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Microsoft: Windows 10 Is Being Rolled Out 'In Phases'

Microsoft is urging patience for users who are trying -- and failing -- to download the free upgrade to Windows 10 on Wednesday.

Microsoft is now saying at multiple places, such as this Windows 10 FAQ and this forum page, that those who have reserved a free upgrade but don't have it yet will receive a notification about the upgrade's availability in the next few "weeks."

Testers who participated in the Windows Insider program get the first crack at Windows 10, Microsoft said.

A Microsoft spokeswoman sent the following explanation for the delays:

"With millions of reservations and Windows Insiders to serve, we want to make sure everyone has a great upgrade experience, so we're rolling out Windows 10 in phases to help manage the demand. We are rolling out Windows 10 to our Windows Insiders. From there, we began notifying reserved systems in waves, slowly scaling up. If you reserved your upgrade of Windows 10, we will notify you once our compatibility work confirms you will have a great experience, and Windows 10 has been downloaded on your system."

There are ways around the bottleneck. Those inclined can go to one of Microsoft's 110 retail stores and drop off their machines. Another alternative is to take Redmond contributor Brien Posey's advice and run a script that will apparently push though the upgrade.

Related:

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.

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