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Windows 10 Free Upgrade Available in 190 Countries Today

308 points by Garbage 11y ago

PreetikaThakur 11y ago
great!
melling 11y ago
Let's hope Windows 10 is a big hit with PC users. Consumers trade in those old XP boxes and hundreds of millions take the free upgrade. Then maybe within 24 months lots of old IE's will fade away. https://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2&qpcustomd=0 https://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qpr... Edge appears to be a much better browser: https://html5test.com/results/desktop.html https://html5test.com/results/desktop.html
- bad_user 11y ago
  The upgrade is not free for XP users.
  - notahacker 11y ago
    or Vista users. If you've got a Windows system that actually badly needs upgrading, you're still [not] going to pay for it.
  - melling 11y ago
    That's why I said trade in those XP boxes. New hardware has gotta seem nice for them by now.
- theandrewbailey 11y ago
  As of January 2016, MS will only support the most recent version of IE for supported operating systems. It means IE 9 and 11, mostly. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2014/08/07/stay-up-to-date-with-internet-explorer.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2014/08/07/stay-up-to-dat...
- LocalPCGuy 11y ago
  Netmarketshare is a horrible source for real browser stats. Except when you want to inflate IE usage numbers, of course.
  - melling 11y ago
    Whatever the numbers are, developers are still sweating blood supporting old versions of IE. Let's get Windows users on 10. https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/why-everyone-should-love-windows-10/ https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/why-everyone-should-...
    - LocalPCGuy 11y ago
      Meh...it's not really sweating blood to support IE compared to the IE6/7 days. But we agree that the quicker users are on W10 and Edge, the better.
- Narishma 11y ago
  If they wanted to get rid of those XP boxes, they should have made the upgrade free for XP users as well.
deciplex 11y ago
Reminder that Microsoft installed adware on Windows 7/8 machines to encourage users to upgrade to Windows 10. Even if you hid the update from Windows Update, they un-hid it and reinstalled at least once that I know of. Don't reward this behavior by buying Windows 10. Or at least delay the purchase as long as possible.
- pennaMan 11y ago
  So they pushed an alert to everyone to upgrade? If it were like on os x where you already have the software installed and that software gives an alert to upgrade would it have been fine? I don't see how giving users a heads up to update is considered adware. Maybe a slippery slope at worse.
- wfunction 11y ago
  > Reminder that Microsoft installed adware on Windows 7/8 machines to encourage users to upgrade to Windows 10. Because Linux distributions like Ubuntu never ever encourage you to upgrade your system to the newest and shiniest version, right?
  - deciplex 11y ago
    They stop doing it when I tell them to knock it off, and they don't creep back in and do it again after a few months, either. The update responsible for the notification, even after I removed it and hid the update within WU, found its way back after MS released an 'update' to the package with the totally unintended, honest! side effect of unhiding the package and reinstalling it.
    - wfunction 11y ago
      > They stop doing it when I tell them to knock it off Oh, I wish what you said was true. It's funny because they didn't do that when I was on an older version of Ubuntu (11? 12? I forget). It just kept popping up and telling me to update no matter what I did. Stuff like this: http://askubuntu.com/q/218755 http://askubuntu.com/q/218755
- 11y ago
Osmium 11y ago
Any news on how to get a free 'reserved' copy? The Verge seems to suggest that you just have to wait, and it might take weeks, since Microsoft wants to do a gradual rollout...
- grimman 11y ago
  Assuming you've clicked the Reserve-button in the little notification application that was rolled out via Windows Update, you'll just have to sit tight and wait. Check out the FAQ: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq
- petitmiam 11y ago
  An icon should be present on your Win7/8 task bar which lets you reserve a copy. It does seem to be a gradual rollout though, as mine still tells me it's not available yet. It's probably quicker to download directly via The Windows 10 Download Tool: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
  - crazysaem 11y ago
    I can confirm that. I didn't see anything about Windows 10 in the Windows Update window, but upgrading via the tool worked perfectly for me.
    - Osmium 11y ago
      Do you have to burn it to a USB/CD as the page suggests, or is does the tool give a way to upgrade in place without doing that? Edit: can confirm crazysaem's experience. I did an in-place upgrade on a fully-patched 8.1 system and it worked flawlessly and relatively quickly (I kept my apps and settings). I'm not a heavy Windows user though.
      - crazysaem 11y ago
        You have the option to either create the USB/CD media or do an in-place upgrade. I did the in-place upgrade, which worked without problems for me. They also provide the option to either keep your apps and files or delete them. I chose to delete them, because I wanted a clean install.
VinzO 11y ago
anyone knows when Windows 10 will be released for mobiles?
- VinzO 11y ago
  Could anyone explain the downvotes? I have a windows phone and I am really interested in the release of windows 10 for windows phones, especially with the hope of finally having a decent browser on my phone.
  - nailer 11y ago
    I think people don't know that Windows Phone 8's follow up is also called Windows 10.
  - Synaesthesia 11y ago
    I'd also like to know bur the release schedule is not synchronised with the desktop Windows 10 at all.
  - sudioStudio64 11y ago
    I've been seeing on some sites that it will be out in the September time-frame. As to why the downvotes? HN, man. HN.
acqq 11y ago
Note that the upgrade will remove your Windows built-in DVD player. The right to play DVDs must be paid for every computer. You paid it when you bought the Windows 7 or 8 that you'll maybe upgrade to 10. Now the upgrade to Windows 10 takes that feature away from you. They apparently (the twitter message isn't actually the company statement) plan to return it "sometime in the future" and "if it might be free or if it will cost" is TBA: http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-will-include-option-play-dvd-movies-sometime-future http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-will-include-option... The Media Player capabilities, if you have them in your Windows edition, will be for ever deleted. Just so. Moreover, note that the upgrade can reduce the functionality of your notebook: Microsoft made the deal with the hardware producers about integrating hidden partitions to allow the recovery from the hard disk, but the upgrade process will just make sure that the Windows runs, not that your recovery from the hard disk functionality, managed by each hardware vendor independently (based on the recommendations from Microsoft) would be preserved. I don't use the recovery mechanism, but I do use backup. When the recovery partitions aren't right, the built in backup (which was kept from Windows 7) doesn't work on Windows 8.1. The same story happened with the transition from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 (I have such a notebook). Anybody knows if the "Windows 7" style full disk backup survived in Windows 10?
- sergiotapia 11y ago
  Can you not use VLC or MPC?
  - acqq 11y ago
    It's not about what "can" be done, you can also install the pirated software too, the thing is, by buying legally Windows 7 or Windows 8 Media Pack or Ultimate I have really paid the DVD playback functionality to Microsoft as well as the other features I've mentioned. Also read about the legality aspects of the Microsoft's DVD solutions up to now and of the open-source DVD players: http://www.zdnet.com/article/if-vlc-can-ship-a-free-dvd-player-why-cant-microsoft/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/if-vlc-can-ship-a-free-dvd-play...
    - 11y ago
deleted 11y ago
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hudell 11y ago
The update only froze once for me (had to hard reset). No side effects from that. This was the smoothest windows update process I've ever had. Had some trouble with Asus touchpad drivers, but after fixing that, everything is running well and nothing was lost. All previously installed software seems to be running fine.
- batiudrami 11y ago
  My Asus touchpad was fine. Had to manually install updated Realtek sound drivers but apart from that also all good - done and dusted in about 25 minutes.
- thescrewdriver 11y ago
  > The update only froze once for me (had to hard reset). No side effects from that. This was the smoothest windows update process I've ever had. Having to hard reset during an update due to a freeze doesn't exactly sound like a particularly smooth process. I guess your perspective depends on your experiences with previous updates.
  - hudell 11y ago
    Yes, every other windows update I had before either: a) Failed on the first try b) Deleted files/software Windows 10 was the first time I didn't lose anything (except the games that stopped working)
VinzO 11y ago
If your windows copy is not genuine, can you still get a free upgrade?
- VeejayRampay 11y ago
  Asking for a friend I suppose?
- txru 11y ago
  The update isn't available for people with group licenses (i.e. schools, large workplaces). So, no.
  - rplnt 11y ago
    Not even "personal" MSDN(AA) licenses.
    - odabaxok 11y ago
      Are you sure about this? I have this kind of license (for Win 8.1) and in the "Win 10 upgrade window" it said that my machine can be upgraded. Although, I have not tried it, yet.
  - anonymfus 11y ago
    That only means that systems activated by pirated KMS servers will not get an update. The real question is what happens with systems with pirated OEM certificates in motherboard firmware. IIRC this was the most reliable method of piracy for Windows 7.
- thescrewdriver 11y ago
  If you had no concerns running a pirated copy of the old version what's stopping you from getting a pirated copy of the newer version?
  - netheril96 11y ago
    Well, a legal copy is always better than a pirated one. The least of the benefits would be the lack of need to unlock it. But I guess he/she asked the questions because Microsoft might have indicated that in the past.
deleted 11y ago
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sneak 11y ago
In other news, MySpace releases a major UI overhaul with several new features.
crazysaem 11y ago
The Windows 10 Installation media creation tool is also already out: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
