I’m sure you’ve seen numerous articles about the End of Windows 7 support on January 14th, 2020. Of course your computer isn’t going to stop working on this date, but you do expose yourself to some security risks as the OS will stop receiving regular updates. If you’re still running Windows 7, you should strongly consider upgrading to Windows 10.
With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft offered free upgrades to licensed and activated copies of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. The free offer expired on July 29th of 2016, however, the upgrade process still works, and at the end you will have an equivalent license for 10 based on your copy of Windows 7. Example, upgrading from Windows 7 Home will get you Windows 10 Home, etc.
How to Upgrade
To upgrade, we’ll be using the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft. This tool gives you a few options, such as upgrading the PC or creating an ISO image / USB install media.
Important: You MUST have a licensed copy of Windows 7 to get a licensed copy of Windows 10. Please make sure your copy of Windows 7 is activated before continuing.
- Navigate to the Media Creation Tool download page, then click Download tool now.
- On your Windows 7 computer, run the MediaCreationToolxxxx.exe application that you downloaded (xxxx will be the Windows 10 version number, at the time of writing, it is 1903.)
- Accept the license agreement to continue by clicking Accept
- Choose the Upgrade this PC now option, then click Next
- Windows 10 will begin downloading, once it finishes, then we can continue.
- Once the download completes, you’ll be prompted to Accept the license agreement once more.
- After checking for updates, the wizard will ask you what you’d like to keep. If you’re looking to maintain your software installations and files, you can choose to keep everything (default option) and click Install.
- The install will begin. At this point, depending on your hardware, it will take some time for the installation to complete. Your computer will reboot a few times during this process.
Post Installation Setup and Cleanup
After the installation is complete, you will need to go through the initial setup for Windows 10 which includes privacy settings, then after some testing, it’s a good idea to clean up the old installation. Choose your desired privacy settings, then click Accept.
You are now at the Windows desktop. You can see that all of your applications and files are intact, and that you’re now on Windows 10.
Make Sure You’re Activated
Now that Windows is installed, let’s make sure that the activation is still in place.
- Click the Start Button and type Activation Settings
- Verify that your copy shows as Activated
Post Install Cleanup
Once you’re sure that everything is working on your new install, we can run a Disk Cleanup to remove the old Windows 7 install and free up some space. Once you remove this, there is no going back, so make sure that everything is working before continuing!
- Click the Start Button and type Disk Cleanup
- Click the Clean Up System Files button in the lower left corner
- Choose the items you’d like to clean up. Most importantly, make sure Previous Windows Installation(s) is selected, then click OK.
- When prompted to confirm deletion, click Delete Files
- You will then be prompted to clean up the old installations of Windows. The warning will state that you cannot go back after deleting the files. If you’re sure that you have no problems, click Yes.
And that’s it! You’re now upgraded to Windows 10. It’s always a good idea afterward to check for any additional updates that are available, and take the time to update any other apps you have installed.
If for some reason you do not have an activated copy of Windows 10, you can purchase a digital license from Amazon.
Windows 10 Home Download – Purchase At Amazon
Windows 10 Pro Download – Purchase At Amazon
