Windows 10: How to upgrade for free again

Microsoft has finally stopped offering free upgrades from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 after a long time. Officially at least…
The “loophole” that allowed upgrades of older systems to Windows 10 stopped working as of January 17 at noon, while in the morning the free upgrade page still had download links.
However, it seems that there is still a method to activate Windows 10 for free from older systems.
Although you can no longer use the “Get Windows 10” tool to perform an upgrade from Windows 7, 8 or 8.1, the download of Windows 10 ISOs can be done directly from the official Microsoft page.
After installing the operating system, you can provide a Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 key and it will activate without any problem. This particular method was tested by HTG on January 5, 2018 and continues to work.
Windows communicates with Microsoft's activation servers and will confirm that the key of the previous version of Windows is real. If the key is legitimate, Windows 10 will install and activate without any problems on your computer.
Your computer acquires a "digital license" and so you will be able to continue using and reinstalling Windows 10 on this system, even in case of a format.
Microsoft has not announced what is happening here or if it will block this method at some point in the future.
But right now it still works.
Of course, even if Microsoft blocks this particular method in the future, your computer will retain its digital license and Windows 10 will remain activated.
If you are thinking of upgrading and need a cheap license for Windows 10, read the following post.
How to get Windows 10 for 5.69 euros

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