zokier 11y ago
Meanwhile actually trying to buy the damn thing seems nearly impossible. MS rep on their store said that it might take couple of weeks until it becomes available for purchase. On US store you can order physical copy but download option is "coming soon". Just seems bit ridiculous...
bad_user 11y ago
So when you upgrade to Windows 10, do you get a Windows 10 license key?
- ionised 11y ago
  If you upgraded to Windows 10 on this PC by taking advantage of the free upgrade offer and successfully activated Windows 10 on this PC in the past, you won't have a Windows 10 product key, and you can skip the product key page by selecting the Skip button. Your PC will activate online automatically so long as the same edition of Windows 10 was successfully activated on this PC by using the free Windows 10 upgrade offer. From; http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install?ocid=ms_wol_win10 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation... Which makes it sound like you don't, and can only upgrade or clean install on a single machine. I hope this is incorrect because I'm planning to upgrade my machine in 6 months.
sergiotapia 11y ago
I'm really excited for this release and especially excited about Cortana. If it works as advertised I'll be buying a windows phone. I'm ready for a device that i can just talk to with a normal voice and ask it stuff.
- ossreality 11y ago
  I'm a bit amused that you think Cortana will outshine Google Now in this area. Let me guess, you're used to Siri?
- pjc50 11y ago
  It works fairly well, in the manner of Siri. It copes with moderate Scottish accents, which is impressive. The downsides are that you have to have location services turned on (bad for battery) and, like Siri, everything you say is recorded and may be farmed out mechanical-turk style for analysis.
batou 11y ago
I got the upgrade from 8.1 Pro last night: 1. The OOBE experience ran twice. It rebooted half way through the first one to apply updates and then I had to do it all again. 2. It lost the product key and won't activate even though this is a genuine copy from MSDN. I guess I have to wait for a key from MSDN later today. Not end of the world but a pain point. If it isn't activated, hardly anything works now. 3. However that's all pointless as it hangs solid after 3-5 minutes reliably. That's not enough time to even roll a single windows update in so I'm shafted. This is a rock solid Lenovo X201 that has never had a single problem with any Windows release. It hasn't crashed once since I bought it new. Not impressed. Spent an hour rolling it back. I imagine, considering this was quality well tested hardware, that this is going to be nothing but hell for people. If even 1% of people have this experience, the media will blow big time and I'd hope that they do. Edit: on my Sony VPC-J1 AOI machine that fails with "Windows 10 upgrade failed" after pissing around for an hour. At least that didn't hose the machine.
thescrewdriver 11y ago
Be sure to read the licensing fine print about data collection for advertising etc. https://edri.org/microsofts-new-small-print-how-your-personal-data-abused/ https://edri.org/microsofts-new-small-print-how-your-persona... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9966236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9966236
- ionised 11y ago
  This is just for Microsoft Account-enabled installations isn't it? I kind of expected that. I hope this kind of shit is not happening with the regular Local Account, or I'll be rolling back to Windows 7 swiftly.
  - WireWrap 11y ago
    Not creating and using a Microsoft Account would eliminate some of the privacy concerns, but not all of them. If you think it important to protect information, in general or about yourself, then you need to carefully study the privacy statement, services agreement, and associated materials. Plus the various settings that can be used to control the features that phone home. Then, if you do decide that the OS can be configured and used in a way that you are comfortable with, you proceed. Don't install the OS until you determine that and know how to make the configuration changes. Take your time, maybe read http://www.tenforums.com/ http://www.tenforums.com/ for awhile.
- SmellyGeekBoy 11y ago
  I've been on the preview since the beginning, when I installed the supposedly "final" build (10240?) about a week ago it ran through a wizard that allowed me to disable this functionality.
  - thescrewdriver 11y ago
    Including the per-device unique id for advertisers?
    - 11y ago
kristofferR 11y ago
Official ISO downloads: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10I...
- abrookewood 11y ago
  Presumably you have to do an in-place upgrade if you use these? I can't see any mention of what key I am supposed to use (from the reservation tool) if I want to do a fresh install.
  - ionised 11y ago
    From what I understand you have to first do an in-place upgrade, which then gives you access to your license key (via Windows system info or something similar). You can then use that to do a clean install. EDIT I've just read contradictory information here; http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install?ocid=ms_wol_win10 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation... If you upgraded to Windows 10 on this PC by taking advantage of the free upgrade offer and successfully activated Windows 10 on this PC in the past, you won't have a Windows 10 product key, and you can skip the product key page by selecting the Skip button. Your PC will activate online automatically so long as the same edition of Windows 10 was successfully activated on this PC by using the free Windows 10 upgrade offer. Which makes it sound like the version of Windows 10 you received as a free upgrade from Windows 7/8 will not work on any other machine than the one you first install on. Which is unbelievably shit.
    - pjc50 11y ago
      This is, tragically, how Microsoft OEM licensing works. It's presumably using the same machine identifier as "Genuine Advantage".
    - rasz_pl 11y ago
      Its a Microsoft workaround to the ECJ Oracle decision ( http://www.computerworld.com/article/2505356/it-management/eu-court-rules-resale-of-used-software-licenses-is-legal----even-online.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2505356/it-management/e... ) This ruling legitimized trading OEM Windows keys. You could go to your recycling center and get $5 fully legit Win 7/8 license. It will take another court case to overrule license tied to particular hardware gimmick.
jdub 11y ago
If you don't want to wait, you can jump start your upgrade with a moment's fiddling: http://www.redmondpie.com/force-download-windows-10-free-upgrade-right-now-heres-how-tutorial/ http://www.redmondpie.com/force-download-windows-10-free-upg...
woodson 11y ago
Did anyone with a dual boot configuration already try the upgrade? This article [1] suggests that, for once, you don't have to restore GRUB after the upgrade. [1] http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wintp-insider_install/how-to-upgrade-a-dual-boot-installation-of-windows/d7ca80ce-96b0-4f0a-9a8e-4038ded592b2 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wint...
- nly 11y ago
  This really surprises me. The SHA2 code-signing hotfix released for Windows 7 a few months back won't even install if you dual boot. I still haven't installed it.
skrebbel 11y ago
I've been on the "insider preview" for a few weeks now, and I must say that I think Windows 10 is an absolutely amazing OS. Definitely the best Windows I've ever used. Also the best desktop OS I've ever used, but I hope you'll believe me about the "best Windows" even if you can't imagine why a developer would possible want to run something other than $YOUR_FAVOURITE_UNIX. If Windows 10 is as well-received as I expect it will, this might really impact Microsoft's position on phones as well. A core feature of Windows 10 is an app store that doesn't suck, with apps that can easily be used on devices that don't resemble tablets. Windows 8 really had this wrong, and 10 fixes it. I think the Windows 10 store might actually get used. I've seen a glimpse of that future with the mobile app of Dutch weather site "Buienradar". They made a new Windows Phone app which totally rocks, to replace an old extremely crappy one. I didn't understand why they invested in an app ecosystem that is so clearly on the way down, until I found the exact same app in the Windows 10 store - just larger and with more info on the same screen. But it's very obviously the same codebase. My guess is they actually wanted to make a Windows desktop app, but adding phone support was such a minor extra investment (because of MS's "Universal app" thing) that they did it, despite the abysmal market size of Windows Phone in the Netherlands.
- acqq 11y ago
  Does System Image Backup still exist and does it work? http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-use-system-image-backup http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-use-system-... Edit: user Freaky answered this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9967231 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9967231
- thescrewdriver 11y ago
  > Windows 10 is an absolutely amazing OS > the best Windows I've ever used > the best desktop OS I've ever used I'm not doubting your enthusiasm, but could you elaborate on which features you believe make it superior to every other desktop OS you've ever used?
  - skrebbel 11y ago
    Prefer not. Most of it is a mix of taste (I like touch) and "stuff I'm used to" (I'm used to Windows). Whenever people discuss OS features on HN it becomes some sort of flamewarish "your taste sucks" fets. It's like vim vs emacs vs IntelliJ.
donkeyd 11y ago
Dear marketing people, please stop using "The best <thing only we make> ever". If you make a new product it should be better than the previous version, it it's not, you did something very wrong.
- tdicola 11y ago
  > If you make a new product it should be better than the previous version, it it's not, you did something very wrong. They broke that rule with Windows 8/8.1 and are trying to fix it with Windows 10.
  - donkeyd 11y ago
    Ballmer used to say the same thing about Windows 8. Apple says it about every iPhone, Samsung says it about every Galaxy S. It's become the go-to sentence for marketing in tech and to met it's ridiculous...
  - LocalPCGuy 11y ago
    I agree they did mess up the UI, and did a bad job marketing it, but from a technical standpoint, W8 was the best version of Windows so far (when released), consistently.
- melling 11y ago
  You might not have noticed but Microsoft has had a difficult time getting people to upgrade Windows. XP is good enough for many people. As much as you don't like it, hyperbole is part of marketing.
