Is it possible to save free windows 10 upgrade to harddisc, and upgrade in the fufure?

Question

I've got windows 7 on my laptop, and I can do the free upgrade to windows 10. All system requirements are OK. I don't really want to do the upgrade, because I like my current Windows 7. But I know in the (near) future, I will get problems, because windows 7 will get outdated. And then I want to upgrade to windows 10. It's really annoying that the free upgrade offer ends at July 29. So there's not much time left to decide.

I searched a lot on Google, and I came to the conclusion that it's possible to save the upgrade to a medium like an USB stick. But is it also possible to save it directly to my laptop's harddisc? It says if you use an USB stick, 4 GB space must be available. So it would looks very handy to me to save the upgrade to my harddisc and later do the upgrade.

I read this question ans answers: Is it possible to get Windows 10 upgrade as an ISO image (to make a bootable install disk from)? If I understand correctly: You can download a tool from the microsoft site. That tool can create an ISO file of your upgrade. You save the file and then you can upgrade (offline) whenever you want. Also when July 29 has passed, you can still use the ISO to upgrade (because that's just the point)

If you don't want to pay for Windows 10, the only way upgrade to Windows 10 for free, is to do it before July 29th. You can perform the upgrade then, revert back to Windows 7, but your machine must run Windows 10 at least once before July 29th 2016 in order to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. There is an identical question that exists that also asks this question — Ramhound, Jul 22 '16 at 15:54

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 22 '16 at 15:53

The "magic" happens while activating it, so downloading an installation disk or whatever is not enough. It has to be installed and activated successfully for you to receive the free upgrade.

If you don't activate it before the offer expires, you'll have to pay.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 22 '16 at 16:30

1

You could clone or image your Windows 7 drive, then use one of them for the Windows 10 upgrade. Make sure the new Windows 10 upgrade is validated. Then, that drive can be set aside for later use, and you can slip in Windows 7 or Windows 10 at will.

answered Jul 22 '16 at 16:30

the original mike western

1,207

OP should clone / backup an image of the original system if for no other reason than to have a backup in case the drive fails. Clonezilla or the like is your amigo – gatorback Sep 26 '19 at 21:23

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 23 '16 at 07:14

If you want to "Updgrade" in the future, I'd go with a different approach:
Do a full backup of your current system (using a boot cd, with a program of your choice) and save it external (eg. USB-Stick or DVD).
Then, do the Upgrade to Windows 10. Make a backup of this system, too.
Then put the first backup back on your PC.
As soon as you want to start using Windows 10 just put the second file on your PC
(you'll need to reinstall programs that you installed in the meantime and transfer new files too).

Is it possible to save free windows 10 upgrade to harddisc, and upgrade in the fufure?

3 Answers3