After having heard really good things about it from all your friends and after thinking about it for a long time, you have finally decided: you will install Windows 10 on your trusty PC . However, if you are here now and are reading these lines, most likely it is because you do not have very clear ideas about it yet and above all because you would like to get a copy of the operating system without spending a cent, at least to try it out. I’m wrong? No, indeed. Then make yourself comfortable and concentrate on reading this article of mine on how to download Windows 10 for free . I am sure that, in the end, you will be able to wipe out all your uncertainties.
Before you can get me wrong and think about who knows what I want to specify right away that yes, downloading Windows 10 for free is possible and that the operations I am about to suggest you to put into practice are 100% legal but, it is good that keep this in mind, after a certain period it will be necessary to activate the operating system anyway, so that it continues to work, allowing you access to all its functions.
Having clarified this, I would say not to waste any further precious time, to ban the chatter and immediately start to get busy: I guarantee you that, at the end of reading this guide, you will have very clear what are the steps to be taken to obtain a copy of Windows 10 at no cost. Having said that, there is nothing left for me to do, except wish you good reading and … good download!
Index
- Windows 10 pricing and requirements
- How to download Windows 10 for free in Italian
- How to download Windows 10 for free on USB
- How to install Windows 10
Windows 10 pricing and requirements
If it is your intention to download Windows 10 for free to be able to update a computer with a previous edition of Microsoft’s operating system, it is good that you are aware of the prices and minimum requirements that the PC must have, in order to avoid running into bad surprises or malfunctions of various kinds.
As for the price , you can download Windows 10 for free and original , directly from Microsoft’s website. However, to be able to use it in its full functionality and without any limitation, it is always necessary to activate it on the computer from which it is run (even after its installation), by purchasing a regular user license , with relative Product Key . If you do not do this, you will be denied access to some functions of the operating system, such as those relating to desktop customization.
At the time of writing this guide, the official cost of Windows 10 is € 145 for the Home version, and € 259 for the Pro version; the two versions differ from each other for some details, such as the management of group policies, the management of updates, a series of security features and some aspects dedicated to companies and IT administrators. To find out the differences between Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro, I refer you to reading the information page available on the Microsoft website.
However, it is possible to save quite a bit of money on the aforementioned figures by purchasing a legal Windows license from websites such as Mr Key Shop : the latter, in particular, makes unused Windows licenses available to users. by businesses and corporations, due to the move to cloud and subscription services.
Mr Key Shop is managed by a company with offices in Italy and England, which buys and resells unused licenses from companies and companies that have switched to the cloud or subscription services, in full compliance with the relevant European regulations .
On Mr Key Shop you can purchase a license for Windows 10 Home , Windows 10 Pro or an upgrade license to Windows 10 both 32 and 64 bit. But not only. In fact, the site also offers very affordable licenses on the Office package , in particular for Office 2019 , which is the most updated) and for the antivirus of numerous software houses among the most reliable in the sector.
Purchased licenses arrive in a few minutes via e-mail (also excellent from an ecological point of view!) And enjoy a money-back guarantee . Furthermore, which is quite rare for this type of service, free Italian assistance is available .
To proceed with the purchase of a license, all you have to do is connect to one of the links I have just provided you, add the product (or products) you want to buy to the cart and choose whether to continue with the purchases or go to the checkout . You can finalize the purchase as a guest or by registering an account and paying with one of the many secure payment methods supported (eg PayPal , card or Amazon Pay ).
As for the minimum requirements your computer must meet to run Windows 10, I’ll list them for you below.
- Processor: 1 GHz or more powerful, 64 or 32 bit; in the latter case, PAE support must be present.
- RAM: 2 GB (preferably 4 GB) for 64-bit Windows 10, 1 GB (preferably 2 GB) for 32-bit Windows 10.
- Disk space: 32GB or more for 64-bit Windows 10, 16GB or more for 32-bit Windows 10.
- Screen: resolution equal to or greater than 800 x 600 pixels; the recommended resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels, ideal for correctly displaying all elements of the operating system and avoiding unexpected behavior within applications.
- Video Card:Any integrated or discrete video card with DirectX 9 or later support, with WDDM 1.0 driver.
If you do not know how to see the technical specifications of the computer on which you intend to install Windows 10, I refer you to reading my guide on how to see the components of the PC , in which I have explained everything in detail.
How to download Windows 10 for free in Italian
Having made the necessary clarifications, the time has come to explain, in practice, how to download Windows 10 for free in Italian using Media Creation Tool , the official tool provided by Microsoft that allows you to download the ISO of the operating system, both create a bootable USB stick (at least 8 GB of free space is required on the drive, which will be formatted).
To be able to use it, you must have a working computer with one of the operating systems compatible with the program: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10.
