Windows 10 might already be downloading on your Windows 7 and 8 PCs

[Nick]

In less than 24 hours, Microsoft will start upgrading Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines to Windows 10. The software giant is preparing for this big release, at 12AM ET on July 29th (9PM PST on July 28th), by pre-loading the final version of Windows 10 on PCs eligible for the upgrade. A number of Windows 7 and Windows 8 users who have registered for the upgrade have started noticing that the full installer files for Windows 10 have been downloaded to C:\$windows.~BT as Microsoft gets ready for release.

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...ndows-10-pre-download-windows-7-windows-8-pcs

 

[havasu]

OK Nick buddy, I need an honest answer.

1) Will us Windows 7 folks be happy with the upgrade?

2) If not, is there a way to decline this auto-upgrade?

 

[Nick]

You will be real happy .

I know there have been some questions here about Windows 10 .iso's to do a clean install. The first "FREE" install MUST be an upgrade from Windows 8.1 or Windows 7. This will setup that particular computer for a clean install from an .iso image file that will be pre-activated. The iso files should be available soon after 10's release.

 

[havasu]

Thanks friend.

 

[Ernesto]

A number of Windows 7 and Windows 8 users who have registered for the upgrade have started noticing that the full installer files for Windows 10 have been downloaded to C:\$windows.~BT as Microsoft gets ready for release.

So I have not registered and the little widows icon is still there that says "Get Windows 10". Will they do it anyway or do I have to register?

 

[Nick]

Check this out to avoid upgrade.

http://winsupersite.com/

There are a couple updates not listed there, so,

For those who want to wait but are annoyed by the new icon in your systray bugging you about doing it there are a few ways to get rid of it. All reversible.

Lists most methods that work.


The Windows updates that are directly related to the upgrade/nagware are...

KB2952664, KB3021917, KB3035583, KB3022345 and KB2952664

They all should be uninstalled and hidden. If later you wish to upgrade you can easily unhide them and reserve your copy of Windows 10.

Note that you have one full year to decide whether you want to upgrade for free.. that's until end of July 2016 so there's no rush to do anything right now.

Let others deal with the headaches.

http://www.infoworld.com/blog/infoworld-tech-watch is an excellent resource for all things Windows related including troublesome updates to all current OS's and the systray nagware issue.

Also worth noting is that in Windows 10 there is no longer a Media Center and Win 10 auto updates are exactly that.. and mandatory.. you can no longer wait to install them or hide them if they aren't critical to your specific computer. That includes things like hardware drivers that might not need updating and could lead to problems if they are.

 

[Nick]

So of course Microsoft being Microsoft they are very vague about licensing which makes the whole thing somewhat unintuitive.
This is what i figured out myself, and it works for doing a complete fresh install of Windows 10 and activating it if you are currently running Windows 7 or 8(.1). 1:

First things first, make sure you have everything backed up and saved. Also write down your current key for Windows 7 or 8.1. 2: Then download this little tool https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 .

And use it to download an ISO for your version of Windows. Got Windows 8.1 Pro? Go with Windows 10 Pro. Got Windows 7 Home Premium? Go with Windows 10 home, etc..

3: Make a bootable USB stick with this: https://rufus.akeo.ie/ . Use GPT for partition table, and file system FAT32.

4: Then put the USB stick aside and install the Windows 10 upgrade through Windows update. The reason being that your old key won't work to activate Windows 10. But during the update process you automatically get a new key, a legitimate Windows 10 key.

5: Now once it's all installed use this tool: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html to find your new Windows 10 key. Make sure to write this down, so you can always find it.

6: Now with your new Windows 10 key you can install Windows 10 and activate it like you're used to. Boot from the USB stick, install Windows 10, install the drivers, activate and off you go. I hope this is helpful for someone out there, because it took me a while to figure out as well since there are 0 tutorials explaining this right now.

 

[Floorist]

If you don't like W10, you have one month to go back to the previous OS. My wife hated W10 and went back to 8.1.