Microsoft is offering the Windows 10 upgrade free to all users of Windows 8.1 Update and Windows 7 SP1, till 29th July 2016. But what happens after the Windows 10 free upgrade expiration end date?
When does Windows 10 free upgrade expire?
The free Windows 10 upgrade offer expires on the midnight of 29th July 2016. After this, if you chose to upgrade, you will have to pay.
What will happen after the free Windows 10 upgrade offer ends?
If you are a user of Windows 8.1 Update or Windows 7 Service Pack 1, and if your device supports the new OS, you will have already received the free upgrade notification via the Get Windows 10 app. The free upgrade isn’t available for devices running Windows RT or Windows RT 8.1. Enterprise customers with active Software Assurance subscription in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise offerings outside of this offer.
Most of you may have upgraded to Windows 10 already, while some of you may be unsure. If you are sure that you do not want to avail of this free upgrade offer, Microsoft is now offering you the option to decline the free offer, with the click of a button. Once you click this button, you will not be offered the free upgrade again.
If you have upgraded to Windows 10, good for you as Windows 10 has a lot to offer to you – and it’s always good to be on the latest version of any software.
If you are sure that you do not want to avail of this free upgrade offer, Microsoft is now offering you the option to decline the free offer, with the click of a button. Once you click this button, you will not be offered the free upgrade again.
Users who have not upgraded should now seriously think whether they want to upgrade or not upgrade and take the appropriate decision before time runs out.
The free upgrade offer notifications will stop after July 29. Microsoft will also release an update that will remove the Get Windows 10 (GWX) app.
The Media Creation Tool and Windows 10 installation media (ISO files) will continue to be available to install Windows 10. If you are installing Windows for the first time, you will need a product key. If you’ve previously installed Windows 10 on your device, you should have a digital entitlement and Windows 10 will activate without the need to enter a product key.
If you upgrade today, you will be eligible to get all future updates for free, for the supported lifetime of the device, and this includes the Anniversary update that’s going to be available on 2nd August.
Read: Should you upgrade to Windows 10?
How much will Windows 10 cost?
After the free offer ends, the full version of Windows 10 Home will cost USD 119 and Windows 10 Pro will cost USD 199.99. Users who want to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro can purchase the Windows 10 Pro Pack which costs USD 99.
These can be purchased from the Microsoft Store or Microsoft retail partners.
Can I keep my options open?
You will not be avail of the free offer after the deadline. If you want to continue to use your existing Windows version, but want to keep your options open about using Windows 10 later on, a good option would be for you to upgrade your computer to Windows 10 now and activate it. Having done this, your Windows 10 license will be tied to the device, thanks to Digital Entitlement. After doing this, you could rollback to your previous Windows version and use it. In the future, if you chose to upgrade to Windows 10, you would be able to upgrade this device for free, since your activated Windows 10 license would be tied to this device.
Users using Assistive Technologies will be still able to upgrade to Windows 10, even after July 29th.
Where do you stand? Upgraded? Undecided? Or do not want to upgrade!
Windows 10 upgrade is only free as long as you do not change your motherboard (as it is bound to the BIOS). Then you have to buy a new licence again – according to Microsoft. But they never told you that before.
Acceptable changes in hardware: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-license-hardware-configuration
Activate Windows 10 free license after changing computer hardware: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/regain-free-version-windows-10-changing-computer-hardware
Whew,.. at least we have the option to roll back in the event that it is not compatible with some software programs and games.
Windows 10 requires a minimum of 4GB of RAM. My Dell Latitude D630 laptop has only 3GB of RAM and thus Windows 10 is useless to me.
I am typing this on an old Dell OptiPlex GX620 Desktop with an old Pentium 4 HT Processor and 3 Gbs. of Ram and it works just fine. I have yet to try any type of game on it as I doubt very much that this old beast can do much more than surf the web. I installed “10” just to see if it would run. I had to have a ton of patience to even do the install! It took 6+ Hrs to install. The download was only about 10 minutes. The rest was install time. I had to laugh when 6 hrs. later the install timer said 32 minutes to finish the install. Nonetheless it does work on the old clunker for some reason and I haven’t loaded any Dell Drivers either. I think I just got lucky.
I am running win10 on 3 boxes, all of which do not have 4gb ram. One in particular has only 1gb ram and flys along just nicely.
Is it the BIOS or the MAC Address? It seems to me that the BIOS does not have (to my knowledge) a physical address. So explain what you mean, I understand that once I’ve upgraded to windows 10 I cannot replace my system board without purchasing a new operating system due to the operating system being tagged to the systems boards BIOS or physical address. So I guess I’m stuck with an older system even though I build my own, do I have to purchase a new key for say $50 or do I have to purchase a new OS for $200. That would make it harder for people who upgrade their systems every year or two to keep up with the latest.
Windows 10 is unacceptable by any standards
I have standards when it comes to the Windows OS and Windows 10 does not meet my requirements as a general Windows user Windows 10 is -4* meaning unacceptable and i cant stand this OS and Microsoft in general
Is it me or is Win10 completely unstable? I’m a serious power user and 2 weeks into the upgrade I’ve had the machine break down 3 times; once the screen would not turn back on and the two other the machine claimed it was running out of ram when it clearly was not the case (I have 12Gb ram).
I was running Windows 7 before and it was rock solid so it’s not a hardware issue.
Oh and it’s slower too; file transfer speed is significantly slower than Windows 7.
Last but not least the calculator is really nice but they trashed the editable history!!%!%!!?! WTF!
I am not impressed.
hi Anand… in the section “Can I keep my options open?”… I upgraded to win 10 yesterday, but I might still like to go back to Win7 before the 30 days is over. What I don’t understand is … how does one go back to getting Win 10 back after the fact,, I guess that would be after the 30 days or is it before the 30 days is up?
thanks
Riv
When you put Windows 10 on the same device even after 30 days, your Windows 10 will ‘take’ the licence tied to your device and activate itself automatically. So if you have installed and activated Windows 10 on your device now, even if you rollback tomorrow, you will still be able to install Windows 10 the days after.
hi Anand… ty for responding… ok so when you say the “days after” I take it you mean up to the 30 days but after the 30 days if I should decide to reinstall Win 10 I would just go to the MS site & redownload it again? & it will pick up my activation?
I was just talking to MS rep on the phone & asked her about all this & she said no that will not work after the 30 day.
I was on remote access with a tech b/c Edge did not work & everything she tried, Admin acct, the user acct she said was corrupt so therefore this has to be escalated & level 2 tech will call me tomorrow for a scheduled call to try & fix Edge.
As you can image i’m already not liking win10 haha
oh boy, so guess i’ll see what happens tomorrow.
thanks, looking forward to your response.
Riv
My suggestion you never go back, still if you want just go to windows recovery tool or in your update setting follow the instruction