How to upgrade to Windows 10 for free right now

Microsoft has rolled out the Windows 10 upgrade we all have been waiting for. The upgrade was available from 12 a.m. onwards in over 119 countries.

All those people whose PC’s are eligible will have a smooth transition from their current Windows OS to Windows 10. The eligibility check was a part of the reservation process. If your PC is currently running on an OS version lower than Windows 7 then the upgrade will not be free. It’ll cost you around $119 – the same as Windows 8. Or, if you can afford it, you could purchase a new PC right now and get free Windows 10 with it!

How to force upgrade to Windows 10

If you are one the many people who reserved their copy of Windows 10, then turn on your PC’s and waste no further time in getting the upgrade. If you did not get a notification about the upgrade, don’t fret. Click on the Windows icon on your taskbar and you’ll see that Windows 10 is being downloaded quietly onto your PC. Once Windows 10 is downloaded you’ll get a notification. Once you allow, the upgrade process will begin.

Well, this is only possible if you are lucky enough to be included in the first of many Microsoft batch upgrades. Here is a method with which can trick your computer into downloading Windows 10 right now.

1. Go to “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download” and delete all the files there. This will give Windows Update a clean slate.

2. Now open up Windows Update with the Windows key and type “Windows Update” and clicking on it.

3. Leave that open in the background and open your command prompt and run as administrator.

4. Type (but do not enter yet) “wuauclt.exe /updatenow” — this is the command to force Windows Update to check for updates.

5. Then go to Windows Update and click “Check for updates”. Then go to the cmd and enter the command you typed.

Your Windows Update should now say that it is downloading Windows 10.

However, before you upgrade keep these things in mind:

1. Create a recovery disk with your current OS. If your PC does not have a recovery disk, create your own recovery system on a DVD or a USB. This is the only way you can downgrade if you don’t like Windows 10.
2. Backup your files. Since Windows 10 is an upgrade like Windows 8.1, it won’t remove everything from your PC. When you start the upgrade you’ll get to choose between keeping your data or starting fresh. If you choose the latter then backup everything. However, you’ll still have to create a backup of your data present in the OS drive.

The full version of Windows 10 will be available for a free upgrade on Windows 7 or 8 for a limited time period of 1 year. Windows 10 requires a 3 GB download only. Hurry up because you run out of time!

The source is TheVerge and Microsoft Windows Reddit