Summary
Qualified computers and
devices that are deployed in your organization and that are running Windows 7
Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro are eligible for the free Windows 10 upgrade offer and
will be able to upgrade through Windows Update. (This offer is not
available to customers who are using Enterprise or Embedded editions of Windows
7 and Windows 8.1.) This article describes the notification and upgrade options,
and it explains how you can manage these options.
Regardless of current disqualifying criteria, administrators who want to
prevent Windows 7, Windows 7 for Embedded Systems, Windows 8.1, and Windows
Embedded 8.1 Pro clients from upgrading should enable the policy settings that
are discussed in this article.
For more information about upgrade requirements for Windows 10, see the Windows home page.
More information
How to manage the Windows 10 upgrade
Automatic scenarios
The Windows 10 upgrade is automatically blocked (that is, no
further action is required) on computers or other devices in the following
scenarios:
- The computer or device is serviced through WSUS and has
not had update 3035583 applied.
- The computer is running any of the following systems,
which are excluded from this reservation offer:
- Windows 8.1 Enterprise or Windows 8 Enterprise
- Windows RT 8.1 or Windows RT
- Windows Embedded 8.1 Pro
- Windows Embedded 8 Standard
- Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry or Windows Embedded 8
Industry
- Windows 7 Enterprise
- Windows 7 for Embedded Systems
- Windows Embedded Standard 7
- Windows Embedded POSReady 7
Non-automatic scenarios
You can manage the
Windows 10 upgrade by using any of the following methods.
Group Policy
Microsoft has released new updates to enable you to block upgrades
to Windows 10 through Windows Update. These updates install a new Group Policy
Setting. Computers that have this Group Policy Setting enabled will never
detect, download, or install an upgrade to the latest version of Windows.
To obtain and install these updates, go to the following Microsoft Knowledge
Base articles:
To configure this Group Policy Setting by using Group Policy, the
following conditions apply:
- The appropriate update must be installed.
- You must use the updated WindowsUpdate.admx file by
copying the file from the editing policy location.
Computer Configuration
To block the upgrade by using Computer Configuration, follow these
steps:
1. Click Computer Configuration.
2. Click Policies.
3. Click Administrative Templates.
4. Click Windows Components.
5. Click Windows Update.
6. Double-click Turn off the upgrade to the
latest version of Windows through Windows Update.
7. Click Enable.
Policy
path: Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows
Components / Windows Update Policy
Setting: Turn off the upgrade to the latest version of Windows through
Windows Update
Windows registry
Important Follow
the steps in this section carefully. Serious problems might occur if you modify
the registry incorrectly. Before you modify it, back up the registry for restoration in case problems occur.
To block the upgrade to Windows 10 through Windows Update, specify the
following registry value:
Subkey: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
DWORD value: DisableOSUpgrade = 1
Hide the Get Windows 10 app (notification area icon)
Automatic scenarios
The Windows 10 notification app is automatically blocked (that is,
no further action is required) on computers or other devices in the following
scenarios:
- The computer is running any of the following systems, which
are excluded from this reservation offer:
- Windows 8.1 Enterprise or Windows 8 Enterprise
- Windows RT 8.1 or Windows RT
- Windows Embedded 8.1 Pro
- Windows Embedded 8 Standard
- Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry or Windows Embedded 8
Industry
- Windows 7 Enterprise
- Windows 7 for Embedded Systems
- Windows Embedded Standard 7
- Windows Embedded POSReady 7
Non-automatic scenarios
Windows registry
Important Follow the steps in this section carefully. Serious
problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Before you modify
it, back up the registry for restoration in case problems occur.
For non-Enterprise versions of Windows, the notification icon can be suppressed
through the Windows registry. To do this, set the following registry value:
Subkey: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx
DWORD value: DisableGwx = 1
Enable the Get Windows 10 app (notification area icon)
If you don’t see the Get
Windows 10 app (the small icon in the notification area), this might occur for
any of the following reasons:
- The computer or other device is not up to date because
it doesn't have at least Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows 8.1
Update installed.
- Windows Update is turned off or is not set to automatically
receive updates.
- You have blocked or uninstalled the necessary Windows
Update functionality. For more information about this, see KB
article 3035583.
- The Windows installation is not activated.
