How to get Windows 10 today – skip the queue

That little Windows 10 notification that doesn’t go away

A lot of us have been waiting for the free Windows 10 update for quite some time now.  You know if you have been eligible for this update, if you have had the “Get Windows 10” notification in your taskbar, in the lower right corner
Edit: Had a question about “the little red icon” – it’s my VPN 😉

Get Windows 10 notification in Windows

When ever you clicked on it, you just got this message – that basically said “We’ll get back to you”, after you finished the registration.

The “Thank your for reserving the free Windows 10 update” message

Perhaps it’s just me – the “OK, notify me when ready” (that we first saw about 2 months ago), felt a little bit like this situation 😉

Yeah – We’ll get back to you, and your call is very important to us

So – it’s July 29th – Happy Windows 10 day!

Hooray! It’s here! All should bow towards Redmond, Washington, US of A in gratitude of the free Windows 10 update.

However…

Due to a gazillion people worldwide wanting to upgrade at the same time, Microsoft have made a queue for all wanting to update – so it might be some time before you are automatically prompted that your reserved Windows 10 update is ready.

But I want Windows 10 today… TODAY I SAID!!!

Fear not noble Sir / Madam – your request shall be fulfilled…. A solution has presented itself today on Reddit – and it’s actutally not too tricky. Just remember – just because it worked on my Windows 8.1 PC – it might not work on yours – don’t shoot the messenger 🙂

Here is what you should do:

1. Go to the folder “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download” and delete everything. This is the download folder for Windows Updates, and will remove updates waiting to happen – no worries. If you can’t delete all of the folders – no problem, just delete the ones you can
   ….and just replace C:\ with another letter, if your Windows is not installed on the C:\ drive.
2. Find the Windows Update application, by pressing Windows key to start searching, and type “Windows Update”. And click on it – it should look something like this:
   

   Search for the Windows update application

3. Now press the Windows key again and Search for “cmd”, to find the Command Promt. Click on it with the right mouse button, and choose “Run as Administrator”
   

   Open the Command Prompt as Administrator

   ….we’re almost there 🙂

4. Do not press enter yet, but type “wuauclt.exe /updatenow” in the command prompt – this command will force Windows Update to check for updates, after you press Enter, which you shouldn’t do now.
   

   Admin Command Prompt to force updates

5. Go back to the Windows Update windows, and press “Check for updates” in the left side menu. Windows should now start checking for updates, as per usual
   

   Windows starts checking for updates

6. Quickly switch back to the Command Prompt, and now press Enter – even though nothing really seems to happen, the magic will now start.
   

   Administrator Command Prompt after pressing Enter

Voila – You have now started downloading Windows 10 and skipped the queue!

When you switch back to the Windows Upgrade Window, you should see Windows 10 Update has started to download.

Windows 10 has started downloading

Happy downloading your free Windows 10 upgrade!

Get yourself a cup of coffee while the Windows 10 update downloads, and feel great that you “beat the system”. Perhaps do like Carlton – now is the time 😉