Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, to retail on July 29, 2015, and was a free upgrade to users of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Its server counterparts are Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022. It was succeeded by Windows 11 in October 2021.
In contrast to the tablet-oriented approach of its predecessor, Windows 10 returned to a desktop-oriented interface in line with previous versions of Windows and reintroduced the Start menu. Other features included the Cortana virtual assistant, Task View and virtual desktops, Action Center, biometric authentication through Windows Hello, an improved Settings component, Xbox Live integration, and DirectX 12. Also, Microsoft Edge was introduced, deprecating Internet Explorer. Unlike previous NT releases, Windows 10 received free feature updates on an ongoing basis. Alternatively, enterprise environments can use long-term support milestones that receive only critical and security updates. An ARM version of Windows 10 was released in 2018.
Windows 10 received generally positive reviews. Praise was given to the return of the desktop interface, improved bundled software compared to Windows 8.1, and other capabilities, while criticism was directed at behavioral changes such as mandatory update installation, privacy concerns over data collection, and adware-like tactics to promote the operating system on release. Microsoft aimed to have Windows 10 installed on over a billion devices within three years of release; ultimately, that goal was reached in March 2020, almost five years later. By January 2018, it surpassed Windows 7 as the most popular version of Windows worldwide, until Windows 11 took the top spot in June 2025. As of November 2025, Windows 10 is the second-most-used version of Windows, accounting for 42.62% worldwide share, while Windows 11 holds 55%. As of December 2025, an estimated 1 billion PCs globally are running Windows 10.
It is the last version of Windows that supports 32-bit processors, BIOS firmware, and systems with no TPM or TPM 1.2; it is also the last to officially lack a CPU model check before installation. Support ended on October 14, 2025, except for editions in the Long-Term Servicing Channel or enrolled in the Extended Security Updates program.
Development
At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in 2011, Andrew Lees, the chief of Microsoft's mobile technologies, said that the company intended to have a single software ecosystem for PCs, smartphones, tablets, and other devices: "We won't have an ecosystem for PCs, and one for phones, and one for tabletsthey'll all come together."In December 2013, technology writer Mary Jo Foley reported that Microsoft was working on an update to Windows 8 codenamed "Threshold", after a planet in its Halo franchise. Similarly to "Blue", Foley described Threshold, not as a single operating system, but as a "wave of operating systems" across multiple Microsoft platforms and services, quoting Microsoft sources, scheduled for the second quarter of 2015. She also stated that one of the goals for Threshold was to create a unified application platform and development toolkit for Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox One.
At the Build Conference in April 2014, Microsoft's Terry Myerson unveiled an early build of what would become Windows 10 that added the ability to run Microsoft Store apps inside desktop windows and a more traditional Start menu modeled after Windows 7's design by using only a portion of the screen and including an application listing in the left column, with the right column displaying Windows 8-style app tiles. Myerson said that these changes would occur in a future update, but did not elaborate. Microsoft also unveiled the concept of a "universal Windows app", allowing Windows Store apps created for Windows 8.1 to be ported to Windows Phone 8.1 and Xbox One while sharing a common codebase, with an interface designed for different device form factors, and allowing user data and licenses for an app to be shared between multiple platforms. Windows Phone 8.1 would share nearly 90% of the common Windows Runtime APIs with Windows 8.1 on PCs.
A screenshot of a build identifying itself as "Windows Technical Preview" was leaked in September 2014, showing a new virtual desktop system, a notification center, and a new File Explorer icon.
Announcement
On September 30, 2014, Microsoft officially announced that Threshold would be unveiled during a media event as Windows 10. Myerson said that Windows 10 would be Microsoft's "most comprehensive platform ever", providing a single, unified platform for desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, and all-in-one devices. He emphasized that Windows 10 would take steps towards restoring user interface mechanics from Windows 7 to improve the experience for users on non-touch devices, noting criticism of Windows 8's touch-oriented interface by keyboard and mouse users. Despite these concessions, Myerson noted that the touch-optimized interface would evolve as well on Windows 10.In regards to Microsoft naming the new operating system Windows 10 instead of Windows 9, Terry Myerson said that "based on the product that's coming, and just how different our approach will be overall, it wouldn't be right to call it Windows 9." He also joked that they could not call it "Windows One" because Windows 1.0 already existed. At a San Francisco conference in October 2014, Tony Prophet, Microsoft's Vice President of Windows Marketing, said that Windows 9 "came and went", and that Windows 10 would not be "an incremental step from Windows 8.1", but "a material step. We're trying to create one platform, one eco-system that unites as many of the devices from the small embedded Internet of Things, through tablets, through phones, through PCs and, ultimately, into the Xbox." Dave Plummer speculated that Microsoft wanted to avoid compatibility issues with applications that check the operating system's version string for "Windows 9" and believe that they are running on Windows 95 or Windows 98.
