On Jan. 21, Microsoft bowled the tech world over by announcing that its next operating system, Windows 10, would be available as a free upgrade on any computer running Windows 7 or newer, including Windows Phone 8.1.

The update won’t be officially available until later this year. However, early adopters can test the most current build on their PC right now following a few simple instructions.

Beta News has step-by-step instructions for downloading the update of build 9926 on any computer running Windows 7 or higher. It is easier than you’d imagine getting the beta program on your spare PC.

windows 10_01

Before continuing, make sure you understand the risks involved in installing a beta operating system on your computer. It is highly recommended that you only test the beta on a spare machine and not your main computer. From Microsoft’s info page:

“Remember, trying out an early build like this can be risky. That’s why we recommend that you don’t install the preview on your primary home or business PC. Unexpected PC crashes could damage or even delete your files, so you should back up everything.”

Basically, you’ll need to install a minor update that will add the Windows 10 beta build to your PC, which you can then download as another update. Install. Done.

Windows 10 will be available across PCs, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones running Windows 7 or higher. It will support streaming of Xbox One games, and will eventually be available for Raspberry Pi 2. The beta build currently includes Cortana, the virtual assistant, and allows users to download Microsoft’s Office programs – Word, PowerPoint, and Excel – for free.

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18 replies on “Upgrading from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 preview is easier than you think”

  1. What is wrong with you. You don’t have to add an update to get windows 10 TP. You just go to the page and download the ISO and install it. Don’t waste your time downloading it. I download the first beta release, and it sucked. It sucked so badly, that I went back to windows 8.1 within 15 minutes of using it cause I was smart enough to put it on a VHD. Then I tried 10 build 9926, and it sucks too. I reverted back to 8.1, the next day. It doesn’t transfer all you settings like it says. It is unstable and has video driver compatibility problems. Even windows 8 beta was more promising than this piece of crap. Nothing on it work correctly when you clicked something and the response time is slow even running off my HD.

  2. What a piece of shit ,make the mistake of not buying a IMAC ,we’ll be saving up now

  3. Windows 10 seems unpolished, its like its Windows 7, 8.1, 10 icons all tossed together with the start menu and notification tray thrown in to provide a ease of access which makes it useless as the the start screen.

  4. The title is only half-true. Win10 preview will not install on devices with WIM Boot, which include the vast number of cheapo Win tablets & 2n1’s. One can try booting from Win10 USB and do a clean install (ie blowing away the compressed factory install), but that’s only for hardcore geeks.

    1. BTW, if you install Win10, you may want to disable the keylogger. Yes, there’s been debate about how much of a big deal this thing is, but that misses the point of why you should allow a keylogger on your private computer in the first place.

      forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/57339-Guide-Way-to-Disable-Keylogger

    2. Let’s recap some History:

      WinME – BAD
      WinXP – GOOD
      WinVista – BAD
      Win7 – GOOD
      Win8 – BAD
      Win9 – “GOOD” (oops!)
      Win10 – Problem? 😀

      1. There was no Win9, this is technically Win9 but being called Win10, so using your sequence this one shoukd be good 🙂

  5. No Windows Media Center so If you upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 Technical Preview no more free DVR software.

    1. Well, first there are free 3rd party DVR software that aren’t going to go away, and second that’s assuming MS keeps the setup the same as what they did with Windows 8… and the only reason they did that was because it uses Pay for codecs and not enough people were actually using it to continue justifying the costs…

      But it could very well be a moot point these days because most people stream their media now and MS is adding out of the box support for things like mkv files for WMP… While most people use 3rd party players even with Windows 7, like VLC, etc.

      The lack of any mention of a Media Center upgrade for Windows 10 is probably telling that they’re taking a different/updated tact on handling media for Windows 10…

  6. It worked like a charm (W8.1 -> 10 TechPre).

    My system drive was encrypted with bitlocker before and is still encrypted.

    All apps and add-ins are working. Only my AV scanner was uninstalled.

  7. I signed up for the preview and downloaded the ISO, I just haven’t had the chance to research if I’m going to be sold down the river after a year is up.
    It’s a concern.

    1. I have the same concern. I think Microsoft is moving toward a SAAS (software as a service) approach so that they can continue to receive revenue from users long after installation. The upside is that users won’t have to buy new updates, but the downside is either a monthly or annual payment in perpetuity. Personally, I prefer the current system and I plan on keeping my Windows 7 until extended support expires.

      1. I’ve also heard the theory that Microsoft will adopt the SAAS format in the future. However, a friend commented to me that he thinks Microsoft is just trying to get everyone on the same page, software-wise, in order to cut down on the cost of multiple OS support. Either is possible.

      2. I doubt they will make W10 for consumers(ie private users, not businesses) SAAS only, it wouldnt make sense and will shrink their share of OS market considerably, instead of getting hoardes of now-legal Windows users they would get quite a big chunk of user base switching away from SAAS to Linux.
        Sure, Office and some other software that used to be “pay once use forever” will transition, but I doubt that the core of W10 itself nor its basic elements that average Joe/Jane uses will transform into limiting SAAS.
        At least I hope it wont, that will be the end of MS OS’es for me :)!

        1. I also don’t see them making W10 for consumers SAAS only. Most people are buying PCs with Windows pre-installed. I imagine to them the purchase is in the hardware itself, honestly I can’t even convince most people to buy a mobile app and support a developer. They really put no value to software in most cases.

      3. I agree. I have 2 Windows 7 Desktops and 1 Laptop. I plan on keeping them as Windows 7 devices regardless. I am of the mindset “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with Windows 7. I like what I’ve seen so far with Windows 10, and I may buy another PC with it installed at some point. I’m very leery of Microsoft’s future plans with Windows. Turning Windows into a paid service, rather than a one time license, is an idea they’ve been kicking around for a long time. I remember Bill Gates mentioning it in an interview many years ago. If Windows becomes a paid service, I’m definitely going to consider moving to another OS. The service would have to be really cheap for me to consider it. If they offer the base OS for free (or a one time fee like they do currently), and just charge users for premium features kind of like Amazon Prime, then that might be fine. For instance, $120 a year gets you free access to Microsoft Office and free streaming movies and music.

      4. Well, there’s more than one form of SAAS… Google for example draws most of its income from services that you don’t actually pay for directly, like just using their search engine brings them revenue… Google even makes more money off iOS than Android because of this…

        What MS has been doing up till now with W8 is slowly adopting a Google business model, like offering Windows for either free or discounted… The discount works by just defaulting the default search engine to Bing and that’s how MS justifies the discount…

        So for Windows 10, MS is clearly setting up a lot of similar services orientated features that could easily provide them with alternative revenue and not require them to put the whole burden of costs on the consumers directly…

        Windows 10 will allow for diverse device ranges to work together and allow most, if not all of their services to be usable on virtually any device…

        Keep in mind that MS will be competing heavily with Google for the mobile market going forward… So it’s very unlikely they’ll put any significant financial burden on the general consumer…

        Business users, on the other hand, will likely get a traditional SAAS as they require quite a bit more support and flexibility than the average user, along with more heavy use of MS other products and services but long term costs could still be lower as businesses wouldn’t have to worry about needing to replace all their software every few years and consistency in software, universal apps, etc, should reduce costs for training employees to use software, etc.

        It’s still early of course and the specifics of MS new business model have yet to be officially laid out but I think it’ll generally be better for the average consumer going forward than the traditional business model they had been using up till now…

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