When You’ll Get the Free Upgrade to Windows 10

Yesterday Microsoft confirmed that Windows 10 would launch on July 29, and the company has finally released pricing for the new operating system earlier today, but there still are a few unknown details, such as the date when everyone will be getting the free upgrade to the new OS.

Basically, there will be three different big user categories that would be interested in getting Windows 10 when it becomes available: Windows 7/Windows 8.1 users, Windows insiders who helped develop Windows 10 and downloaded the preview builds, and non-Windows/Windows XP/Vista users.

Let’s take them one at a time and see when each is getting the new Windows 10.

Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users

Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8.1 users, and thanks to a notification tool that started displaying upgrade messages on June 1, all these users should be able to reserve their copy of the new OS with just a few clicks.

And according to Microsoft itself, the upgrade to Windows 10 will be performed on July 29 on all computers, and in case you’re afraid of upgrade or server issues, there’s no reason for that.

Redmond has prepared a completely new system that would prevent such problems, and Windows 10 files would be silently downloaded and installed in the background between the moment you reserve your upgrade and July 29, so when the new OS becomes available late next month, all files should be there on your PC. The only thing left is to initialize the install, and it’s all up to you to complete it.

Windows insiders

Windows insiders are the ones to thank to for Windows 10, and there’s no doubt that Microsoft doesn’t want to leave them behind when it comes to the final version of the OS.

There were some rumors that insiders could get the final bits of Windows 10 sooner, but it turns out that they too will receive it on July 29. In their case, Microsoft is planning to use the built-in update system that’s already being employed for preview builds, and since this has already proved very effective, expect it to work flawlessly for the final version of Windows 10 too.

Some other builds will be released in the meantime for insiders, but the RTM version will only ship on July 29 to their PCs.

Non-Windows and Vista/XP users

This is one of the categories where we still don’t have a confirmation of the Windows 10 release date, but according to some dates provided by Newegg, the new OS could arrive in stores on August 31.

Basically, if this information is accurate, Windows 10 should become available as a digital download on July 29, while the physical box should land in a store near you in late August. This way, Microsoft is upgrading its existing users first, and only then paying more attention to those who aren’t yet on Windows or who are still running an older version of the OS.

Microsoft expects to complete the upgrade to Windows 10 for insiders and Windows 7/8.1 users in 30 days, so everything should work smoothly and flawlessly in late August.

Below is a wrap-up of the release date of Windows 10 for different user categories: