Microsoft Rolls Out Update To Remove 'Get Windows 10' App

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So the "upgrade to Windows 10 for free" program ended two months ago but Microsoft is just now rolling out this update to remove the Get Windows 10 app? I guess that was a little added bonus for people that still wanted to update for free.

"The Get Windows 10 (GWX) application was designed to make the Windows 10 upgrade process easy for existing Windows 7 and 8.1 customers for the one year free upgrade offer which ended July 29th. Beginning on September 20th, the Get Windows 10 app and all other updates related to the Windows 10 free upgrade offer will be removed from Windows 7 and 8.1 customer's devices.
 
Bastards tanked my VM last night with an update. Spent 20 minutes this morning sorting out how to get my disk back to a functional state. Granted, I should have suspended it before I went to bed, but you would think Microsoft would have figured out how to identify user started processes to make updates wait until you closed out/confirmed it safe to restart.
 
It took a giant software corporation TWO MONTHS just to cook up some megabytes to remove that?
 
I'm pretty sure you can still upgrade for free by just using a Win10 thumbstick and putting in a valid 7, 8, 8.1 or 10 key. My guess is they'll either allow it indefinitely or until they hit some sort of internal goal of install base.
 
I still can not upgrade to Win10 at work because we still have software that they claim will not run properly on the new OS. It probably will, but I am not having any trouble with any of our Win8 systems, so why upgrade? My system at home is still running Win7. I use it for work as well but mainly for gaming. At this point I do not see any benefit that is worth the time to change to Win10. If I have to reinstall for a problem I may consider it. If I build a new system, I will definitely install Win10.
 
It didn't end. You can still get Windows 10 for free, it just now asks for your Win7/Win8 key to authenticate. I did it last week.
 
I have always updated to the latest OS throughout my IT life and even before that. I am on Windows 10 Pro now but, back in the day, I also upgraded to Windows 95, Amiga OS 2.04 on my Amiga 500 and even OS/2 Warp 3. (Missed Warp 4 though.) I prefer to stay up to date on my own personal machines and since ram is plentiful, I just run virtual machines of the older Operating Systems instead. (Did not figure out how to get a VM with all the fixings of OS/2 Warp 4 to work though.)

I even use Amiga Forever. :)
 
Delicieuxz said:
I posted this stuff in another thread. But, Microsoft isn't Microsoft, anymore.


Satya Nadella Is Cutting 5,500 Microsoft Employees, Too, With Windows Hit The Hardest

Kindle crashes and broken PowerShell: Something isn’t right with Windows 10 testing
Microsoft admits to distributing Windows printing bugs in KB 3177725 and KB 3176493
Microsoft June Patch Breaks Group Policy Settings for Some Orgs -- Redmondmag.com
Partition disappears in Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Windows 10 default programs keep changing
Click to expand...

With the majority of the firings coming from the Nokia purchase. Unfortunately, they are having major issues with the rapid release schedule they are on now. Therefore, they need to slow things down a bit until they can figure out what is going on and correct the issues.

You can keep posting that everywhere but, it does not change the fact that they are having just as many issues with their rapid release schedule as OEM's are. They clearly need to find better testing methodology because what they have been doing recently is not working.
 
Delicieuxz said:
I posted this stuff in another thread. But, Microsoft isn't Microsoft, anymore.


Satya Nadella Is Cutting 5,500 Microsoft Employees, Too, With Windows Hit The Hardest

Kindle crashes and broken PowerShell: Something isn’t right with Windows 10 testing
Microsoft admits to distributing Windows printing bugs in KB 3177725 and KB 3176493
Microsoft June Patch Breaks Group Policy Settings for Some Orgs -- Redmondmag.com
Partition disappears in Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Windows 10 default programs keep changing
Click to expand...

Some of those bugs are annoying. These ones seem to never be fixed:

- Resetting default apps.
- Reinstalling uninstalled apps (e.g. the "Get Office" nag app, I already have office.)
- Icons fail to load for App Store apps if you save a shortcut to desktop and then (eventually) take an update. They just show as a paper document.
- Fragmentation between WinStore Apps and Desktop Apps. It should be seamless, but WinStore apps you can't right click and "send shortcut to desktop". Only "pin to taskbar". This doesn't need to be as complicated as they've made it.
- Random settings seem to reset post-update (some power management come to mind).

