14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has a goal of bringing Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by 2017 and the company is obviously trying everything to make sure that it successfully completes this mission.
Most recently, the company has started displaying Windows 10 upgrade ads on computers that are part of domains, telling users that IT admins are the ones that block the install of the new OS.
“Your system administrator has blocked upgrades on this PC Check with your system administrator about upgrading this PC to Windows 10. Are you a system administrator? You can customize this app to get your organization upgraded to Windows 10. Find out how,” one such ad displayed on a domain-attached PC reads.
In other words, yes, you can have Windows 10 running on your computer, but no, your administrator does not allow you to. So Microsoft’s more or less trying to make users ask their IT admins to install Windows 10, which in the end should be a win-win situation.
The GWX app was always there, but never active
InfoWorld adds that some IT admins have already confirmed that the changes were spotted this week, so most likely, Microsoft updated the infamous KB3035583 patch to show upgrade prompts on domain computers too.
The Get Windows 10 app was already on domain-attached computers, the source writes, but it never displayed upgrade notifications and the Windows 10 icon in the system tray was never displayed. But starting with this week, not only that upgrade prompts show up every once in a while, but the icon is also there and the GWX folder in system32 is also back.
Also this week, Microsoft introduced a new Windows 10 upgrade prompt tactic, introducing some new banners in an Internet Explorer security patch. After installing this security update and launching Internet Explorer, an upgrade prompt is displayed when opening new tabs, with Microsoft clearly trying to entice more people into moving to Windows 10 even if they specifically blocked the Get Windows 10.