To get started, visit this page of the Microsoft website , click on the Download the tool now button and wait for the Media Creation Tool to be copied to your computer. When the download is complete, start the file obtained, click on the Yes button and wait for some preliminary operations to be carried out for the Windows download.
Once this phase is complete, click on the Accept button located at the bottom right, wait a few more seconds and then put the check mark next to the wording Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD or ISO file (for another PC , in order to set the Media Creation Tool for downloading the operating system, not for its installation.
Now, click the Next button and check that the language , edition and architecture of the operating system are consistent with what you need; otherwise, remove the check mark from the box next to the item Use the recommended options for this PC and use the drop-down menus above, which will now be “unlocked”, to choose the options that are right for you.
We are almost there: now click on the Next button , put the check mark next to the ISO File item , to obtain an image to burn later on DVD, click again on the Next button and, after indicating the PC folder in which save the file, press the Save button and wait for the file containing Windows 10 to be downloaded completely.
If, on the other hand, you have a Mac or a computer with Linux, Chrome OS or other operating systems other than Windows, you can download the Windows 10 ISO image as follows: go to this website , set the drop-down menu Select the edition on Windows 10 , press the Confirm button and, in the same way, Select the product language , using the menu that appears later. Finally, click again on Confirm and then on the button that best suits the version of Windows 10 you need ( 64 bit or 32 bit ), to start downloading the operating system ISO.
When the download is complete, you just have to burn the ISO file obtained on a blank DVD , using the burning tool included in Windows or a specific program for the purpose: I explained how to do it in my guide on how to burn ISO .
How to download Windows 10 for free on USB
If, instead of making a DVD, you need to create a bootable USB stick with which to install Windows 10, first get an empty pendrive of at least 8 GB, connect it to one of the free USB ports on your computer and then download and start Media Creation Tool, as I explained to you a little while ago .
Now, follow the same program initialization procedure and, after selecting the Windows 10 edition and reaching the Choose the media to use window, put the check mark next to the USB flash drive item and click on the Next button .
Then, click on the name or drive letter of the key on which to download Windows 10 and press the Next button , in order to start the download of Windows 10 and the subsequent creation of the installation media.
If, on the other hand, you are using a Mac and want to install Windows 10 on a PC, you can follow the same instructions I gave you in the previous section of this guide, to download the Windows 10 ISO file to your computer, and copy it to a USB key using the MacOS terminal or the Unetbootin program : here I explained how to do it.
If instead you want to install Windows 10 in dual-boot with macOS, you have to create the bootable USB key using the Boot Camp Assistant utility , integrated “as standard” in macOS (only on Macs with Intel processor), which I told you about in my program guide to use Windows on Mac .
How to install Windows 10
After preparing the Windows 10 installation media, all you have to do is use it to install the operating system: to start, turn on the computer you intend to act on and, if possible, create a preventive backup of the data that is important to you . Once this is done, restart your computer, enter the BIOS or UEFI and set the device to boot from DVD or USB stick , depending on the installation media you have chosen to create.
Once this is done, wait for the Windows 10 installation screen to appear, indicate the language , time format and keyboard to use and click on the Next and Install buttons to initialize the necessary files; now, enter the Windows 10 Product Key in the appropriate field and click on the Next button or, if you do not have it yet, press the item I do not have a Product Key , located at the bottom right. If prompted, specify the edition of Windows 10 you prefer to install by clicking on its name.
Now, choose whether to update and install Windows while keeping files, settings and applications or install Windows only and format the hard disk, by clicking on the appropriate item, and follow the instructions that are provided to you to start the setup.
In the first case, you will have to accept the operating system license and wait for the files to be copied to the disk and then installed. In the second case, instead, you will have to use the disk and partition management screen to format the disk and proceed with the reinstallation of Windows 10.
In any case, at the end of the file copying and installation phase, the computer will restart and will offer you the first configuration of the operating system: Cortana / Windows Ink settings, access options, privacy settings, search, and so on.
For more information about installing Windows 10 on Windows Vista , Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 , I refer you to reading the specific guides I have dedicated to the topic.
If, on the other hand, you are trying to install Windows 10 on Mac , alongside the “original” operating system, you will have to use the Boot Camp assistant once again: I explained how to do it in my guide on how to install Windows on Mac . Note that the procedure is valid only for Macs with an Intel processor and not for Macs with Apple Silicon chips (eg M1), where Windows is not supported.
If you have not activated Windows 10 during installation, you will still be able to use the operating system, with numerous limitations, for a limited period of time, after which the warnings regarding the need to activate the operating system will become more and more frequent, up to completely prevent you from using it easily. In the meantime, if you have purchased a Product Key and want to use it to activate Windows 10 at a later time after installation, refer to the tutorial I just indicated, in which I explained how to proceed.
