Window 10 how to download
How
to download and install the Windows 10 Technical Preview (updated)
Share This Article By Microsoft
Microsoft, right on
schedule, has made the Windows 10 Technical Preview available to download.
There are 64-bit and 32-bit versions available for US English, Real English,
Chinese, and Brazilian Portuguese. Follow these instructions to download and
install the Windows 10 Technical Preview.
Updated: I have just
completed upgrading Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10 Technical Preview. The
upgrade appears to have worked cleanly. I haven’t spotted any issues yet, but
will run a full suite of tests now.
Updated: Watch a
video of my first hands-on impressions of Windows 10 Technical Preview.
My first Windows 10
Technical Preview screenshot, showing Photoshop and the new Start menu
Be prepared
As always with
beta/preview software, you shouldn’t install it unless you’re fully prepared.
This means you should back up any important files, and ideally you should have
a separate hard drive/partition to install the Technical Preview on. You cannot
revert from Windows 10 Technical Preview to Windows 7 or Windows 8; if
you have second thoughts, you will have to reinstall from scratch.
Download the Windows 10 Technical Preview
To begin, head on over
to preview.windows.com and join the
Windows Insider Program. This only takes a few clicks if you already have a
Microsoft account.
You then need to download
the appropriate installation file (an ISO) for your system. This is probably
the 64-bit (x64) version — though if you have an older system, or you
want to test out the 32-bit version, grab the 32-bit download instead. The
download will probably take quite a while: the 64-bit ISO comes in at 4GB.
Note down your license
key (though you will be able to visit the page later, too).
With the ISO fully
downloaded, you then need to transfer it to either a USB thumb drive
(preferred) or burn it to a DVD. If you have Windows 8/8.1, burning a DVD is
fairly easy — you can do it directly in Explorer. For burning an ISO image to a
USB thumb drive,the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download
Tool is
probably still your best bet.
If you want to install a
fresh version of Windows 10 Technical Preview, reboot your computer, boot from
the USB stick/DVD drive, and follow the on-screen prompts (use “Advanced”
mode when prompted). If you want to upgrade an existing version of Windows 7 or
8/8.1, just run setup.exe from the USB/DVD drive from Explorer.
Do read the next section
before you go ahead with the install, though.
Screenshot from the Windows 10 Technical Preview upgrade client (in
Windows 8.1
Screenshot from the
Windows 10 Technical Preview upgrade client (in Windows 8.1)
Caveats and other options
Another option is installing Windows 10 Technical Preview in VirtualBox — our instructions
for how to do it with Windows 8 should work for Windows 10, but we haven’t
tested it yet.
Again, do not proceed
unless you know what you’re doing: This is a very early build of Windows.
Comments