Windows 10 How To: Check if Windows 10 is pre-loaded on your machine

It’s Windows 10 Eve, and for those of you who have your Windows 7 or 8.x device all set up and ready to be upgraded to the latest Microsoft OS, there’s not much to do but wait.  Well, wait, and check to see if Windows 10 is pre-loading on your machine, ready to upgrade at the first opportunity.

Microsoft has begun pre-loading machines already, to take some of the pressure off their servers as seemingly millions will be ready to upgrade on Day One.  To check to see if your machine is getting ready for Windows 10, head over to File Explorer, first making sure that “show hidden files” is enabled (you can hide the files again after you checked if you don’t want a bunch of extra stuff in your File Explorer).  On Windows 7, it’s File Explorer > Organize > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files, folders, and drives:

In Windows 8.x, it’s File Explorer > View > check Hidden items.

Then, just navigate to C: in File Explorer and you should see a new folder, \$Windows.~BT.  That’s where the new OS is being temporarily stored, once it’s downloaded.  You can right click on the folder, choose Properties, and see how big the folder is (my Surface 3 has some 5.94GB in the folder, your machine may be slightly different).  And no you can’t start the installation early – (update: well, where there’s a will there’s a way).

That’s it, now you can rest assured that you’re all set and ready for Windows 10!