Further details surrounding Windows 10's consumer-oriented features were presented during another media event held on January 21, 2015, titled "Windows 10: The Next Chapter". The keynote featured the unveiling of Cortana integration within the operating system, new Xbox-oriented features, Windows 10 Mobile, an updated Office Mobile suite, Surface Huba large-screened Windows 10 device for enterprise collaboration based upon Perceptive Pixel technology, along with HoloLens‑augmented reality eyewear and an associated platform for building apps that can render holograms through HoloLens.
Additional developer-oriented details surrounding the "Universal Windows Platform" concept were revealed and discussed during Microsoft's Build developers' conference. Among them were the unveiling of "Islandwood", which provides a middleware toolchain for compiling Objective-C-based software to run as universal apps on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. A port of Candy Crush Saga made using the toolkit, which shared much of its code with the iOS version, was demonstrated, alongside the announcement that the King-developed game would be bundled with Windows 10 at launch.
At the 2015 Ignite conference, Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon stated that Windows 10 would be the "last version of Windows", a statement reflecting the company's intent to apply the software as a service business model to Windows, with new versions and updates to be released over an indefinite period. In 2021, however, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be succeeded on compatible hardware by Windows 11—and that Windows 10 support will end on October 14, 2025, marking a departure from what had been dubbed "Windows as a service". PC World argued that the widely reported comment was however taken out of context, noting that the official event transcript marks it only as a segue rather than a core part of the talk. It argues that Nixon was referring to the fact that he could talk freely at the event because 10 was the last version in current development.
Marketing
On July 20, 2015, Microsoft began "Upgrade Your World", an advertising campaign centering on Windows 10, with the premiere of television commercials in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The commercials focused on the tagline "A more human way to do", emphasizing new features and technologies supported by Windows 10 that sought to provide a more "personal" experience to users. The campaign culminated with launch events in thirteen cities on July 29, 2015, which celebrated "the unprecedented role our biggest fans played in the development of Windows 10".Release
On July 29, 2015, Microsoft officially announced that Windows 10 would be released for retail purchase as a free upgrade from earlier versions of Windows. In comparison to previous Windows releases, which had a longer turnover between the release to manufacturing and general release to allow for testing by vendors, an HP executive explained that because it knew Microsoft targeted the operating system for a 2015 release, the company was able to optimize its then-current and upcoming products for Windows 10 in advance of its release, negating the need for such a milestone.The general availability build of Windows10, numbered 10240, was first released to Windows Insider channels for pre-launch testing on July 15, 2015, prior to its formal release. Although a Microsoft official said there would be no specific RTM build of Windows 10, 10240 was described as an RTM build by media outlets because it was released to all Windows Insider members at once, it no longer carried pre-release branding and desktop watermark text, and its build number had mathematical connections to the number10 in reference to the operating system's naming. The Enterprise edition was released to volume licensing on August 1, 2015.
Windows 10 is distributed digitally through the "Media Creation Tool", which is functionally identical to the Windows 8 online installer, and can also be used to generate an ISO image or USB install media. In-place upgrades are supported from most editions of Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 and Windows8.1 with Update 1, while users with Windows8 must first upgrade to Windows8.1. Changing between architectures via in-place upgrades is not supported; a clean installation is required. In-place upgrades may be rolled back to the device's previous version of Windows, provided that 30days have not passed since installation, and backup files were not removed using Disk Cleanup.
Windows 10 was available in 190countries and 111 languages upon its launch, and as part of efforts to "re-engage" with users in China, Microsoft also announced that it would partner with Qihoo and Tencent to help promote and distribute Windows10 in China, and that Chinese PC maker Lenovo would provide assistance at its service centers and retail outlets for helping users upgrade to Windows10. At retail, Windows 10 is priced similarly to editions of Windows 8.1, with U.S. prices set at $119 and $199 for Windows 10Home and Pro respectively. A Windows 10 Pro Pack license allows upgrades from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro. Retail copies only ship on USB flash drive media; however, system builder copies still ship as DVD-ROM media. New devices shipping with Windows10 were also released during the operating system's launch window.
Windows RT devices cannot be upgraded to Windows10.