Upgrading Windows – With all the talk of Windows 11, it’s important to remember that many still haven’t upgraded to Windows 10!
I was talking with a customer a couple of weeks ago and they asked me if I could upgrade their laptop from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10….
“No problems!” – I thought. Then I remembered that Microsoft had a “window” (sorry for the pun) of opportunity to upgrade for free and that has passed some years ago. There was a work-around to do with “assistive technologies” a while ago but that seems to be dormant now too.
So not wanting to give in that easily (if you know me then you will know that’s not my style) I set up a virtual Windows 8.1 machine and tested upgrading it to Windows 10 using the Microsoft Installation Media for Windows Tool.
Low and behold – It automatically upgraded the machine using the legitimate Windows 8.1 license key.
The top and bottom of it is that although the upgrade is now officially no-longer free, no-one seems to have told Microsoft’s servers!
Although we may be in the transition to Windows 11, with it’s hardware restrictions many of us will be continuing to use our older PCs. Having an upgrade route still available to Windows 10 is at least a way to secure some level of future updates until the end of support date of October 2025.
If you need help upgrading your PC hardware or software, please contact HAS today.