98 PCWorld JULY 2019HERE’S HOW GET WINDOWS 10 CHEAP (OR FOR FREE)
Windows 10. The amount you’ll save
depends on how much hassle you can
tolerate—as well as your circumstances. If
you’re lucky, you could technically get
Windows 10 for free. (Legitimately for free,
because installing Windows 10 without ever
activating it doesn’t quite count as getting a
full, sanctioned copy of Windows.)PACKRAT’S LOOPHOLE:
TRY A WINDOWS 7
OR 8 KEY
Price: FreeIf you have an old Windows 7 or Windows 8
PC lying around, you
may still be able to
reuse its key to activate
Windows 10. When
Microsoft first launched
Windows 10 back in
2015, it offered
Windows 7 and
Windows 8 users a truly
free, no-strings upgrade
to the new operating
system. The promotion
was only available for just one year—
presumably to accelerate push-up Windows
10 adoption rates—and expired in July 2016
(go.pcworld.com/10fq).
But even though Microsoft officially
ended this program three years ago, it still
has yet to completely shut everything down.The activation servers have been allowing
Windows 7 and 8 keys on some Windows
10 installs.
The Windows 7 or Windows 8 product
keys that commonly work for this method are
the retail and OEM varieties, while only
sporadic reports exist for volume license
keys (i.e., enterprise or educational licenses)
working with this loophole.
While there’s no exact science for what
works, the following guidelines take into
account various data points floating around
in articles, forums, and Reddit. First off,
you’re limited to using keys for a specific
version of Windows 7 or 8 with the
equivalent in Windows- If you have a
Windows 7 or 8 Home
license, that will only
work for Windows 10
Home, and Windows 7
or 8 Pro only work for
Windows 10 Pro.
An additional rule of
thumb is that you may
need a retail product
key if you’re doing a
clean install of Windows 10 on a new
computer. OEM product keys should work if
you’re doing an upgrade or clean install of
Windows 10 on the machine the Windows 7
or 8 license is tied to.
If you don’t have your license key easily
accessible, you can find it by using a program