- megablast 11y ago
  Maybe they are trying to say this will not be another Windows 8. Or Vista. Or ME.
  - donkeyd 11y ago
    It's not about Microsoft in particular, it's about every tech company now using this for every new release of an existing thing.
martijn_himself 11y ago
This looks amazing but I'm disappointed at the absence of 'Windows 10 devices' launching alongside this release. If anything this seems like a missed sales opportunity for Microsoft/ hardware vendors.
- k-mcgrady 11y ago
  Have they ever synchronised the OEM release with hardware releases? I always thought they released the boxed version and then a few months later it started appearing on PC's.
  - higherpurpose 11y ago
    Either way, Windows 10 seems rushed. They're pushing patches as we speak to the "RTM" version.
  - martijn_himself 11y ago
    They haven't, but I thought it would increase adoption and sales if they did- or if they had 'reference' hardware devices. It seems kind of strange even their Surface line of devices is not shipping with Windows 10 on the day of release.
tdicola 11y ago
Looking at the deprecated features that won't make it to Windows 10 I see: > Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Hearts Games that come pre-installed on Windows 7 will be removed as part of installing the Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft has released our version of Solitaire and Minesweeper called the “Microsoft Solitaire Collection” and “Microsoft Minesweeper.” Does anyone else find it kind of sad that they killed off the old solitaire and minesweeper games? Part of what made Windows great was its incredible focus on backwards compatibility and it was always fun to load up solitaire, minesweeper, etc. in all their classic win 32 glory just like they ran in Windows 95. The new games are weird microtransaction/subscription-based things that I'm sure marketing folks are extremely proud of but seem to have killed a bit of the soul of Windows. If nothing else the old games should have stayed in to show people that yes it's still your old Windows and apps written years ago will mostly just work.
- frou_dh 11y ago
  Wouldn't be surprised if, at one time, those Solitaire & Minesweeper might have laid claim to being the most played videogames in the world.
  - mkr-hn 11y ago
    They would have been in competition with NES, Master System, SNES, and Genesis games for that record. After that, Minesweeper and Solitaire probably don't come close.
- SmellyGeekBoy 11y ago
  I recently got a Windows Phone and installed the 10 preview - I was pretty amazed to see ads and "powerups" in Minesweeper! It is indeed sad that they've gone and ruined it.
- veli_joza 11y ago
  I really don't care about this, why should we expect MS to support their 20 years old software? Back in '95 internet was not that common so it was nice to have such time wasters built into the OS. On the other hand, including Minecraft would be a really interesting decision.
dhess 11y ago
Anyone here know much about Windows licensing? This seems like a good opportunity to ask. I never run Windows on bare metal. I only run Windows on virtual machines on my Mac desktop and Mac laptop; only for personal use; and only on the rare occasion when I need to run the odd Windows-only application. I would like to go legit this time around, but it's nigh-impossible to find any specific documentation from Microsoft which states, in plain, simple English, how I would go about getting the proper license to cover my use case. I find this hard to believe as it's 2015 and certainly there must be countless others who do the same as I (and at least a few of them here on HN). The only official Microsoft document I can find about Windows licensing and virtual machines pertains specifically to business use, and appears to be focused on running Windows in a "Virtual Desktop Infrastructure" (VDI) environment, so I don't believe it applies to me. (I confess I did not read the entire document as it contains so much unfamiliar jargon that I have a hard time parsing it past page one.) Anyway, from what I can tell by gathering bits and pieces posted on various forums by Microsoft community reps or third-party Microsoft "solution providers," Microsoft expects me to buy a separate, full Windows license for each virtual machine I create, for each host machine I run it on (i.e., M * N licenses). Can anybody here tell me whether that's correct? Because if that's correct, Microsoft can go fly a kite.
- alkonaut 11y ago
  That's what the license terms say for normal retail licenses of the consumer versions, yes. This is pretty understandable for machines run concurrently. If you have two VMs running 24/7 it makes sense to just consider them "machines" exactly as if they were physical. The question is what happens if you have two VMs with identical hardware where you only ever have one active? Microsofts licensing probably doesn't consider this scenario, so I think it would be a matter of interpretation. In theory you could transfer the license back and forth between the VMs (assuming that stopping and unmounting the inactive VM disk counts as "removing the software" from that machine).
  - toyg 11y ago
    That's technically correct, but they could still shout at you when carrying out a review, because you cannot technically guarantee you're running only one at the time.
scotty79 11y ago
I'm really sad about what have they done to start menu. The one Win10 Tech Preview started with was way better than the current one. It's less functional and still buggy (doesn't show up from time to time).
- nsns 11y ago
  ...and limited to 512 shortcuts. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/29/windows_10_bug_alert_start_menu_breaks_512_entries/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/29/windows_10_bug_alert...
linker3000 11y ago
Call me cynical, but I have just made a bootable Linux USB stick with GUI in order to keep working if/when the corporate update roll-out kicks in and borks my work machine. Happily running Fedora 22 on my home laptop!
- andygates 11y ago
  "We're still not finished clearing XP, you've got plenty of time before 10 is on the horizon." -- Corporate IT.
Shivetya 11y ago
Looking forward to 10, if only to get parents of XP. However the other issue I have with Windows is installation methods. Owning an iMac without a DVD drive what exactly are my options for obtaining any version of Windows short of buying a DVD drive to copy an install DVD to USB for bootcamp?
- bbrks 11y ago
  Download an ISO[0], put it on a USB, and then use your key as normal :) [0] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10I...
- MLR 11y ago
  It's being sold on USB sticks this time around.
devilmoon 11y ago
willingly installing botnet, why would you do that? https://i.4cdn.org/g/1438152355097.jpg https://i.4cdn.org/g/1438152355097.jpg
- yAnonymous 11y ago
  And I thought disabling all the check boxes during the install would be enough. Damn. Windows 7 it is.
  - FireBeyond 11y ago
    It is. A lot of these are not the default options, despite the pretense that they are. For one really simple example, "Do Not Track" is the enabled default, not the disabled example here.
    - yrro 11y ago
      In setting "Do Not Track" to on, Microsoft handed their partners in the advertising industry an excuse to ignore the setting entirely.
- krisdol 11y ago
  Here's a mirror, since 4chan files are sometimes auto-wiped relatively quickly http://i.imgur.com/QSKsW0G.jpg http://i.imgur.com/QSKsW0G.jpg
  - devilmoon 11y ago
    Nice, wanted to do that and then forgot it
higherpurpose 11y ago
Reasons for why you might not want the upgrade: https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3f060k/anonymous_member_releases_reasons_not_to_upgrade/ https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3f060k/anonymou...
fit2rule 11y ago
I have a legitimate Windows 7 license that I run on my MBP using VMWare Workstation .. is this ineligible for upgrade, does anyone know? I've left the VM running in the hopes I get the little taskbar notification to do a free upgrade to Windows 10, but its not happening .. I guess us VM Windows users are out of luck, then? EDIT: Scratch that. As luck would have it, just as I submitted to HN, I got the upgrade icon notification in my VM. Looks like I'll be upgrading my Windows 7 VM in VMWare on a MBP to Windows 10 soon .. leaving my comment in case it trips anyone else up: patience, I guess!
nly 11y ago
I'll be waiting until before a week or two before the one year free upgrade period is up before I subject any of my family to it. In the meantime, it's popcorn time. Btw, Windows 10 now forces critical updates. You can find a registry tweak to disable this behaviour here: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8013-windows-update-automatic-updates-enable-disable-windows-10-a.html#option2 http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8013-windows-update-autom...
- theandrewbailey 11y ago
  I will also not be upgrading immediately, though in a few months, not (almost) a year from now.
yAnonymous 11y ago
Does the key/license that comes with the upgrade allow for a re-install? If not, I'd rather stick to Windows 7.
- kijin 11y ago
  "How to perform a clean installation of Windows ... you can skip the product key page by selecting the Skip button. Your PC will activate online automatically so long as the same edition of Windows 10 was successfully activated on this PC by using the free Windows 10 upgrade offer." Source: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install?ocid=ms_wol_win10 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/media-creation... I'm burning an old-fashioned installation disk as I type this, using the tool mentioned in the link above. The tool can also create bootable USB sticks or ISO images.
  - yAnonymous 11y ago
    Thanks. So it's not a full license... too bad.
    - kijin 11y ago
      Yeah, it's basically an OEM (single-device, non-transferable) license with remotely managed product keys. Most legal Windows users only have OEM licenses anyway, so there won't be any difference for them. It sucks if you already own a full license. But if you need to move to a different computer sometime in the next year or so, I guess you could first install Windows 7/8/8.1 using your full license, activate it, and then take advantage of the free upgrade to 10. That's basically what I did with my "student discount" license when Windows 7 came out. I had a full license of Vista, so I first moved it to a different computer and then upgraded it to 7.
      - yAnonymous 11y ago
        I don't want to be stuck with an OS that I don't have a full license for when I replace my hardware. And I found out that Microsoft basically reserve the right for full access/download of your data and it can't be disabled.
kozukumi 11y ago
