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If you are still on Windows 7 or 8, you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. If you have an old, retail non-OEM copy of Windows 7, 8 or 10 you are no longer using on another PC, you can likely use the product key when you do a fresh install of Windows on your new PC. However, you must first make sure it's deactivated on the old PC it came from. See our article on how to transfer a Windows 10 or 11 license to a new PC for step-by-step information on how to retrieve and move your key.

The process of transferring a Windows license varies, depending upon whether you have digital or non-digital license. With a the former, you'll need to log into your Microsoft account to deactivate the old PC. And with the latter, you'll want to use a command line command to terminate the activation.

Note that if the product key comes from a prebuilt computer that came from the factory with Windows on it, it has an OEM key that may not work on a different new PC.

Feel free to try it, though, because if it works you have Windows 10 or 11 for free. The good news is that you only have two serious disadvantages from not activating Windows 10 or However, if you are using a Microsoft account that syncs with another computer on which you have custom wallpaper, that wallpaper will appear on your unactivated Windows.

But come on; does anyone actually do that? Other than those inconveniences, unactivated Windows should work just fine and receive automatic updates too. You can see if your school is eligible and download your free Windows 11 key here opens in new tab. You might be able to get them for less with a Kinguin discount code though. These are all OEM keys and likely can't be used on another computer after you activate them on the first one.

We recommend paying a little extra to get a key that has "online activation," which means that it should activate automatically over the Internet. Keys that aren't marked for "online activation" may force you to call Microsoft, wait on hold and ask a phone representative for help activating.

The representative may even ask for your Microsoft account, which is not great for your privacy. Now, let's address the elephant in the room. While we can't vouch for all of them, websites selling cheap Windows 10 or 11 keys are likely offering legitimate codes. Kinguin has more than three dozen merchants worldwide selling Windows keys. It's just another marketplace. We've bought keys from Kinguin a few times.

So we tried calling the number and waited on hold for a few minutes. We thought activating via phone would be an automated process where we just punched in the key and got an approval code, but instead we got a live representative who immediately asked for our Microsoft account ID. Another time, we paid a few dollars more for an online activation key. Lo and behold, it activated as soon as we entered the code, with no phone call required.

Are you likely to be ripped off? However, both sites play host to a number of third-party sellers whose product keys may or may not be legit. The easiest but most expensive way to get Windows is to buy your key directly from Microsoft. You can get these either as downloads or on USB drives. If you have an old Windows key you can carry over from a previous build, that's your best option and effectively gives you Windows 10 or Windows 11 for free. If you don't have a key on hand, you need to decide whether you're comfortable using an unactivated version of Windows 10 or 11, which limits your customization options, has an ugly watermark and leaves you ineligible for Microsoft support.

Many would argue that downloading Windows without paying for or already owning a product key is ethically wrong. That said, Microsoft has made this process easier over various Windows iterations and lessened the limitations and nagging that happens when you don't activate.

We've even seen well-known vendors and Microsoft partners do press presentations with watermarks on their desktop. If you need to buy a Windows 10 or Windows 11 key, you can save a lot with a low-cost seller such as Kinguin opens in new tab. Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips. US Edition. Swipe to scroll horizontally. Be In the Know Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors.

Avram Piltch. Social Links Navigation. Avram Piltch is Tom's Hardware's editor-in-chief. When he's not playing with the latest gadgets at work or putting on VR helmets at trade shows, you'll find him rooting his phone, taking apart his PC or coding plugins.

With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram developed many real-world benchmarks, including our laptop battery test. Topics Software.

Our article on getting a free or cheap copy of Windows 10 explains how. To get Windows 11, you can take one of several approaches. The easiest is to simply wait for Microsoft to automatically push the upgrade to your system via Windows Update. You can also take matters into your own hands and manually upgrade now, either by doing an in-place upgrade or a clean installation.

An in-place upgrade will leave all your files and applications as they are, while a clean install will wipe all your data before putting Windows 11 on your machine.

To perform an in-place upgrade, use the Windows 11 Installation Assistant.

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Microsoft offers a free media creation tool, which grabs the latest code from the Internet and then burns itself to a USB Flash drive or outputs a Windows 10 or Windows 11 ISO file you can write to a drive yourself.

Once that's done, you can boot from your installation media and start the process. During installation, Microsoft asks you to enter a Windows 10 or 11 product key. If you are still on Windows 7 or 8, you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. If you have an old, retail non-OEM copy of Windows 7, 8 or 10 you are no longer using on another PC, you can likely use the product key when you do a fresh install of Windows on your new PC.

However, you must first make sure it's deactivated on the old PC it came from. See our article on how to transfer a Windows 10 or 11 license to a new PC for step-by-step information on how to retrieve and move your key.

The process of transferring a Windows license varies, depending upon whether you have digital or non-digital license. With a the former, you'll need to log into your Microsoft account to deactivate the old PC. And with the latter, you'll want to use a command line command to terminate the activation. Note that if the product key comes from a prebuilt computer that came from the factory with Windows on it, it has an OEM key that may not work on a different new PC. Feel free to try it, though, because if it works you have Windows 10 or 11 for free.

The good news is that you only have two serious disadvantages from not activating Windows 10 or However, if you are using a Microsoft account that syncs with another computer on which you have custom wallpaper, that wallpaper will appear on your unactivated Windows. But come on; does anyone actually do that? Other than those inconveniences, unactivated Windows should work just fine and receive automatic updates too. You can see if your school is eligible and download your free Windows 11 key here opens in new tab.

You might be able to get them for less with a Kinguin discount code though. These are all OEM keys and likely can't be used on another computer after you activate them on the first one. We recommend paying a little extra to get a key that has "online activation," which means that it should activate automatically over the Internet.

Keys that aren't marked for "online activation" may force you to call Microsoft, wait on hold and ask a phone representative for help activating. The representative may even ask for your Microsoft account, which is not great for your privacy.

Now, let's address the elephant in the room. While we can't vouch for all of them, websites selling cheap Windows 10 or 11 keys are likely offering legitimate codes. Kinguin has more than three dozen merchants worldwide selling Windows keys. It's just another marketplace. We've bought keys from Kinguin a few times.

So we tried calling the number and waited on hold for a few minutes. We thought activating via phone would be an automated process where we just punched in the key and got an approval code, but instead we got a live representative who immediately asked for our Microsoft account ID. Another time, we paid a few dollars more for an online activation key.

Lo and behold, it activated as soon as we entered the code, with no phone call required. Are you likely to be ripped off? However, both sites play host to a number of third-party sellers whose product keys may or may not be legit. The easiest but most expensive way to get Windows is to buy your key directly from Microsoft. You can get these either as downloads or on USB drives. If you have an old Windows key you can carry over from a previous build, that's your best option and effectively gives you Windows 10 or Windows 11 for free.

If you don't have a key on hand, you need to decide whether you're comfortable using an unactivated version of Windows 10 or 11, which limits your customization options, has an ugly watermark and leaves you ineligible for Microsoft support. Many would argue that downloading Windows without paying for or already owning a product key is ethically wrong.

That said, Microsoft has made this process easier over various Windows iterations and lessened the limitations and nagging that happens when you don't activate. We've even seen well-known vendors and Microsoft partners do press presentations with watermarks on their desktop.

If you need to buy a Windows 10 or Windows 11 key, you can save a lot with a low-cost seller such as Kinguin opens in new tab. Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips. US Edition. Swipe to scroll horizontally. Be In the Know Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors.

Avram Piltch. Social Links Navigation. Avram Piltch is Tom's Hardware's editor-in-chief. Windows 11 More Need more help? Was this information helpful? Yes No. Thank you!

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