Enrolling in the Windows Insider Program post Windows 10 release

The Windows Insider program over the past 10 months accumulated over 5 million participants.

Microsoft is making a big push to keep as many of those Insiders enrolled and participating in the post release version of the program that will continue to test and flight updates for Windows 10 before they go public.

Right now the Windows Insider Program is on a small hiatus as the Windows team monitors the global roll out of Windows 10 which began today. However, at some point they will be looking to start maintaining the new operating system in a process known as Windows as a Service or WaaS.  Windows Insiders will continue to help with that development process as they have for the last 10 months.

Windows Insiders who have upgraded Windows 7 or 8.1 systems will have valid activated installations of Windows 10 with an option to enroll in the post release Insider program.

I just tested this process on a system I upgraded from Windows 7 (SP1) to Windows 10 that was released on 29 July by Microsoft. I used the media creation tool Microsoft is providing and opted to upgrade that system rather than create installation media or download an ISO. I also selected to not leave anything on the system so no files, apps, programs or settings were brought forward in the installation process - basically a clean install.

Without having to enter any product key the Windows 10 installation was activated - fully valid and ready to go.

Here is the process to then enroll a similar system into the post-release Windows 10 Insider program:

Go to Settings>Windows Update>Advanced options and click on Get started under the Get Insider Builds area.

Read the warning about using pre-release software and click Next.

One last warning that you may have to remove everything from your system if you opt out of participating in the Insider program. Click Confirm to continue.

Click Restart now to reboot your system and complete enrollment in the post-release Insider program.

After the reboot if you head back into Settings>Windows Update>Advanced options you will that this machine is now setup to receive Insider builds. I suspect the Fix me is there because the Windows team has not flipped the switch on this side of the program.

If you want to stop Insider builds the click on Stop Insider builds in Settings>Windows Update>Advanced options and then click Confirm and then you will be prompted to reboot as you were earlier.

The unknowns about the post-release Insider program is how much participation, new builds or updates will trigger a reinstallation of Windows. I expect those details will be published once the Windows team is ready to start working on the OS once again.

Are you planning to participate in the post-release Windows Insider program?

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