In case there are people wondering I am using Windows 10 Pro x64 and did the following - Downloaded ISO using the media creation tool at [1] then did an upgrade from 8.1 to 10 which complete just fine. I then booted from the USB drive I just made, did a diskpart clean on the only drive in the machine then did a clean install. When prompted for a product key I pressed skip then when asked again during the out-of-box experience I selected to do it later. I signed in with a local account. I connected to the internet and it activated without any questions. Yes it activated using NO product key. It seems when you do the upgrade from a valid 7 or 8.1 install it stores the hardware hash they generate on MS servers so when you then do a clean install it generates the (same) hardware hash, sends it to MS activation servers and sees it is already validated so it just activates you again. Very nice not having to deal with horrible product keys! [1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 Edit: And so far it has been great. Stable and fast over the last 5 hours of doing updates (fucking Office 2013 has like 2GB of updates after install!).
- stinos 11y ago
  Any idea what would happen then if you skip the upgrade 7/8 -> 10 and start with clean install? You need a key anyway? The same key as for Windows 7?
  - kozukumi 11y ago
    I have read online (but not verified myself) than using a Windows 7 or 8/8.1 key works. This might be true or it might be misinformation. The upgrade only took 10 minutes so I did it that way with the plan to always wipe and clean install after. I decided to just jump through the MS hoops of doing it 'their way' and it all seemed to work just fine. According to Gabe Aul's tweet [1] it looks like they do associate the device id/hardware hash so there is no need for a product key when doing a clean install once upgraded. [1] https://twitter.com/GabeAul/status/605900073277325312 https://twitter.com/GabeAul/status/605900073277325312 Edit: I just tried using an 8.1 Pro key on a clean install and it did not accept it.
  - tdkl 11y ago
kev6168 11y ago
Wait. Until. Service. Pack. 1.
- saint_fiasco 11y ago
  Hopefully they release that service pack before the upgrade-for-free period ends.
  - MLR 11y ago
    Big feature update is pencilled in for late this year I believe.
lhecker 11y ago
Does anybody else experience issues with Truecrypt 7.1a? It displays X:\ is not accessible. Incorrect function. and the Computer Manager displays the drive with the RAW type. - Even though the filesystem is intact (tested on another Windows 8.1 computer) and - chkdsk showing NO errors (yes that's right: it even shows the filesystem as being NTFS). Aside from that my UI/UX experience with Windows 10 is great and I'm really happy. The above thing is a bummer though.
- aparecido 11y ago
  same issue here. truecrypt was running well with windows 10 but then started showing this warning. i looked in the windows events logs but found no clues.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- aparecido 11y ago
  UPDATE [SOLVED]: searching for this problem I stumbled into this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7045334?start=15&tstart.. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7045334?start=15&tstart.... . as I'm running windows 10 on a mac using bootcamp, it only took me to rename c:/windows/system32/drivers/AppleHFS.sys to something else, reboot and get truecrypt running as before. only side effect until now: I can't see the mac partition contents in windows.
- augustz 11y ago
  Thanks for posting this. Same issue here... I was looking to see if a truecrypt alternative might exist that worked better. Also on a macbook air with boot camp.
Aleman360 11y ago
I work on the Start menu. It's just a UWP XAML app with Models and ViewModels written in C++/Cx, as are most of the new Shell features and built-in apps--although some of the newer ones, like Maps and Xbox, are in XAML/C#/.Net Native. Even the UI frame of Edge is in XAML, and the new Office UWP apps are too. I encourage everyone here to give UWP apps a shot; we dogfooded the dev platform to ensure it was stable and fast, and XAML really is a pleasure to use. It's come a long way since WPF.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- tonyedgecombe 11y ago
  What is UWP?
  - Aleman360 11y ago
    https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Dn894631.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Dn894631.aspx "Universal Windows Platform". Lets you target every Windows 10 device with a single app, from Raspberry Pi 2 to phone to PC's to Xbox One. Apps are written in C++/C#/VB with XAML markup or JavaScript/HTML/CSS. Also FYI, it takes a minimal amount of work to repackage an existing web app as a UWP.
    - tonyedgecombe 11y ago
      Does that support Windows 7/8/8.1? If not I won't be able to adopt it for a long time.
      - shmed 11y ago
        No it doesn't. Only works on win10 (phone, PC, tablet & surface hub for the moment, but they are expanding it to hololens and xbox one).
        11y ago
jcslzr 11y ago
I use dual boot for ubuntu and windows 8.1, should I worry?
- _lce0 11y ago
  not as long as you boot on the ubuntu partition ;)
forgotmypassw 11y ago
It'd be nice if it wasn't for all the bundled spyware.
farawayea 11y ago
Didn't receive the update. GWX app is gone now. WU says Windows 10 upgrade is reserved.
Aldo_MX 11y ago
From the feature deprecation list: If you have a floppy drive, you will need to download the latest driver from Windows Update or from the manufacturer’s website. I really wonder if there are manufacturers of floppy drives without a website.
- Kequc 11y ago
  All floppy drives come with a floppy disk with the driver on it. Problem solved.
  - Aldo_MX 11y ago
    You mean like WinRAR installers inside a .rar file?
michaelkoz 11y ago
If you aren't getting Windows 10 pushed out to you, you can follow this tutorial to force update http://goodereader.com/blog/tablet-slates/how-to-force-download-windows-10-on-your-pc-and-tablet http://goodereader.com/blog/tablet-slates/how-to-force-downl...
random_2azkXJ 11y ago
The naked truth about this new Windows from user's perspective: http://i.4cdn.org/v/1438148570882.jpg http://i.4cdn.org/v/1438148570882.jpg
- FLUX-YOU 11y ago
  Nevermind my information (that's bad enough), what happens when I'm on a VPN and RDP into my work machine and working with other peoples' sensitive information? Has anyone captured any traffic from these features to determine what extent they're sending keystrokes?
- WorldWideWayne 11y ago
  In my opinion - everybody already gave up their freedoms via Android and iOS, so (someone at) Microsoft feels like there won't be a problem with demanding the same on Windows. Moves like this always draw ire from us power users, but with enough public outcry, we get what we want. Sometimes we get it through third party software. It's a game that's been played many times with many different companies because unfortunately, greed powers much of the world.
  - frik 11y ago
    One can have all his freedom with Android, iOS and Windows <10 - it's just gets harder with every new version. And there hopefully will be an public outcry and/or tools to remove the telemetry logging, cloud lock-in, etc from Win10 too. In the end an OS upgrade should have a benefit, in the worst case Win7 is supported until 2020.
- FireBeyond 11y ago
  There's a whole bunch of stuff in that that's inaccurate/outdated, re Wifi Sharing (opt in, even for contacts). Not to mention a bunch of stuff (Do Not Track) that is set by default that has been explicitly enabled (or disabled, depending on defaults) to look worse. You can argue about whether you should have an "opt-in" for some of these things at all, yes, but this image makes it look like many things are opt-out, when they are in fact opt-in. Telemetry is the same diagnostics that OS X and even Linux Mint and other distributions do.
merb 11y ago
Ridiculously how much things I need to turn off to have the same privacy than in Windows 7... I don't get it, why don't they just make a slider after the installation where you could slide between Maximum Usability <-> Maximum Privacy and still have their "Additional Settings" where you could turn off everything one by one. Also even after turning off everything I still need to stop OneDrive from working and other stuff that still isn't a good default, even for "home users" I wouldn't recommend sending too much data.
MzHN 11y ago
I can't believe there is still no clear official statement on how the licensing works. From some sources[1] they seem to imply that retail licenses (Win7/8) turn into what is basically an OEM license, but then there are some sources that state the exact opposite[2][3]. I don't want to lose my retail Win8 license, as they say that it will be "consumed" by the upgrade (wth is that supposed to mean), so I'm going to sit and wait on this, maybe try to get an answer from their helpdesk. They try so hard to make this easy for people, to make windows popular again, and they still fucked it up. I am disappointed. [1] http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation... "If you upgraded to Windows 10 on this PC by taking advantage of the free upgrade offer and successfully activated Windows 10 on this PC in the past, you won't have a Windows 10 product key, and you can skip the product key page by selecting the Skip button. Your PC will activate online automatically so long as the same edition of Windows 10 was successfully activated on this PC by using the free Windows 10 upgrade offer." [2] http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_upgrade/after-free-update-to-windows-10-from-existing/4ca295b7-54ef-4d40-9b2e-d037cf41a8a7 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-... "From the Windows 10 end user license agreement: b. Stand-alone software. If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you. You may also transfer the software to a device owned by someone else if (i) you are the first licensed user of the software and (ii) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. You may use the backup copy we allow you to make or the media that the software came on to transfer the software. Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device. You may not transfer the software to share licenses between devices." [3] http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/software/operating-systems/1403593/how-to-upgrade-to-windows-10-and-get-your-new-licence-key http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/software/operating-systems/14... "After your computer has upgraded to Windows 10 it will have a new licence key. You'll need this if you want to perform a clean installation of Windows 10, as you can input your existing Windows 7 or 8 code into the installation routine. To get your key fire up the Magical Jelly Bean KeyFinder app and you'll see your Windows 10 key at the top of the list."

