When performing the free upgrade to Windows 10 from either Windows 7 , a situation may occur where the download keeps running (or spinning) forever and never actually downloads. All you see is the “Starting Download” screen that never terminates or errors. In most cases, the download should be done within 3 hours if the internet speed is at least 1.5MBs or better.
In my experience, the problem was due to a factory installation of Window 7, but the license key was for Windows 8.1. This was done by the computer manufacturer to satisfy the demands of the customer who did not like Windows 8 at the time — but preferred Windows 7.
There is a relatively simple work around:
- Obtain a blank 8 GB USB drive.
- Go to the Windows 10 upgrade site: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
- The site will first have you download a tool that checks system compliance for Windows 10
- Next, you will download and run the Media Creation Tool, that will prepare the USB drive and download the Windows 10 installation
- Perform a Full Power Down and reboot of the PC
- Run setup.exe as Administrator on the USB Drive.
