Windows 10 can be activated for free if you install Insider Preview

To obtain an activated legal copy of Windows 10 RTM, you do not need to have a licensed copy of Windows 7 or 8.1.

Microsoft published a message in the official blog, which explained the moment with the update of Windows 10 Insider Preview on the final version of Windows 10 RTM, which will be released on July 29, 2015.

Data & Fundamentals development team leader Gabe Aul talks about the changes in the following Insider Preview build: “If you don’t have a Microsoft (MSA) account tied to your PC, then from the next build you’ll receive notifications about having . You need to connect MSA to your PC (and accept the terms of the Windows Insider Preview program) in order to continue receiving new Windows 10 Insider Preview builds (both via Fast and Slow Updates) from Windows Update. If you already have an MSA tied to a PC, then everything is fine. We are introducing the new Windows Update infrastructure to deliver new builds more effectively to the members of the Windows Insider program, and make sure that only registered members get these builds. Getting an MSA account automatically gives you access to the Windows Feedback and Insider Hub application, which is available only to program members.
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The change only applies to members of the Windows Insider program. As soon as the operating system is released on July 29, it is not necessary to have an MSA account on Windows 7 and 8.1 computers. Also, it is not necessary to register MSA on computers with Windows 10 preinstalled. Some features of Windows 10, however, require an account such as downloading applications from the Windows Store.

Windows 10 Insider Preview users (Home and Pro editions) with registered MSA tied to a PC will receive the final release of Windows 10 starting July 29th. It will come as a normal build in standard order. I’m asked a lot of questions from Windows Insider members about how this will work with a clean install with ISO. So, while you have the Insider Preview build installed and tied to the MSA that you need to register, you will get the final release of Windows 10 and remain in activated mode. Once you have successfully installed it and activated it, you can already perform a clean installation from any source on this PC if you want to start from scratch. ”

Thus, users of preliminary builds need to create an MSA account, link it to a PC - and they will receive the final release for free .

The free offer does not apply only to the corporate version of the Enterprise edition. They need to be licensed in the Volume Licensing Service Center .



In the end, Gabe Aul mentioned that in the next build Project Spartan will be officially renamed to Microsoft Edge. Due to the change of the application ID, all bookmarks, cookies, surf history, etc. will be lost.

To save bookmarks, you need to make a backup before updating. You need to copy bookmarks from %localappdata%/Packages/Microsoft.Windows.Spartan_cw5n1h2txyewy/AC/Spartan/User/Default/Favorites to %userprofile%/Favorites . And after the upgrade to import into Microsoft Edge.