308 points by Garbage 11y ago

great!

Let's hope Windows 10 is a big hit with PC users. Consumers trade in those old XP boxes and hundreds of millions take the free upgrade. Then maybe within 24 months lots of old IE's will fade away. https://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2&qpcustomd=0 https://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qpr... Edge appears to be a much better browser: https://html5test.com/results/desktop.html https://html5test.com/results/desktop.html

bad_user 11y ago
The upgrade is not free for XP users.
- notahacker 11y ago
  or Vista users. If you've got a Windows system that actually badly needs upgrading, you're still [not] going to pay for it.
- melling 11y ago
  That's why I said trade in those XP boxes. New hardware has gotta seem nice for them by now.
theandrewbailey 11y ago
As of January 2016, MS will only support the most recent version of IE for supported operating systems. It means IE 9 and 11, mostly. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2014/08/07/stay-up-to-date-with-internet-explorer.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2014/08/07/stay-up-to-dat...
LocalPCGuy 11y ago
Netmarketshare is a horrible source for real browser stats. Except when you want to inflate IE usage numbers, of course.
- melling 11y ago
  Whatever the numbers are, developers are still sweating blood supporting old versions of IE. Let's get Windows users on 10. https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/why-everyone-should-love-windows-10/ https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/why-everyone-should-...
  - LocalPCGuy 11y ago
    Meh...it's not really sweating blood to support IE compared to the IE6/7 days. But we agree that the quicker users are on W10 and Edge, the better.
Narishma 11y ago
If they wanted to get rid of those XP boxes, they should have made the upgrade free for XP users as well.

deciplex 11y ago

Reminder that Microsoft installed adware on Windows 7/8 machines to encourage users to upgrade to Windows 10. Even if you hid the update from Windows Update, they un-hid it and reinstalled at least once that I know of. Don't reward this behavior by buying Windows 10. Or at least delay the purchase as long as possible.

pennaMan 11y ago
So they pushed an alert to everyone to upgrade? If it were like on os x where you already have the software installed and that software gives an alert to upgrade would it have been fine? I don't see how giving users a heads up to update is considered adware. Maybe a slippery slope at worse.
wfunction 11y ago
> Reminder that Microsoft installed adware on Windows 7/8 machines to encourage users to upgrade to Windows 10. Because Linux distributions like Ubuntu never ever encourage you to upgrade your system to the newest and shiniest version, right?
- deciplex 11y ago
  They stop doing it when I tell them to knock it off, and they don't creep back in and do it again after a few months, either. The update responsible for the notification, even after I removed it and hid the update within WU, found its way back after MS released an 'update' to the package with the totally unintended, honest! side effect of unhiding the package and reinstalling it.
  - wfunction 11y ago
    > They stop doing it when I tell them to knock it off Oh, I wish what you said was true. It's funny because they didn't do that when I was on an older version of Ubuntu (11? 12? I forget). It just kept popping up and telling me to update no matter what I did. Stuff like this: http://askubuntu.com/q/218755 http://askubuntu.com/q/218755
11y ago

Osmium 11y ago

Any news on how to get a free 'reserved' copy? The Verge seems to suggest that you just have to wait, and it might take weeks, since Microsoft wants to do a gradual rollout...

grimman 11y ago
Assuming you've clicked the Reserve-button in the little notification application that was rolled out via Windows Update, you'll just have to sit tight and wait. Check out the FAQ: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq
petitmiam 11y ago
An icon should be present on your Win7/8 task bar which lets you reserve a copy. It does seem to be a gradual rollout though, as mine still tells me it's not available yet. It's probably quicker to download directly via The Windows 10 Download Tool: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
- crazysaem 11y ago
  I can confirm that. I didn't see anything about Windows 10 in the Windows Update window, but upgrading via the tool worked perfectly for me.
  - Osmium 11y ago
    Do you have to burn it to a USB/CD as the page suggests, or is does the tool give a way to upgrade in place without doing that? Edit: can confirm crazysaem's experience. I did an in-place upgrade on a fully-patched 8.1 system and it worked flawlessly and relatively quickly (I kept my apps and settings). I'm not a heavy Windows user though.
    - crazysaem 11y ago
      You have the option to either create the USB/CD media or do an in-place upgrade. I did the in-place upgrade, which worked without problems for me. They also provide the option to either keep your apps and files or delete them. I chose to delete them, because I wanted a clean install.

VinzO 11y ago

anyone knows when Windows 10 will be released for mobiles?

VinzO 11y ago
Could anyone explain the downvotes? I have a windows phone and I am really interested in the release of windows 10 for windows phones, especially with the hope of finally having a decent browser on my phone.
- nailer 11y ago
  I think people don't know that Windows Phone 8's follow up is also called Windows 10.
- Synaesthesia 11y ago
  I'd also like to know bur the release schedule is not synchronised with the desktop Windows 10 at all.
- sudioStudio64 11y ago
  I've been seeing on some sites that it will be out in the September time-frame. As to why the downvotes? HN, man. HN.

acqq 11y ago

Note that the upgrade will remove your Windows built-in DVD player. The right to play DVDs must be paid for every computer. You paid it when you bought the Windows 7 or 8 that you'll maybe upgrade to 10. Now the upgrade to Windows 10 takes that feature away from you. They apparently (the twitter message isn't actually the company statement) plan to return it "sometime in the future" and "if it might be free or if it will cost" is TBA: http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-will-include-option-play-dvd-movies-sometime-future http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-will-include-option... The Media Player capabilities, if you have them in your Windows edition, will be for ever deleted. Just so. Moreover, note that the upgrade can reduce the functionality of your notebook: Microsoft made the deal with the hardware producers about integrating hidden partitions to allow the recovery from the hard disk, but the upgrade process will just make sure that the Windows runs, not that your recovery from the hard disk functionality, managed by each hardware vendor independently (based on the recommendations from Microsoft) would be preserved. I don't use the recovery mechanism, but I do use backup. When the recovery partitions aren't right, the built in backup (which was kept from Windows 7) doesn't work on Windows 8.1. The same story happened with the transition from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 (I have such a notebook). Anybody knows if the "Windows 7" style full disk backup survived in Windows 10?

sergiotapia 11y ago
Can you not use VLC or MPC?
- acqq 11y ago
  It's not about what "can" be done, you can also install the pirated software too, the thing is, by buying legally Windows 7 or Windows 8 Media Pack or Ultimate I have really paid the DVD playback functionality to Microsoft as well as the other features I've mentioned. Also read about the legality aspects of the Microsoft's DVD solutions up to now and of the open-source DVD players: http://www.zdnet.com/article/if-vlc-can-ship-a-free-dvd-player-why-cant-microsoft/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/if-vlc-can-ship-a-free-dvd-play...
  - 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

hudell 11y ago

The update only froze once for me (had to hard reset). No side effects from that. This was the smoothest windows update process I've ever had. Had some trouble with Asus touchpad drivers, but after fixing that, everything is running well and nothing was lost. All previously installed software seems to be running fine.

batiudrami 11y ago
My Asus touchpad was fine. Had to manually install updated Realtek sound drivers but apart from that also all good - done and dusted in about 25 minutes.
thescrewdriver 11y ago
> The update only froze once for me (had to hard reset). No side effects from that. This was the smoothest windows update process I've ever had. Having to hard reset during an update due to a freeze doesn't exactly sound like a particularly smooth process. I guess your perspective depends on your experiences with previous updates.
- hudell 11y ago
  Yes, every other windows update I had before either: a) Failed on the first try b) Deleted files/software Windows 10 was the first time I didn't lose anything (except the games that stopped working)

VinzO 11y ago

If your windows copy is not genuine, can you still get a free upgrade?

