Free upgrade to Windows 10 ended

The free upgrade to Windows 10 from versions 7 and 8.1 has ended

Windows 10 Home Edition
Windows 10 Home Edition

The free upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and 8.1 ended on July 29, 2016, so you have to buy the Upgrade version for those versions of Windows – unless you buy the cheap (£29.90) Product Key for the Home or Pro versions, available in the UK, the details for which are proved below.

Note that it is possible to clean install a full version of Win10 on computers running Windows XP and Vista – if they meet the system requirements.

Have a look on Amazon UK to find out what the pricing is in your country. The full editions of Windows 10 Home and Pro are available, priced at £85 and £150, respectively. The OEM copy for system builders, who could be anyone, is priced at £62. An OEM copy can only be installed on one computer ever. A retail version can be installed on one computer after another as long as it is only currently activated on one of them. On Amazon, the two options are called PC Download and USB Flash Drive.

Windows 10 Home or Pro Activation Key for 32 / 64 Bit

There is a very interesting option called Windows 10 Home [or Pro] Activation Key for 32 / 64 Bit on Amazon UK priced at only £29.90 in August 2016. You get an activation key in a brown envelope that you use activate an installation created with the ISO image file of Windows 10 Home or Pro 32 or 64 bit versions that Microsoft provides from its website. Half the price of the OEM version, more than half the price of the Home version and a fifth of the price of the Pro version.

You have to use the Home or Pro version of the key, which, amazingly, both cost the same – £29.90. I would have thought that the Pro key would be more expensive. So, buy the Pro version and install Windows 10 Pro from its ISO image provided by Microsoft. No point using the Home version unless you already have the Home version installed.

Amazon purchaser reviews:

“Product key worked fine. Download the ISO from Microsoft and install using the key given and you’re done.”

“Anyway, my install path was: download and format a USB flash drive with Microsoft tool, installed without a product key as an install option. The install creates a default product key under System => Properties. Changed the default key and let the system Activate online. Now have an activated genuine Win10 Pro.”

Use Windows 10/8.1 ISO image to create install DVD or flash drive

About Eric 275 Articles
I am an experienced PC technician who has been the owner and sole writer of the PC Buyer Beware! website since 2004. I am learning all the time in this very dynamic, ever-changing field.