021 - 17:06

  +1

  From what I can recall when we went from Win7 to Win10, we upgraded many client PCs, then wiped them, and put Win7 back on. This meant that the digital license for Win10 was validated and would work down the track once the client was ready to move on, even if they didn't want to change over at that point (they were probably on WinServer 2008R2 and would have waited until going to WinServer 2016).

  I wouldn't necessarily do that on a machine that was already in use and running fine, but if you regularly wipe machines anyway and re-install, might be worth doing it next time, and you could do it on any 'hot spares' that you have lying around ready to go 'in case'.

  I haven't looked, but I am guessing there is no specific end date by when the Win10 to Win11 upgrade rights need to be exercised or lost. Last time I tried upgrading a Win7 to Win10, which was probably well over a year ago, maybe much more, it could still be done, which might have been five years from it first being made available, so this one might last for a long time too, but no guarantees.

  Alan.

  • 

    seifer on 24/09/2021 - 13:10

    Yeah I upgraded my wife's laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 10 about 6 months ago at no cost so them telling everyone they could only upgrade for a limited time was just to create fomo.

    • 

      sleepy on 24/09/2021 - 14:06

      How did you upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 for your wife's laptop?

      • 

        notmyusername on 24/09/2021 - 14:24

        You can just use your windows 7 key and it activates windows 10

      • 

        Alan6984 on 24/09/2021 - 16:35

        +1

        Assuming nothing has changed since I did it last, I downloaded the Win10 media (ISO) wrote it to USB (or DVD if I had a machine that still had that), fired it up, and it pretty much always just run through without me having to enter a key (it used the one already embedded in Win7).

        This is what I have done for my own machines - can't guarantee anything, but it has worked for me:

        1) Backup the machine, and test the backup to be sure that I can get anything that matters to me back if required. I do both a file backup of any data I don't want to lose, and also image it, but your call as to what you want to do.

        2) Upgrade Win7 to Win10 in place - this had never failed on me from what I can recall, and has always licensed the new Win10 automatically for me.

        3) Backup again, but this time I would only image the machine since I already have my data safe anyway.

        4) I then wipe the machine, and reinstall Win10 clean - just seemed like a better place to be than one that has been upgraded from Win7. This always worked for me since the digital license for Win10 had already been registered with MS.

        Worst case, I would have restored one of the backup images.

        Might depend on your personal circumstances and preferences of course.

        Alan.

      • 

        seifer on 25/09/2021 - 23:52

        Alan has a great write up which covers everything but another alternative is to just create installation media for Windows 10 and upgrade straight from Windows 7. This is what I did. More info here: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/14/21065140/how-to-upgrade-m…

• 

  Huntakillaz on 29/09/2021 - 13:26

  +1

  I really wouldn't recommend upgrading yet, they're releasing it but it will be buggy and unpolished like windows 10 was when it first came out. Give it 3-6months first.
  You're basically going to be their testers

  • 

    Alan6984 on 29/09/2021 - 13:35

    I agree.

    I will still upgrade any Win10 machine that comes past me that I can justify wiping, then once Win11 is licensed, I will delete and re-install it back to Win10 for now. I would guess it will be well into 2022 before I am ready to look at migrating for real.

    I might consider buying a new laptop for myself if there are some stunning deals in Nov 2021 that include any machines that are pre-installed with Win11 (less chance of issues such as driver problems), but I'll keep my desktop on Ubuntu, and my current daily driver laptop on Win10 for a good while I imagine.

    Alan.