VeejayRampay 11y ago
Asking for a friend I suppose?
txru 11y ago
The update isn't available for people with group licenses (i.e. schools, large workplaces). So, no.
- rplnt 11y ago
  Not even "personal" MSDN(AA) licenses.
  - odabaxok 11y ago
    Are you sure about this? I have this kind of license (for Win 8.1) and in the "Win 10 upgrade window" it said that my machine can be upgraded. Although, I have not tried it, yet.
- anonymfus 11y ago
  That only means that systems activated by pirated KMS servers will not get an update. The real question is what happens with systems with pirated OEM certificates in motherboard firmware. IIRC this was the most reliable method of piracy for Windows 7.
thescrewdriver 11y ago
If you had no concerns running a pirated copy of the old version what's stopping you from getting a pirated copy of the newer version?
- netheril96 11y ago
  Well, a legal copy is always better than a pirated one. The least of the benefits would be the lack of need to unlock it. But I guess he/she asked the questions because Microsoft might have indicated that in the past.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

sneak 11y ago

In other news, MySpace releases a major UI overhaul with several new features.

crazysaem 11y ago

The Windows 10 Installation media creation tool is also already out: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

zokier 11y ago

Meanwhile actually trying to buy the damn thing seems nearly impossible. MS rep on their store said that it might take couple of weeks until it becomes available for purchase. On US store you can order physical copy but download option is "coming soon". Just seems bit ridiculous...

bad_user 11y ago

So when you upgrade to Windows 10, do you get a Windows 10 license key?

ionised 11y ago
If you upgraded to Windows 10 on this PC by taking advantage of the free upgrade offer and successfully activated Windows 10 on this PC in the past, you won't have a Windows 10 product key, and you can skip the product key page by selecting the Skip button. Your PC will activate online automatically so long as the same edition of Windows 10 was successfully activated on this PC by using the free Windows 10 upgrade offer. From; http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install?ocid=ms_wol_win10 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation... Which makes it sound like you don't, and can only upgrade or clean install on a single machine. I hope this is incorrect because I'm planning to upgrade my machine in 6 months.

sergiotapia 11y ago

I'm really excited for this release and especially excited about Cortana. If it works as advertised I'll be buying a windows phone. I'm ready for a device that i can just talk to with a normal voice and ask it stuff.

ossreality 11y ago
I'm a bit amused that you think Cortana will outshine Google Now in this area. Let me guess, you're used to Siri?
pjc50 11y ago
It works fairly well, in the manner of Siri. It copes with moderate Scottish accents, which is impressive. The downsides are that you have to have location services turned on (bad for battery) and, like Siri, everything you say is recorded and may be farmed out mechanical-turk style for analysis.

batou 11y ago

I got the upgrade from 8.1 Pro last night: 1. The OOBE experience ran twice. It rebooted half way through the first one to apply updates and then I had to do it all again. 2. It lost the product key and won't activate even though this is a genuine copy from MSDN. I guess I have to wait for a key from MSDN later today. Not end of the world but a pain point. If it isn't activated, hardly anything works now. 3. However that's all pointless as it hangs solid after 3-5 minutes reliably. That's not enough time to even roll a single windows update in so I'm shafted. This is a rock solid Lenovo X201 that has never had a single problem with any Windows release. It hasn't crashed once since I bought it new. Not impressed. Spent an hour rolling it back. I imagine, considering this was quality well tested hardware, that this is going to be nothing but hell for people. If even 1% of people have this experience, the media will blow big time and I'd hope that they do. Edit: on my Sony VPC-J1 AOI machine that fails with "Windows 10 upgrade failed" after pissing around for an hour. At least that didn't hose the machine.

thescrewdriver 11y ago

Be sure to read the licensing fine print about data collection for advertising etc. https://edri.org/microsofts-new-small-print-how-your-personal-data-abused/ https://edri.org/microsofts-new-small-print-how-your-persona... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9966236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9966236

ionised 11y ago
This is just for Microsoft Account-enabled installations isn't it? I kind of expected that. I hope this kind of shit is not happening with the regular Local Account, or I'll be rolling back to Windows 7 swiftly.
- WireWrap 11y ago
  Not creating and using a Microsoft Account would eliminate some of the privacy concerns, but not all of them. If you think it important to protect information, in general or about yourself, then you need to carefully study the privacy statement, services agreement, and associated materials. Plus the various settings that can be used to control the features that phone home. Then, if you do decide that the OS can be configured and used in a way that you are comfortable with, you proceed. Don't install the OS until you determine that and know how to make the configuration changes. Take your time, maybe read http://www.tenforums.com/ http://www.tenforums.com/ for awhile.
SmellyGeekBoy 11y ago
I've been on the preview since the beginning, when I installed the supposedly "final" build (10240?) about a week ago it ran through a wizard that allowed me to disable this functionality.
- thescrewdriver 11y ago
  Including the per-device unique id for advertisers?
  - 11y ago

kristofferR 11y ago

Official ISO downloads: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10I...

abrookewood 11y ago
Presumably you have to do an in-place upgrade if you use these? I can't see any mention of what key I am supposed to use (from the reservation tool) if I want to do a fresh install.
- ionised 11y ago
  From what I understand you have to first do an in-place upgrade, which then gives you access to your license key (via Windows system info or something similar). You can then use that to do a clean install. EDIT I've just read contradictory information here; http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install?ocid=ms_wol_win10 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation... If you upgraded to Windows 10 on this PC by taking advantage of the free upgrade offer and successfully activated Windows 10 on this PC in the past, you won't have a Windows 10 product key, and you can skip the product key page by selecting the Skip button. Your PC will activate online automatically so long as the same edition of Windows 10 was successfully activated on this PC by using the free Windows 10 upgrade offer. Which makes it sound like the version of Windows 10 you received as a free upgrade from Windows 7/8 will not work on any other machine than the one you first install on. Which is unbelievably shit.
  - pjc50 11y ago
    This is, tragically, how Microsoft OEM licensing works. It's presumably using the same machine identifier as "Genuine Advantage".
  - rasz_pl 11y ago
    Its a Microsoft workaround to the ECJ Oracle decision ( http://www.computerworld.com/article/2505356/it-management/eu-court-rules-resale-of-used-software-licenses-is-legal----even-online.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2505356/it-management/e... ) This ruling legitimized trading OEM Windows keys. You could go to your recycling center and get $5 fully legit Win 7/8 license. It will take another court case to overrule license tied to particular hardware gimmick.

jdub 11y ago

If you don't want to wait, you can jump start your upgrade with a moment's fiddling: http://www.redmondpie.com/force-download-windows-10-free-upgrade-right-now-heres-how-tutorial/ http://www.redmondpie.com/force-download-windows-10-free-upg...

woodson 11y ago

Did anyone with a dual boot configuration already try the upgrade? This article [1] suggests that, for once, you don't have to restore GRUB after the upgrade. [1] http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wintp-insider_install/how-to-upgrade-a-dual-boot-installation-of-windows/d7ca80ce-96b0-4f0a-9a8e-4038ded592b2 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wint...

nly 11y ago
This really surprises me. The SHA2 code-signing hotfix released for Windows 7 a few months back won't even install if you dual boot. I still haven't installed it.

skrebbel 11y ago

I've been on the "insider preview" for a few weeks now, and I must say that I think Windows 10 is an absolutely amazing OS. Definitely the best Windows I've ever used. Also the best desktop OS I've ever used, but I hope you'll believe me about the "best Windows" even if you can't imagine why a developer would possible want to run something other than $YOUR_FAVOURITE_UNIX. If Windows 10 is as well-received as I expect it will, this might really impact Microsoft's position on phones as well. A core feature of Windows 10 is an app store that doesn't suck, with apps that can easily be used on devices that don't resemble tablets. Windows 8 really had this wrong, and 10 fixes it. I think the Windows 10 store might actually get used. I've seen a glimpse of that future with the mobile app of Dutch weather site "Buienradar". They made a new Windows Phone app which totally rocks, to replace an old extremely crappy one. I didn't understand why they invested in an app ecosystem that is so clearly on the way down, until I found the exact same app in the Windows 10 store - just larger and with more info on the same screen. But it's very obviously the same codebase. My guess is they actually wanted to make a Windows desktop app, but adding phone support was such a minor extra investment (because of MS's "Universal app" thing) that they did it, despite the abysmal market size of Windows Phone in the Netherlands.

acqq 11y ago
Does System Image Backup still exist and does it work? http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-use-system-image-backup http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-use-system-... Edit: user Freaky answered this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9967231 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9967231
thescrewdriver 11y ago
> Windows 10 is an absolutely amazing OS > the best Windows I've ever used > the best desktop OS I've ever used I'm not doubting your enthusiasm, but could you elaborate on which features you believe make it superior to every other desktop OS you've ever used?
- skrebbel 11y ago
  Prefer not. Most of it is a mix of taste (I like touch) and "stuff I'm used to" (I'm used to Windows). Whenever people discuss OS features on HN it becomes some sort of flamewarish "your taste sucks" fets. It's like vim vs emacs vs IntelliJ.

donkeyd 11y ago

Dear marketing people, please stop using "The best <thing only we make> ever". If you make a new product it should be better than the previous version, it it's not, you did something very wrong.

tdicola 11y ago
> If you make a new product it should be better than the previous version, it it's not, you did something very wrong. They broke that rule with Windows 8/8.1 and are trying to fix it with Windows 10.
- donkeyd 11y ago
  Ballmer used to say the same thing about Windows 8. Apple says it about every iPhone, Samsung says it about every Galaxy S. It's become the go-to sentence for marketing in tech and to met it's ridiculous...
- LocalPCGuy 11y ago
  I agree they did mess up the UI, and did a bad job marketing it, but from a technical standpoint, W8 was the best version of Windows so far (when released), consistently.
melling 11y ago
You might not have noticed but Microsoft has had a difficult time getting people to upgrade Windows. XP is good enough for many people. As much as you don't like it, hyperbole is part of marketing.
megablast 11y ago
Maybe they are trying to say this will not be another Windows 8. Or Vista. Or ME.
- donkeyd 11y ago
  It's not about Microsoft in particular, it's about every tech company now using this for every new release of an existing thing.

