We've shown several ways to get Windows 10 for free or cheap, so review those to see if any will work for you.Īs a last resort, Windows 10 works just fine without activation, aside from restricting personalization options and displaying a watermark in the corner of the screen.

If you don't have a valid license key on your current computer, you can still use the download tool to install Windows 10 on that device. But if you have it and this fails for some reason, you can enter it to activate Windows 10. You shouldn't need the product key from your current Windows installation.

When everything is complete, head to Settings > Update & Security > Activation and it will show that you're activated. That will guide you through creating a bootable installer so you can install Windows 10 from a USB drive.Įither way, after it installs, walk through the setup process for Windows 10 and Windows won't ask you for a license key. If you want to upgrade multiple systems to Windows 10, select Create installation media instead. Upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 Using the Windows Media Creation Tool If you already have a product key, including one for Windows 8 or 8.

Upgrade to windows 10 from 8.1