Free Windows 10 for those who spit in the face of death

If you are not averse to risk, want to be part of the Windows development process and get free Windows for pretty much ever after, there is a program for you.
 
Microsoft updated its policy on free Windows 10 installs for Windows Insider members. The Windows Insider program makes prelease builds of Windows available to members on a regular basis and allows you to provide feedback to the development teams and program managers on new features and fixes as they roll out of the dev shops. The payback for this considerable risk is that you get Windows 10 free for as long as you are a member of the program.
 
Microsoft also announced that the program will continue after RTM for follow-on releases into the foreseeable future so this looks to be a great way to help drive the direction of the product and get freebie Windows for a good long time. Check out the program details at https://insider.windows.com/
 
Here are the basics:
 
If you are running a Windows 10 instance as part of the insider's program, you will receive the RTM version as part of a regular "flight" update through Windows Update. There is no charge for the OS for Windows Insiders. Their are only two caveats; first, it is an update rather than a clean install, but you will be able to download an ISO file to do a clean install after the update if you desire. Second, you need to be registered as a Windows Insider with a Microsoft online account on the PC that you will be installing the preview.
 
So in practical terms, this all means that to get the Windows 10 RTM update you have to have a preview version installed on your machine, connected to the Insider program with a valid Microsoft online ID. Assuming you want to do all that, you will:
 
1. Get a Microsoft online account (mine is through live.com but Hotmail, outlook and MSN accounts work too from what I gather.)
2. Sign up to be a Windows 10 Insider (google it, it's right at the top of the list)
3. Make an image backup and a recovery disk (just in case, right?)
4. At the Windows Insider hub, choose to install the preview
5. The preview build will install through Windows Update
 
Please refer to the Insider home page for details on what the program is all about.
 
This program clearly isn't the thing for you if you depend on a stable OS platform for your sanity or livelihood, but for those of us who do this for the grins, it's a great way to participate and get something for it. YMMV, etc.
 
I should also tell you that I am not an employee of Microsoft (though I used to be) and I have no affiliation with the company and receive no compensation for anything from anybody connected with Microsoft for anything whatsoever. Full disclosure, I do own a tiny software development company that targets Windows platforms.
 
Good luck!

I've been using it in a virtual machine for development but haven't tried it on my DAW box yet. It's good to hear that you've had success with it. I'm looking to install it this week.

kevinwal 
Microsoft updated its policy on free Windows 10 installs for Windows Insider members. The Windows Insider program makes prelease builds of Windows available to members on a regular basis and allows you to provide feedback to the development teams and program managers on new features and fixes as they roll out of the dev shops. The payback for this considerable risk is that you get Windows 10 free for as long as you are a member of the program.

How is this different to getting Windows 10 free just by upgrading within the first year?  (other than getting the buggy beta releases?)

I'm thinking it might be time for a backup.

slartabartfast

Karyn

kevinwal 
Microsoft updated its policy on free Windows 10 installs for Windows Insider members. The Windows Insider program makes prelease builds of Windows available to members on a regular basis and allows you to provide feedback to the development teams and program managers on new features and fixes as they roll out of the dev shops. The payback for this considerable risk is that you get Windows 10 free for as long as you are a member of the program.

How is this different to getting Windows 10 free just by upgrading within the first year?  (other than getting the buggy beta releases?)

This will work if you do not have an upgrade eligible version of Windows already. The insider version is available to people who do not have a licensed copy of Win 7 or 8. So if you get the free pre-release version, and then convert it to a fully licensed version of Windows 10, you have gotten it with no $$$ cost to you. The free upgrade from Win 7 or 8 implies that you paid for Win 7 or 8 at some point. 

Ahh, so for people still on Vista or XP or OSX.
 
or for people building their own system that need an OS??

The build number disappeared from the lower right corner of my desktop. And now the System page says Win 10 Pro Insider Preview. It used to have the build number there as well as the old "name". I must have received an update?

 D'oh ! The desktop thingy was hidden, but I swear Windows W had the build number.

I'm on the "fast" setup.  There have been reports of leaked versions of later builds but no official release by Microsoft.
With the release date a month away, we may not see any additional (official) preview versions.  PC companies, such as Dell, HP, etc are probably already working on the RTM release for new PC's.
 
 

Yup a nice compromise IMO

Doktor Avalanche
RTM by end the of the month for manufacturers and developers. Release date for UK (maybe other countries) is 29th July.

Woo hoo! I'm a bit nervous about that because I think the lastest insider release (10130) is still pretty rough around the edges. I hope they've smoothed 'em out by then.

On my primary system, I have a dual boot Win 7/Win 8.1 (on separate SSD's).  They have the identical Sonar setup including extra add-ons such as Ozone 5, POD Farm 2, Antares, etc.  As it is now, I can use either and Sonar works exactly the same.  I'm going to upgrade the 8.1 to 10 when its available and start using it as my Production.  If there is a problem, I can fall back to the Win 7 install.  But, testing I've done with Win 10 Preview releases, I haven't run into any issues with Sonar.

slartabartfast
The insider version is available to people who do not have a licensed copy of Win 7 or 8.

This reminds me of an old adage that Microsoft seems to now be living by: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. ;)

..for you! (And probably many others). Looks forward to pasting the usual complaint threads on here within the first month of release date. It's the same old story on every release...

Also note let's be more specific here, you don't have the final release installed... Last minute surprises often happen by design..

Compatibility seems to be a pretty strong point with Windows 10, I haven't found anything that doesn't run well yet, but I'm not a gamer. My concern is about basic stability. I'm on build 10130 right now, which is the latest slow ring build and there are still some fairly rough edges, particularly with Hyper-V which I use a lot. Still haven't been able to make it work and have had to use system restore points more in the last week than I ever have to recover from issues with that.
 
My machine is pretty powerful but it's an aging machine and I suspect that the issues I'm having are related to some niggling hardware incompatibilities. It's the edge cases that a new release typically has trouble with, but I still have hope that the major defects are ironed out before ship.
 
Like I said, Sonar Platinum (Everett) has been rock solid on 10, a real bright spot for me throughout the Insider program.

I love Win 10 too! I've been using it as primary os since november and tried it in Virtual machine even earlier. think it was at the launch of 10 preview. I've been , editing and mixing on it and it has been stable all tone way. I am on the fast ring as well. I think the next updates will be more of security and bug fixes than features updates.
I tried the latest one for Windows phone too. But it lack some futures I need so I reinstalled WP 8.1. looking forward to the next one that should come in July.