martijn_himself 11y ago

This looks amazing but I'm disappointed at the absence of 'Windows 10 devices' launching alongside this release. If anything this seems like a missed sales opportunity for Microsoft/ hardware vendors.

k-mcgrady 11y ago
Have they ever synchronised the OEM release with hardware releases? I always thought they released the boxed version and then a few months later it started appearing on PC's.
- higherpurpose 11y ago
  Either way, Windows 10 seems rushed. They're pushing patches as we speak to the "RTM" version.
- martijn_himself 11y ago
  They haven't, but I thought it would increase adoption and sales if they did- or if they had 'reference' hardware devices. It seems kind of strange even their Surface line of devices is not shipping with Windows 10 on the day of release.

tdicola 11y ago

Looking at the deprecated features that won't make it to Windows 10 I see: > Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Hearts Games that come pre-installed on Windows 7 will be removed as part of installing the Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft has released our version of Solitaire and Minesweeper called the “Microsoft Solitaire Collection” and “Microsoft Minesweeper.” Does anyone else find it kind of sad that they killed off the old solitaire and minesweeper games? Part of what made Windows great was its incredible focus on backwards compatibility and it was always fun to load up solitaire, minesweeper, etc. in all their classic win 32 glory just like they ran in Windows 95. The new games are weird microtransaction/subscription-based things that I'm sure marketing folks are extremely proud of but seem to have killed a bit of the soul of Windows. If nothing else the old games should have stayed in to show people that yes it's still your old Windows and apps written years ago will mostly just work.

frou_dh 11y ago
Wouldn't be surprised if, at one time, those Solitaire & Minesweeper might have laid claim to being the most played videogames in the world.
- mkr-hn 11y ago
  They would have been in competition with NES, Master System, SNES, and Genesis games for that record. After that, Minesweeper and Solitaire probably don't come close.
SmellyGeekBoy 11y ago
I recently got a Windows Phone and installed the 10 preview - I was pretty amazed to see ads and "powerups" in Minesweeper! It is indeed sad that they've gone and ruined it.
veli_joza 11y ago
I really don't care about this, why should we expect MS to support their 20 years old software? Back in '95 internet was not that common so it was nice to have such time wasters built into the OS. On the other hand, including Minecraft would be a really interesting decision.

dhess 11y ago

Anyone here know much about Windows licensing? This seems like a good opportunity to ask. I never run Windows on bare metal. I only run Windows on virtual machines on my Mac desktop and Mac laptop; only for personal use; and only on the rare occasion when I need to run the odd Windows-only application. I would like to go legit this time around, but it's nigh-impossible to find any specific documentation from Microsoft which states, in plain, simple English, how I would go about getting the proper license to cover my use case. I find this hard to believe as it's 2015 and certainly there must be countless others who do the same as I (and at least a few of them here on HN). The only official Microsoft document I can find about Windows licensing and virtual machines pertains specifically to business use, and appears to be focused on running Windows in a "Virtual Desktop Infrastructure" (VDI) environment, so I don't believe it applies to me. (I confess I did not read the entire document as it contains so much unfamiliar jargon that I have a hard time parsing it past page one.) Anyway, from what I can tell by gathering bits and pieces posted on various forums by Microsoft community reps or third-party Microsoft "solution providers," Microsoft expects me to buy a separate, full Windows license for each virtual machine I create, for each host machine I run it on (i.e., M * N licenses). Can anybody here tell me whether that's correct? Because if that's correct, Microsoft can go fly a kite.

alkonaut 11y ago
That's what the license terms say for normal retail licenses of the consumer versions, yes. This is pretty understandable for machines run concurrently. If you have two VMs running 24/7 it makes sense to just consider them "machines" exactly as if they were physical. The question is what happens if you have two VMs with identical hardware where you only ever have one active? Microsofts licensing probably doesn't consider this scenario, so I think it would be a matter of interpretation. In theory you could transfer the license back and forth between the VMs (assuming that stopping and unmounting the inactive VM disk counts as "removing the software" from that machine).
- toyg 11y ago
  That's technically correct, but they could still shout at you when carrying out a review, because you cannot technically guarantee you're running only one at the time.

scotty79 11y ago

I'm really sad about what have they done to start menu. The one Win10 Tech Preview started with was way better than the current one. It's less functional and still buggy (doesn't show up from time to time).

nsns 11y ago
...and limited to 512 shortcuts. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/29/windows_10_bug_alert_start_menu_breaks_512_entries/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/29/windows_10_bug_alert...

linker3000 11y ago

Call me cynical, but I have just made a bootable Linux USB stick with GUI in order to keep working if/when the corporate update roll-out kicks in and borks my work machine. Happily running Fedora 22 on my home laptop!

andygates 11y ago
"We're still not finished clearing XP, you've got plenty of time before 10 is on the horizon." -- Corporate IT.

Shivetya 11y ago

Looking forward to 10, if only to get parents of XP. However the other issue I have with Windows is installation methods. Owning an iMac without a DVD drive what exactly are my options for obtaining any version of Windows short of buying a DVD drive to copy an install DVD to USB for bootcamp?

bbrks 11y ago
Download an ISO[0], put it on a USB, and then use your key as normal :) [0] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10I...
MLR 11y ago
It's being sold on USB sticks this time around.

devilmoon 11y ago

willingly installing botnet, why would you do that? https://i.4cdn.org/g/1438152355097.jpg https://i.4cdn.org/g/1438152355097.jpg

yAnonymous 11y ago
And I thought disabling all the check boxes during the install would be enough. Damn. Windows 7 it is.
- FireBeyond 11y ago
  It is. A lot of these are not the default options, despite the pretense that they are. For one really simple example, "Do Not Track" is the enabled default, not the disabled example here.
  - yrro 11y ago
    In setting "Do Not Track" to on, Microsoft handed their partners in the advertising industry an excuse to ignore the setting entirely.
krisdol 11y ago
Here's a mirror, since 4chan files are sometimes auto-wiped relatively quickly http://i.imgur.com/QSKsW0G.jpg http://i.imgur.com/QSKsW0G.jpg
- devilmoon 11y ago
  Nice, wanted to do that and then forgot it

higherpurpose 11y ago

Reasons for why you might not want the upgrade: https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3f060k/anonymous_member_releases_reasons_not_to_upgrade/ https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3f060k/anonymou...

fit2rule 11y ago

I have a legitimate Windows 7 license that I run on my MBP using VMWare Workstation .. is this ineligible for upgrade, does anyone know? I've left the VM running in the hopes I get the little taskbar notification to do a free upgrade to Windows 10, but its not happening .. I guess us VM Windows users are out of luck, then? EDIT: Scratch that. As luck would have it, just as I submitted to HN, I got the upgrade icon notification in my VM. Looks like I'll be upgrading my Windows 7 VM in VMWare on a MBP to Windows 10 soon .. leaving my comment in case it trips anyone else up: patience, I guess!

nly 11y ago

I'll be waiting until before a week or two before the one year free upgrade period is up before I subject any of my family to it. In the meantime, it's popcorn time. Btw, Windows 10 now forces critical updates. You can find a registry tweak to disable this behaviour here: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8013-windows-update-automatic-updates-enable-disable-windows-10-a.html#option2 http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8013-windows-update-autom...

theandrewbailey 11y ago
I will also not be upgrading immediately, though in a few months, not (almost) a year from now.

yAnonymous 11y ago

Does the key/license that comes with the upgrade allow for a re-install? If not, I'd rather stick to Windows 7.

kijin 11y ago
"How to perform a clean installation of Windows ... you can skip the product key page by selecting the Skip button. Your PC will activate online automatically so long as the same edition of Windows 10 was successfully activated on this PC by using the free Windows 10 upgrade offer." Source: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install?ocid=ms_wol_win10 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/media-creation... I'm burning an old-fashioned installation disk as I type this, using the tool mentioned in the link above. The tool can also create bootable USB sticks or ISO images.
- yAnonymous 11y ago
  Thanks. So it's not a full license... too bad.
  - kijin 11y ago
    Yeah, it's basically an OEM (single-device, non-transferable) license with remotely managed product keys. Most legal Windows users only have OEM licenses anyway, so there won't be any difference for them. It sucks if you already own a full license. But if you need to move to a different computer sometime in the next year or so, I guess you could first install Windows 7/8/8.1 using your full license, activate it, and then take advantage of the free upgrade to 10. That's basically what I did with my "student discount" license when Windows 7 came out. I had a full license of Vista, so I first moved it to a different computer and then upgraded it to 7.
    - yAnonymous 11y ago
      I don't want to be stuck with an OS that I don't have a full license for when I replace my hardware. And I found out that Microsoft basically reserve the right for full access/download of your data and it can't be disabled.

