Windows Anniversary Update will be free, landing on Windows 10 devices this summer

Adrian Potoroaca Neowin @thenanoguy · Mar 30, 2016 12:33 EDT · Hot! with 52 comments

Microsoft’s Redstone 1 update for Windows 10 now has an official name. The company announced at the Build 2016 conference that the ‘Windows Anniversary Update’ will be landing on Windows 10 devices this summer, and — best of all — it’s absolutely free for Windows 10 users.

As we expected, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson used the occasion to take a friendly jab at Apple’s marketing team, underlining the company’s well-known philosophy of welcoming everyone to the Windows 10 platform, «whether they have a new PC, a 5-year-old PC, or a brand new Mac.»

It’s important to note that the Windows 10 Anniversary Update will also be coming to Xbox One and HoloLens, which means that you’ll finally be able to run UWP (Universal Windows Platform) apps on your console, as well as use it as a testbed for app development.

Windows loves ink

According to Microsoft’s Bryan Roper, Windows Ink is going to be «front and center» in the upcoming version of Windows 10, which is meant to spark better ways for people to «ideate and collaborate better». Users will have a new ink workspace that will be the place where you find your most used Ink apps along with app suggestions and useful guides.

When you’ll use a pen to write, Cortana will be integrated into the experience, recognizing the important details as you write — for example — a note for the next day. This will help you automate tasks like setting up reminders, marking up appointments in your calendar, etc. You’ll also have access to some extra tools, such as a digital ruler, and you’ll be able to access the Ink workspace even before you unlock your Windows 10 device.

The Windows Ink workspace is built on top of the Universal Windows Platform, which will also be more powerful in the Windows Anniversary Update. The UWP has been subject of heated criticism from people such as Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney, but Terry Myerson promised today that:

«For over 30 years Windows has welcomed an open ecosystem of hardware and software partners. Nothing changes with the Universal Windows platform.»

To illustrate the developer interest in the Universal Windows Platform, Terry also pointed out that many companies are working on universal apps, such as Starbucks, Twitter, and Facebook, and others.

Windows 10 better be free after you read this.

I just thought I would let you know of a HUGE problem affecting where I used to go to school and some current PCs in my house.

This is based around what happens when you have Windows 7 Service Pack 1 installed.

Since the Windows 10 Technical Preview came out, we have been getting several notifications on Windows Update that updates are available for my PC. That’s great.

It showed the Technical Preview to try out the next version of Windows, something that I did not want to do on my Windows 7 PC.

I continued to use my Windows 7 PC until last night, when Windows Technical Preview was installed AUTOMATICALLY when I restarted the PC to finish installing a game which required a system reboot.

I have no recovery partition, because none came with my PC and no OEM disc to reinstall Windows 7.

After this conclusion, Windows 10 better be free after what has happened to may computers that I know about, especially at a place of study where I currently am, and this means that the IT Services Management team there are having to reinstall Windows 7 and turning off updates, because of the Technical Preview, an OS in which they don’t want to update to at the current time until final release.

So I’m definitely hoping that Windows 10 will be a free release for the final product!

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Yeah and Windows 7 magically installed on my Windows XP.

You installed Technical preview yourself, THERE’S NO WAY it installed itself without your help.

You either launched an exe which triggers TP update or someone else in your family installed it.

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If you did not boot from the win 10 image that is why it installed where you launched it. (read the instructions)

IMHO Win 10 cannot and will not be free any more than win 7 was, or win 8. This is MS we are talking about.

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If you did not boot from the win 10 image that is why it installed where you launched it. (read the instructions)

IMHO Win 10 cannot and will not be free any more than win 7 was, or win 8. This is MS we are talking about.

I was hoping it would be free just like Windows 8 to Windows 8.1!

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I just thought I would let you know of a HUGE problem affecting where I used to go to school and some current PCs in my house.

This is based around what happens when you have Windows 7 Service Pack 1 installed.

Since the Windows 10 Technical Preview came out, we have been getting several notifications on Windows Update that updates are available for my PC. That’s great.

It showed the Technical Preview to try out the next version of Windows, something that I did not want to do on my Windows 7 PC.

I continued to use my Windows 7 PC until last night, when Windows Technical Preview was installed AUTOMATICALLY when I restarted the PC to finish installing a game which required a system reboot.

I have no recovery partition, because none came with my PC and no OEM disc to reinstall Windows 7.

After this conclusion, Windows 10 better be free after what has happened to may computers that I know about, especially at a place of study where I currently am, and this means that the IT Services Management team there are having to reinstall Windows 7 and turning off updates, because of the Technical Preview, an OS in which they don’t want to update to at the current time until final release.

So I’m definitely hoping that Windows 10 will be a free release for the final product!

That isn’t how the TP is released.

Lets be honest. There is a special .exe that you need to run in order to have W10TP show up in windows updates. W10TP will not be available unless you run that .exe.

So you ran it and installed the TP. Apparently so did some of your classmates. I feel bad for the school IT who has to deal with so many people not taking responsibility for their own actions.

How you can still get Windows 10 for free

Technical Level : Basic

Windows 10 was released with a free upgrade offer that lasted for 1 year. Now, the free upgrade promotional period is officially over. However, you can still snag yourself a free license of Windows 10, perfectly legally, if you know how.

It is a good idea to secure your important data before proceeding with any upgrade or installation.

