With Windows 10 FREE upgrade offer for eligible systems running Windows 7/8.1 set to expire this July 29th, now may be a good time to future proof your system.
Btw, did you know that you can upgrade to Windows 10 AND keep your current OS intact (ie. w/o altering your system/repartitioning)? Here's how I did it:
1. Download the Windows 10 ISO via this tutorial: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/9230-windows-10-iso-download.html
2. Obtain the entitlement key from existing genuine Win7/8.1 installation with this tutorial: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...10-directly-without-having-upgrade-first.html. NOTE: You only want to obtain the entitlement key from the tutorial. DO NOT proceed to install as described in the above tutorial. Instead, go to step 3. on this page to keep your current system intact.
3. Disconnect your system from the internet. If you were connected to the internet thru WiFi, it's VERY WISE to change the password key on your WiFi router to a temporary one, as MSFT WILL share this key to the police authority, BIG BROTHER in the USA, and what not. You can always change the password back later, but it's a very big mistake to let MSFT have the real WiFi key to your router, which is why a temporary change is warranted!! (Also disconnect any network drives/servers just to be sure Windows 10 can't access/affect them)
4. Proceed to install Windows 10 from the install media you have created with the Windows 10 ISO you downloaded. When you get to the screen where it asks you to select the location to install Windows 10 to, do this:
4A. Press "Shift + F10" to bring up the command prompt
4B. Look for the drive letter of your current OS (ie. type "A: [enter]", then type "[dir] enter"). Cycle thru the letters of the alphabet until you discover the drive letter your current Win7/8.1 resides on. Make sure this drive has enough space for Windows 10. For example, my Windows 8.1 installation was located on drive letter E: with drive D: being the very small boot partition that Windows loves to create on everyone's computer!
4C: Next type "diskpart [enter]" to bring up diskpart console. You should see something that looks like this: DISKPART>
4D: Having loaded up the diskpart console, type the following commands substituting E: for your current Win7/8.1 OS drive letter from step 4B:
4D(I): "create vdisk file="e:\win10.vhd" size=25000 type=expandable" (note this will create a virtual drive of 25GB size, you can change this if you like, but it must be above Win10's drive space requirement)
4D(II): "sel vdisk file="e:\win10.vhd"
4D(III): "attach vdisk"
4D(IV): "create partition primary"
4D(V): "active"
4D(VI): "format fs=ntfs quick"
4D(VII): "exit"
5: Back at the Windows 10 install window, click refresh. The virtual drive you created in step 4 will now appear. Select it and click install to install Windows 10 to that virtual drive.
6. After Windows 10 is installed, follow the last steps from the tutorial in #2 to load the entitlement key into Windows 10. Reconnect your internet. Restart.
7. After rebooting, search "activation" in the new settings app. If you followed the steps correctly, Windows 10 should say it was activated by digital entitlement. The next time you reinstall Windows 10, you don't need to repeat the procedure to obtain digital entitlement. Just make sure your internet is connected throughout the install, and it will automatically pick up activated registered with MSFT the first time around!
8. Congratulations, you have installed Windows 10 to a virtual drive and activated it. You now dual/multi-boot Windows 10 alongside your previous OS. The previous OS remains untouched by Windows 10. And if you log onto your previous OS, it's still activated, meaning you can switch between Windows 10 and the previous OS at a whim, but you can only use one of them at a time!
Enjoy!
(P.S.: Windows 10 is really slow. The time it takes to boot up and load the default web browser is like 1.5-2x slower than in Windows 8.1!)
9. For really paranoid ppl like me, it's safe to wipe Windows 10 off your system by deleting the d:\win10.vhd". There's absolutely no purpose in doing all of the steps above save to register your machine for digital entitlement (ie. activation) before the July 29th deadline, should you ever find yourself needing Windows 10 in the future. Basically, you get to keep the Windows 10 license for the life of that machine! And, you get to keep your current OS intact at the same time! A win-win situation!!
Btw, did you know that you can upgrade to Windows 10 AND keep your current OS intact (ie. w/o altering your system/repartitioning)? Here's how I did it:
1. Download the Windows 10 ISO via this tutorial: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/9230-windows-10-iso-download.html
2. Obtain the entitlement key from existing genuine Win7/8.1 installation with this tutorial: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...10-directly-without-having-upgrade-first.html. NOTE: You only want to obtain the entitlement key from the tutorial. DO NOT proceed to install as described in the above tutorial. Instead, go to step 3. on this page to keep your current system intact.
3. Disconnect your system from the internet. If you were connected to the internet thru WiFi, it's VERY WISE to change the password key on your WiFi router to a temporary one, as MSFT WILL share this key to the police authority, BIG BROTHER in the USA, and what not. You can always change the password back later, but it's a very big mistake to let MSFT have the real WiFi key to your router, which is why a temporary change is warranted!! (Also disconnect any network drives/servers just to be sure Windows 10 can't access/affect them)
4. Proceed to install Windows 10 from the install media you have created with the Windows 10 ISO you downloaded. When you get to the screen where it asks you to select the location to install Windows 10 to, do this:
4A. Press "Shift + F10" to bring up the command prompt
4B. Look for the drive letter of your current OS (ie. type "A: [enter]", then type "[dir] enter"). Cycle thru the letters of the alphabet until you discover the drive letter your current Win7/8.1 resides on. Make sure this drive has enough space for Windows 10. For example, my Windows 8.1 installation was located on drive letter E: with drive D: being the very small boot partition that Windows loves to create on everyone's computer!
4C: Next type "diskpart [enter]" to bring up diskpart console. You should see something that looks like this: DISKPART>
4D: Having loaded up the diskpart console, type the following commands substituting E: for your current Win7/8.1 OS drive letter from step 4B:
4D(I): "create vdisk file="e:\win10.vhd" size=25000 type=expandable" (note this will create a virtual drive of 25GB size, you can change this if you like, but it must be above Win10's drive space requirement)
4D(II): "sel vdisk file="e:\win10.vhd"
4D(III): "attach vdisk"
4D(IV): "create partition primary"
4D(V): "active"
4D(VI): "format fs=ntfs quick"
4D(VII): "exit"
5: Back at the Windows 10 install window, click refresh. The virtual drive you created in step 4 will now appear. Select it and click install to install Windows 10 to that virtual drive.
6. After Windows 10 is installed, follow the last steps from the tutorial in #2 to load the entitlement key into Windows 10. Reconnect your internet. Restart.
7. After rebooting, search "activation" in the new settings app. If you followed the steps correctly, Windows 10 should say it was activated by digital entitlement. The next time you reinstall Windows 10, you don't need to repeat the procedure to obtain digital entitlement. Just make sure your internet is connected throughout the install, and it will automatically pick up activated registered with MSFT the first time around!
8. Congratulations, you have installed Windows 10 to a virtual drive and activated it. You now dual/multi-boot Windows 10 alongside your previous OS. The previous OS remains untouched by Windows 10. And if you log onto your previous OS, it's still activated, meaning you can switch between Windows 10 and the previous OS at a whim, but you can only use one of them at a time!
Enjoy!
(P.S.: Windows 10 is really slow. The time it takes to boot up and load the default web browser is like 1.5-2x slower than in Windows 8.1!)
9. For really paranoid ppl like me, it's safe to wipe Windows 10 off your system by deleting the d:\win10.vhd". There's absolutely no purpose in doing all of the steps above save to register your machine for digital entitlement (ie. activation) before the July 29th deadline, should you ever find yourself needing Windows 10 in the future. Basically, you get to keep the Windows 10 license for the life of that machine! And, you get to keep your current OS intact at the same time! A win-win situation!!
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