Hmm, come to look at this list, it appears to be their major update installer that is buggy. I think that has a lot to do with how they're doing updates now versus before (I think major updates are treated like fresh installs, as a lot of driver settings reset with them like the driver has been completely reinstalled). Seems to not be properly saving all of the settings / what you did OS-wise. They really should track the setting changes a user made into an XML file (or something) and then reapply those post update. Instead, they seem to be relying on the registry - but a lot of those seem to be getting overwritten with defaults from the update package.
 
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my windows 10 has done a few updates on the side lately, does this mean I still need the anniversary update? The anniversary update failed twice on my sony laptop, probably cause Sony doesn't have compatible drivers for it yet. Microsoft should built their updates a lot smarter like, instead of freezing or not doing nothing once it reaches a percentage, to at least pop up a window that tells us why its failing and to give us a choice to ignore it and continue with the update or revert back to windows 10.
 
Had this update come through 2 days ago, did the dance of joy that they finally put a tool out there to get rid of the malware get application. Whee! Finally should be able to install updates without having to check every single damn one first. What a fucked up year of hell that had been.

Still didn't install it though as I have been hiding the get win10 update and its relations for all of this time. That was the fucked up part, I can't recall how many times that getwin10 kept un-hiding itself to re-push itself onto my systems. Luckily it was easy to spot in the list as it was the only one with a size parameter with a range instead of a fixed amount.
 
Cobra said:
I'm pretty sure you can still upgrade for free by just using a Win10 thumbstick and putting in a valid 7, 8, 8.1 or 10 key. My guess is they'll either allow it indefinitely or until they hit some sort of internal goal of install base.
Click to expand...
I've done this 5 times already since the deadline using old Win7 and Win8 keys.

First time I did it as a goof because I was updating my Fiance's PC and she only had Win 7 Home. I thought to myself, "I don't want the lack of control on windows updates that Win10 home version has... what if I use this old Win7 technet key I've got sitting around? It's the middle of the night and I can't run to Microcenter tonight." I was a bit surprised the first time it worked.

Most of the ones I've done were using the Win7 keys on the sticker on my friends' laptops.

It still works with a fresh copy of Win10 Anniversary Update 16074 created using the latest MS media creation tool download. A couple of them I used the November 2015 version 1511 on a different USB stick.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
I've done this 5 times already since the deadline using old Win7 and Win8 keys.
Click to expand...

It was obvious that the "deadline" was bullshit and just attempting to create an artificial sense of urgency - Win7/8 keys will work forever. They want everyone on Crapware 10 so they can control, upsell, advertise and data mine.
 
DPI said:
It was obvious that the "deadline" was bullshit and just attempting to create an artificial sense of urgency - Win7/8 keys will work forever. They want everyone on Crapware 10 so they can control, upsell, advertise and data mine.
Click to expand...

Actually they want everyone there so they don't have to have employees on "legacy" system updates. They're so desperate to force people over to this broken crap that they gave it away. Once they can reduce the work load for legacy support and everyone had their bite of the carrot, they'll then introduce the working windows 10 update with a monthly sub.
 
MV75 said:
Actually they want everyone there so they don't have to have employees on "legacy" system updates. They're so desperate to force people over to this broken crap that they gave it away. Once they can reduce the work load for legacy support and everyone had their bite of the carrot, they'll then introduce the working windows 10 update with a monthly sub.
Click to expand...
this is when I settle with 7 or get really familiar with Linux.
 
DPI said:
It was obvious that the "deadline" was bullshit and just attempting to create an artificial sense of urgency - Win7/8 keys will work forever.
Click to expand...
Yep. They definitely aren't enforcing it. The ones I mentioned all activated fine and are still receiving updates. Apparently all it cares about is the initial activation, so they will have to update the Media Creation Tool and or the services it connects to during activation. Of course, once you activate and create a Microsoft account, the Win10 key is saved to your account so you will never need the old key again. I suspect they will never fix this loophole because of the possible outcry from people that choose not to create an MS account during setup and need reinstall or forget their MS account at a later point and need reinstall.

At this point I would not be surprised if people are activating Win10 with pirated Win7 and Win8 licenses. Since MS gave so many Win10 licenses away for free already, I'm sure they absolutely do not give a flying fuck that pirates are doing this, as even this scenario will work in their favor in some fashion. MS finally wised up and realized a pirated copy isn't necessary lost revenue, its simply a way of insuring they control everyone's software ecosystem. That actually might mean increased revenue if they have to support less software especially when it comes to patching security vulnerabilities.
 
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