Microsoft is Silently Preloading Windows 10 release

If you registered for the Windows 10 upgrade you will receive a notice if and when you can download and update to the new OS. However many end-users now report a new hidden directory in their Windows install. It seems that Microsoft is pre-loading Windows 10 already.

Now first let me make it clear that this does not apply to all end-users who registered for the upgrade through the Windows icon in the taskbar. However if you want to check it out yourself, look for the following directory on your Windows installation: $windows.~BT

You will notice it's roughly 6GB in size, and it holds primary data for the Windows 10 upgrade. I just verified this myself from the laptop I am typing the this news-post from. The map is hidden, so in explorer make sure that you enable 'show hidden items'. If you have the directory, leave it alone and do not click setup would be my recommendation. Users worldwide are reporting that if you start the install, files still could be missing causing an install error.

Windows 10 will be released Wednesday in 190 countries and 111 languages. Microsoft promises a free upgrade to Windows 10 for Windows 7- and Windows 8.1 users under the condition that you upgrade within a year.