Accessibility upgrade was supposed to end December 31

Jan 3, 2018 07:39 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft was supposed to end the free Windows 10 upgrade offer for users with assistive technologies on December 31, but it looks like the loophole still exists, allowing pretty much anyone to install the latest operating system without paying.

The software giant allowed anyone to upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 free of charge if the process was completed in the first 12 months after the July 2015 launch. While the promo came to an end one year later, the company rolled out a different offer for systems with accessibility features, again allowing the free upgrade to Windows 10 at no charge.

Clearly, this is a welcome offer for everyone with assistive tech, but this program turned into a loophole once it was discovered that any Windows 7 and 8.1 user was allowed to complete the upgrade to Windows 10 using it, as no checks on the accessibility features was performed.

Free upgrades still there

This offer has been around for a long time, until last year Microsoft announced that it would close the loophole on December 31.

“If you use assistive technologies, you can upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost as Microsoft continues our efforts to improve the Windows 10 experience for people who use these technologies. Please take advantage of this offer before it expires on December 31, 2017,” the company said.

Today, however, the upgrade is still available, and Ghacks writes that using the loophole indeed works, allowing a free install of Windows 10 when switching from Windows 7 and 8.1.

Most likely, Microsoft will block upgrades in the coming days as engineers return to work from the holiday vacation, but for users, this means they have a few more hours to switch to Windows 10 should they want to do it without paying extra.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft to ask if plans for closing this loophole have changed and we’ll update the article when an answer is offered.