Use a Windows 7 or Windows 8.x product key

While the free upgrade offer ended last year, Microsoft will still let you install Windows 10 and activate it using a valid Windows 7 or Windows 8.x product key. When you download Windows 10 this way, your PC will receive a digital license valid for the life of the device, exactly the same way as if you had taken advantage of last year’s offer.

First, you’ll need to find your product key. See my article » How to recover your Windows product key » for more information.

When you’ve found your product key, head over to the Download Windows 10 website and click the Download tool now button.

When the tool finishes downloading, open it, accept the license terms, and hit Upgrade this PC now. If you prefer, you can also select Create installation media for another PC to download an .iso file and clean install Windows 10.

If you choose to create installation media, make sure to download the correct version of Windows 10.

Either way, after Windows 10 installs, you can use your Windows 7 or Windows 8.x product key to activate when you are asked.

Assistive Technologies Offer

Microsoft is offering Windows 10 for free for customers who use «assistive technologies». All you have to do is visit their Accessibility website and hit the «upgrade now» button.

A tool will be downloaded that will help you upgrade your Windows 7 or 8.x machine to Windows 10. The process is the same as last year’s free upgrade process. When you download Windows 10 this way, your PC will receive a digital license valid for the life of the device, exactly the same way as if you had taken advantage of last year’s offer.

According to the terms, anyone who uses «assistive technologies» qualifies for the upgrade. These technologies can range anywhere from magnifiers and content readers to simply using a high contrast Windows theme or mouse pointer.

Despite the terms being clearly laid out, Microsoft is not checking that whomever downloads Windows 10 this way uses assistive technologies. And despite confusion when this loophole was discovered long ago, Microsoft has not hidden or withdrawn the offer. They also have not specified when it will end.

Reinstall Windows 10

If you took advantage of the free upgrade offer, or you obtained Windows 10 using the methods in this article, you can reinstall Windows 10 on that same machine however many times you’d like without providing a product key. This is because Windows 10 registers your hardware IDs with Microsoft’s servers, so that when you reinstall Windows, your hardware is automatically matched with the servers and activated.

Windows 10 also allows you to upgrade various hardware components like RAM or storage devices without requiring reactivation. This is also thanks to the ID matching system.

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Now on to my next machine, my daughter’s Lenovo S10-3 netbook, running Windows 7 Starter.

I let it follow the whole upgrade process as Microsoft designed it by reserving a copy of Windows 10 and waiting for it to prompt me that Windows 10 was ready to install. AS part of this process, the checker tells me

It takes a long time on such a slow machine so I cant be sitting next to it for the whole process.

I have let it try to upgrade twice by following the prompts and once by using the USB.

In all cases, the black installation percentage dial has gone well over 50% and maybe higher and then and then – «Restoring your previous version of Windows» screen appears. If I am not around, ( I went o bed last night), I don’t even see this message. This morning I just woke up to a Windows 7 Starter system again.

When my old Windows 7 starter re-boots, the whole automatic background download starts again and then I get asked to commence the upgrade again. Having now had 3 downloads on this one machine, I am not going to bother starting the next upgrade until I can resolve what is preventing this upgrade from happening.

I cant even get the first upgrade to complete to take a clean install option.

Windows Update History shows it failed with error code of C1900101, which indicates some sort of incompatibility. Any ideas about how I can narrow it down.

Next Windows may be free, yearly upgrades, possible 2013 launch

Tired of using the same operating system for years? Microsoft certainly hopes so. The Redmond-based software maker is hoping «Windows Blue» will change how consumers perceive Windows by introducing frequent, periodic upgrades (e.g. annual releases), akin to Apple’s aggressive Mac OS X release schedule.

Perhaps most surprisingly though — and get your salt shakers ready — rumor has it that Windows Blue is poised for a summer 2013 launch. It’s not necessarily known if Blue will be a stand-alone Windows release, a service pack or simply Microsoft’s latest Windows platform strategy, but one thing’s for sure: the company hopes to lure users into rapid-fire Windows releases.

While annual Windows upgrades are likely to offend some customers, Microsoft is aiming to provide some incentive. First, new releases will be greatly discounted or possibly even free — presumably a feat made possible by revenue generated by the Windows Store. It’s fair to say that if the price is right (i.e. free) and the changes between versions subtle, Microsoft may actually be able to make this transition without consumers rioting in the streets.

However, the second incentive could be slightly more devious: planned obsolescence. When Windows Blue hits, Microsoft is expected to introduce a new Windows SDK and stop accepting apps created specifically for Windows 8. That’s according to The Verge. With so much emphasis on the Windows Store, Microsoft could wield rapidly-changing platforms as a weapon, influencing users to upgrade or lose access to the latest apps.

A plan like this could be utilized to force users into yearly Windows upgrades in perpetuity, but we’ll have to wait and see. I suspect Microsoft will stick its Windows lifecycle policy which promises users around 5 years of mainstream support — I believe the «spirit» of this policy extends to compatibility with the Windows Store too. Incidentally, the company recently committed to over four years of mainstream hardware and software support for Surface RT — a tablet which runs Windows 8 RT.

Speaking of SDKs, with the introduction of Windows Blue, the Windows SDK will be «standardized». There is some speculation that this could be the Windows singularity: the point which Windows 8 and Windows 8 Phone begin to merge. Windows 8 and WP8 both share the same kernel, after all.