- The device is running any of the following systems,
which are excluded from this reservation offer:
- Windows 8.1 Enterprise or Windows 8 Enterprise
- Windows RT 8.1 or Windows RT
- Windows Embedded 8.1 Pro
- Windows Embedded 8 Standard
- Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry or Windows Embedded 8
Industry
- Windows 7 Enterprise
- Windows 7 for Embedded Systems
- Windows Embedded Standard 7
- Windows Embedded POSReady 7
- The device is managed by an IT administrator who has
suppressed the icon from being shown on your desktop. (To verify this
situation, check with your IT administrator.)
You can fix the first
three issues by running Windows Update and installing all available updates. If
you believe that none of these conditions apply to you, and if you still do not
see the icon, follow these steps.
Note This fix will determine whether your device meets all the
prerequisites, and then it will turn on the Get Windows 10 app as appropriate.
1. Start Notepad.
2. Paste the following text into Notepad:
3.
schtasks /run /TN
"\Microsoft\Windows\Setup\gwx\refreshgwxconfigandcontent"
“reg delete HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx /value
DisableGwx”
4. Click File, and then click Save
As.
5. In the File name box, change
the file name to ReserveWin10.cmd.
6. In the Save as type list,
select All files (*.*), and then select the folder that you want to
save the file to. For example, save the file to C:/Temp.
7. Click Save.
8. Open an elevated Command Prompt window. To do
this, open the Start screen or Start menu,
type Command Prompt in the search box, right-click Command
Prompt in the results list, and then clickRun as administrator.
- Run the file from the location that you selected in Step 5.
For example, type the following command at the command prompt window:
C:/Temp/ReserveWin10.cmd
The Microsoft
Compatibility Appraiser can take 10–30 minutes to run. During this time, the
script will continuously provide status reports that it is running. Please be
patient! If the script is failing in an infinite loop, this means that you
don’t have the necessary prerequisite Windows updates installed. In addition to
having either Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 Update installed, you must also have
the following updates installed:
For Windows 7 SP1
For Windows 8.1 Update
To manually verify that
you have these updates installed, type the following command at an elevated
command prompt:
dism /online /get-packages | findstr <KBID>
Note In this
command, <KBID> represents the actual KB update article number
of the update that you are looking for.
If you have the update installed, this command will display the package
identity. For example, Windows 8.1 users should see the following:
C:\>dism /online
/get-packages | findstr 3035583
Package Identity : Package_for_KB3035583~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.1.29
Script for non-English Windows versions
For non-English versions of Windows, use the following script
(which is now the same script as shown in step 2 of the preceding procedure):
schtasks /run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Setup\gwx\refreshgwxconfigandcontent"
How to bypass the Unattend screen in Windows 8.1
Update
In Windows 8.1 with KB3065988 installed,
the system prompts users to reserve a copy of Windows 10 as part of the OOBE
process that occurs at the first startup cycle. For organizations that are
deploying Windows 8.1 Pro by using an Unattend.xml file that automates the OOBE
process, this reservation notice still occurs. To suppress this notice, you can
use either of the following methods:
Set the following Group
Policy setting to Disabled:
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon > Show
first sign-in animation
- Change the Unattend.xml file
Add the following entry
to the Unattend.xml file for Windows 8.1.
For Windows 8.1 Pro x64
<settings
pass="specialize">
<component
name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment"
processorArchitecture="amd64"
publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral"
versionScope="nonSxS"
xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<RunSynchronous>
<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Description>DisableAnimation</Description>
<Order>1</Order>
<Path>reg.exe add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v EnableFirstLogonAnimation /d 0 /t REG_DWORD
/f </Path>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
</RunSynchronous>
</component>
</settings>
For Windows 8.1 Pro x86
<settings
pass="specialize">
<component
name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment"
processorArchitecture="x86"
publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral"
versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<RunSynchronous>
<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Description>DisableAnimation</Description>
<Order>1</Order>
<Path>reg.exe
add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v
EnableFirstLogonAnimation /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f </Path>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
</RunSynchronous>
</component>
</settings>
Properties
Article ID: 3080351 - Last Review: 01/22/2016
17:20:00 - Revision: 5.0
Applies to
Keywords:
- kbprb kbsurveynew KB3080351
