How you can still install and run Windows 10 for free

Microsoft, after years of years of enforcing ambiguously-named “genuine advantage” initiatives to make you buy a licence for each computer in your house, has begun to take on the role of good cop. It might not have been entirely gratuitous: increased choice in the marketplace may have forced their hand, but it’s helpful nonetheless.

However, the firm is not publicising its largesse, preferring you still to cough up the price of a retail box. For that reason, you have to go searching for the magic download.

Windows 10 was, for its first year, free to any user who wanted to upgrade a PC running either of the previous two versions. But that offer has long since expired, and new installations were never included. So, if you want to install it on a new PC, here’s how to do it.

Microsoft’s website lets you download a “media creation tool” that will create either a formatted DVD or USB stick with which you can install Windows 10 on any number of computers. Follow the instructions on the page and pick the option that’s most appropriate for you.

Once you begin the download process, you will be asked for your product key. This is the string of digits that would, had you bought retail, have activated the software for you. In the past, a missing key would have stopped you in your tracks - but now you can simply click a line in the small print that reads, “I don’t have a product key”, and proceed with the install process.

You will end up with a copy of Windows that will remain unactivated, but the difference comes down to a few cosmetic caveats - the most significant of which is a watermark in the lower right-hand corner asking you to acquire a product key. If this bothers you, you can remove it by enrolling in Microsoft’s “Windows Insider” programme, which lets you try out the next version of the software, should you wish, before it’s released to everyone else.

You also won’t be able to use the built-in control panel to customise your home screen - though you can still change your wallpaper by finding a picture in Windows Explorer or the Windows Photos app and choosing to set it as your desktop background.

In all other respects, your newly-installed version of Windows 10 will remain fully functional for the foreseeable future, and will even update itself with the latest security patches. It is possible that Microsoft could choose to retrospectively enforce a product key in the future, but there is at present no indication of any such move.

Incidentally, Microsoft’s expired “free upgrade” offer for a Windows 7 or 8 PC remains open for anyone who uses the software’s built-in accessibility tools, including a magnifier to enlarge the screen and an on-screen keyboard. You can use them all the time or just once in a while.

To start the process, visit Microsoft’s “assistive technologies” page from any Windows 7 or 8.1, and click the Upgrade Now button to begin the process.