kozukumi 11y ago

In case there are people wondering I am using Windows 10 Pro x64 and did the following - Downloaded ISO using the media creation tool at [1] then did an upgrade from 8.1 to 10 which complete just fine. I then booted from the USB drive I just made, did a diskpart clean on the only drive in the machine then did a clean install. When prompted for a product key I pressed skip then when asked again during the out-of-box experience I selected to do it later. I signed in with a local account. I connected to the internet and it activated without any questions. Yes it activated using NO product key. It seems when you do the upgrade from a valid 7 or 8.1 install it stores the hardware hash they generate on MS servers so when you then do a clean install it generates the (same) hardware hash, sends it to MS activation servers and sees it is already validated so it just activates you again. Very nice not having to deal with horrible product keys! [1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 Edit: And so far it has been great. Stable and fast over the last 5 hours of doing updates (fucking Office 2013 has like 2GB of updates after install!).

stinos 11y ago
Any idea what would happen then if you skip the upgrade 7/8 -> 10 and start with clean install? You need a key anyway? The same key as for Windows 7?
- kozukumi 11y ago
  I have read online (but not verified myself) than using a Windows 7 or 8/8.1 key works. This might be true or it might be misinformation. The upgrade only took 10 minutes so I did it that way with the plan to always wipe and clean install after. I decided to just jump through the MS hoops of doing it 'their way' and it all seemed to work just fine. According to Gabe Aul's tweet [1] it looks like they do associate the device id/hardware hash so there is no need for a product key when doing a clean install once upgraded. [1] https://twitter.com/GabeAul/status/605900073277325312 https://twitter.com/GabeAul/status/605900073277325312 Edit: I just tried using an 8.1 Pro key on a clean install and it did not accept it.
- tdkl 11y ago

kev6168 11y ago

Wait. Until. Service. Pack. 1.

saint_fiasco 11y ago
Hopefully they release that service pack before the upgrade-for-free period ends.
- MLR 11y ago
  Big feature update is pencilled in for late this year I believe.

lhecker 11y ago

Does anybody else experience issues with Truecrypt 7.1a? It displays X:\ is not accessible. Incorrect function. and the Computer Manager displays the drive with the RAW type. - Even though the filesystem is intact (tested on another Windows 8.1 computer) and - chkdsk showing NO errors (yes that's right: it even shows the filesystem as being NTFS). Aside from that my UI/UX experience with Windows 10 is great and I'm really happy. The above thing is a bummer though.

aparecido 11y ago
same issue here. truecrypt was running well with windows 10 but then started showing this warning. i looked in the windows events logs but found no clues.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
aparecido 11y ago
UPDATE [SOLVED]: searching for this problem I stumbled into this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7045334?start=15&tstart.. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7045334?start=15&tstart.... . as I'm running windows 10 on a mac using bootcamp, it only took me to rename c:/windows/system32/drivers/AppleHFS.sys to something else, reboot and get truecrypt running as before. only side effect until now: I can't see the mac partition contents in windows.
augustz 11y ago
Thanks for posting this. Same issue here... I was looking to see if a truecrypt alternative might exist that worked better. Also on a macbook air with boot camp.

Aleman360 11y ago

I work on the Start menu. It's just a UWP XAML app with Models and ViewModels written in C++/Cx, as are most of the new Shell features and built-in apps--although some of the newer ones, like Maps and Xbox, are in XAML/C#/.Net Native. Even the UI frame of Edge is in XAML, and the new Office UWP apps are too. I encourage everyone here to give UWP apps a shot; we dogfooded the dev platform to ensure it was stable and fast, and XAML really is a pleasure to use. It's come a long way since WPF.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
tonyedgecombe 11y ago
What is UWP?
- Aleman360 11y ago
  https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Dn894631.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Dn894631.aspx "Universal Windows Platform". Lets you target every Windows 10 device with a single app, from Raspberry Pi 2 to phone to PC's to Xbox One. Apps are written in C++/C#/VB with XAML markup or JavaScript/HTML/CSS. Also FYI, it takes a minimal amount of work to repackage an existing web app as a UWP.
  - tonyedgecombe 11y ago
    Does that support Windows 7/8/8.1? If not I won't be able to adopt it for a long time.
    - shmed 11y ago
      No it doesn't. Only works on win10 (phone, PC, tablet & surface hub for the moment, but they are expanding it to hololens and xbox one).
      - 11y ago

jcslzr 11y ago

I use dual boot for ubuntu and windows 8.1, should I worry?

_lce0 11y ago
not as long as you boot on the ubuntu partition ;)

forgotmypassw 11y ago

It'd be nice if it wasn't for all the bundled spyware.

farawayea 11y ago

Didn't receive the update. GWX app is gone now. WU says Windows 10 upgrade is reserved.

Aldo_MX 11y ago

From the feature deprecation list: If you have a floppy drive, you will need to download the latest driver from Windows Update or from the manufacturer’s website. I really wonder if there are manufacturers of floppy drives without a website.

Kequc 11y ago
All floppy drives come with a floppy disk with the driver on it. Problem solved.
- Aldo_MX 11y ago
  You mean like WinRAR installers inside a .rar file?

michaelkoz 11y ago

If you aren't getting Windows 10 pushed out to you, you can follow this tutorial to force update http://goodereader.com/blog/tablet-slates/how-to-force-download-windows-10-on-your-pc-and-tablet http://goodereader.com/blog/tablet-slates/how-to-force-downl...

random_2azkXJ 11y ago

The naked truth about this new Windows from user's perspective: http://i.4cdn.org/v/1438148570882.jpg http://i.4cdn.org/v/1438148570882.jpg

FLUX-YOU 11y ago
Nevermind my information (that's bad enough), what happens when I'm on a VPN and RDP into my work machine and working with other peoples' sensitive information? Has anyone captured any traffic from these features to determine what extent they're sending keystrokes?
WorldWideWayne 11y ago
In my opinion - everybody already gave up their freedoms via Android and iOS, so (someone at) Microsoft feels like there won't be a problem with demanding the same on Windows. Moves like this always draw ire from us power users, but with enough public outcry, we get what we want. Sometimes we get it through third party software. It's a game that's been played many times with many different companies because unfortunately, greed powers much of the world.
- frik 11y ago
  One can have all his freedom with Android, iOS and Windows <10 - it's just gets harder with every new version. And there hopefully will be an public outcry and/or tools to remove the telemetry logging, cloud lock-in, etc from Win10 too. In the end an OS upgrade should have a benefit, in the worst case Win7 is supported until 2020.
FireBeyond 11y ago
There's a whole bunch of stuff in that that's inaccurate/outdated, re Wifi Sharing (opt in, even for contacts). Not to mention a bunch of stuff (Do Not Track) that is set by default that has been explicitly enabled (or disabled, depending on defaults) to look worse. You can argue about whether you should have an "opt-in" for some of these things at all, yes, but this image makes it look like many things are opt-out, when they are in fact opt-in. Telemetry is the same diagnostics that OS X and even Linux Mint and other distributions do.

merb 11y ago

Ridiculously how much things I need to turn off to have the same privacy than in Windows 7... I don't get it, why don't they just make a slider after the installation where you could slide between Maximum Usability <-> Maximum Privacy and still have their "Additional Settings" where you could turn off everything one by one. Also even after turning off everything I still need to stop OneDrive from working and other stuff that still isn't a good default, even for "home users" I wouldn't recommend sending too much data.

MzHN 11y ago

I can't believe there is still no clear official statement on how the licensing works. From some sources[1] they seem to imply that retail licenses (Win7/8) turn into what is basically an OEM license, but then there are some sources that state the exact opposite[2][3]. I don't want to lose my retail Win8 license, as they say that it will be "consumed" by the upgrade (wth is that supposed to mean), so I'm going to sit and wait on this, maybe try to get an answer from their helpdesk. They try so hard to make this easy for people, to make windows popular again, and they still fucked it up. I am disappointed. [1] http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation... "If you upgraded to Windows 10 on this PC by taking advantage of the free upgrade offer and successfully activated Windows 10 on this PC in the past, you won't have a Windows 10 product key, and you can skip the product key page by selecting the Skip button. Your PC will activate online automatically so long as the same edition of Windows 10 was successfully activated on this PC by using the free Windows 10 upgrade offer." [2] http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_upgrade/after-free-update-to-windows-10-from-existing/4ca295b7-54ef-4d40-9b2e-d037cf41a8a7 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-... "From the Windows 10 end user license agreement: b. Stand-alone software. If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you. You may also transfer the software to a device owned by someone else if (i) you are the first licensed user of the software and (ii) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. You may use the backup copy we allow you to make or the media that the software came on to transfer the software. Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device. You may not transfer the software to share licenses between devices." [3] http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/software/operating-systems/1403593/how-to-upgrade-to-windows-10-and-get-your-new-licence-key http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/software/operating-systems/14... "After your computer has upgraded to Windows 10 it will have a new licence key. You'll need this if you want to perform a clean installation of Windows 10, as you can input your existing Windows 7 or 8 code into the installation routine. To get your key fire up the Magical Jelly Bean KeyFinder app and you'll see your Windows 10 key at the top of the list."