14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 will be offered free of charge for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users, and Microsoft is now revealing full details of the upgrade, disclosing the Windows 10 version customers are going to get after they complete the switch from Windows 7.
For example, everyone running Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, and Windows 7 Home Premium will be provided with Windows 10 Home if they perform the free upgrade, while those running Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate on their computers will get Windows 10 Pro.
The company also adds that “N and KN editions follow the upgrade path of the parent edition (e.g., Windows 7 Professional N upgrades to Windows 10 Pro).”
In the case of Windows 8.1, those moving from the core version of the operating system, simply called Windows 8.1, will be switched to Windows 10 Home, while computers running Windows 8.1 Pro and Windows 8.1 Pro for Students will run Windows 10 Pro.
What you need for the free Windows 10 upgrade
Last but not least, Windows Phone 8.1 users will get Windows 10 Mobile.
For Windows 7 computers, Service Pack 1 is mandatory to receive the free upgrade, and in case you haven’t installed it yet, you’ve probably noticed that the Get Windows 10 app that displays notifications on your desktop might not be available. That’s because SP1 is needed for both the notification app and the free upgrade, so make sure you are running a fully up-to-date Windows 7 installation on your PC.
Windows 8 and 8.1 users need to be running 8.1 Update on their PCs to get the free upgrade offer, and this also applies to Windows 8.1 Single Language and Windows 8.1 with Bing.
Needless to say, since this is an upgrade offer only for consumers, enterprises won’t get it, so Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1 won’t see any free upgrade notification on the desktop for Windows 10.