John writes to us all the way from Cardiff, Wales. “I installed Windows 10 I seem to have lost two games that I play regularly for light relief namely – “Freecell” and “Mahjong”. Is there any way of retrieving these games? I am an octogenarian who has followed and enjoyed your website for some time.”
John, I have mentioned before that games that were pre-installed as part of the Games section of the Windows 7 operating system would be lost with the update to Windows 10.
Fortunately, it’s super-easy to get them back. First let’s open the Windows store. The Windows store icon should appear on your taskbar. Just click on the icon that looks like a shopping bag.
You can also search for store in the search box in Start Menu. Or, just tell Cortana to open the Windows store.
Once the store app opens, you can search for the games you want. You’ll find free versions of both Mahjong and Free Cell games. I happen to like Microsoft’s Solitaire collection.
It has a version of Free Cell Included.
You’ll also find several Mahjong games. It’s easy to tell which games are free. It says so right by the title. Just click the Free button to download.
It shouldn’t even take a minute for your game to download and install. The games will then appear on you start menu under recently added apps.
You’ll also be able to find it under All Apps or by searching for the game in your search box.
~ Cynthia
no mention of chess titans, was not in win 8 is it in win 10? thanks all at WS
Games are not included with Windows 8 or Windows 10. But you can follow the same instructions and head to the Windows store to look for Chess Titans or a similar game.
Cynthia,
About the Free Microsoft Games. When you Download, install and play them are they also free of advertisements?
The Windows 7 version of Mahjong Titans is NOT available in the Windows Store in the same version but is available in a much harder to visualize symbols. There are complaints on Microsoft Support pages asking for the old version to be reinstalled with no replies yet.
I agree completely with Darlene. The Mahjong version(s) of the Windows Store
is NOT the same. Those games are ok if you are 5 years old. I’ve read on a few sites about the Microsoft games and the complaints from other users. This is a prime example of ‘new and improved’ is not always welcomed. It can’t be that hard for Microsoft to include the old version of Mahjong Titans to the App Store.
Still looking for W& Mahjong Titans and Mahjong Chess, too. Don’t want the supposedly updated stuff. If you find them, would appreciate a heads up.
If you open “Apps” on the Start menu, and scroll down to the “M” section, you will find a few games under “Microsoft”, such as Microsoft Mahjong and Microsoft Solitaire Collection.
Big Problem!! My laptop is not set up to require a password to begin use. When I signed up for Microsoft Games, they required a password to download the games. The next time I started my laptop it asked for “the password” before Windows would load. Since I use KeePass to generate passwords, my Microsoft password was now locked away and not accessible because the password access only appears after Windows loads. The reason for using a generator is to have complex passwords that don’t have to be remembered or written down. The laptop was now “unusable”. It was a PAIN to get back access to Windows without a password. Luckily I have a second PC.
Now I’m hesitant to go back to the Games site for fear my laptop will be password locked again. Thanks Microsoft!
So far I have found that none of the games in the store resemble the older Windows 7 versions. In fact, the whole Windows 10 setup is so distorted and misaligned that I only do basic computer processes now. Thankfully I have a decent word processing program that gets me around the ridiculous Windows Word processing program. I still say the old Windows 98se version was the BEST Windows program I have ever used. If my computer started acting up and misbehaving,, all I had to do was pop the installation disc into the machine and reinstall the program. Nothing was lost except the screwed up material; all my files remained, and as soon as the reboot was completed following the reinstall, the computer ran like it did new. Can NOT say that about Windows 10.
I’d like to buy a disc from a store but unable to do that. The discs I’ve found don’t resemble the familiar preferred ones at all. if you find a way to get the W7 versions of W7 Mahjong Chess Titans and Mahjong Titans, please let us all know.
You can download windows 7 games to play on windows 10 from http://windows10here.blogspot.com
I read above that Cynthia says to go to Microsoft store to find the free games?
Highly illogical that you should be able to go to a store and get FREE stuff.
There was a swack of games on XP pro that were just part of the desktop display
Going to a store, sounds like M$ future vision :to nickel and dime us to death.
And buy the apps. for the games.
Cynthia…I had Office 2007 32 bit. Does Win10 free download include Office 10 64 bit or is that a separate purchase?
As for the “store icon” it seems I deleted it as it does not show up at the bottom of my screen anymore. Mainly because I did not plan to go to any store. Is there another way to find it? I am still within my 30 day window to flip back to Win8.1 (so a flip back and then redownload Win10 is possible.) just to let you know.
It’s not really a store, but an app that offers free and paid items. It’s just a central locations for finding items. Try typing store in the search box.
Office 2007 should continue to work fine on your PC after upgrading. If you don’t see it right away, just type Office in the search box
I check out the site you posted but unless I am mistaken all I see is a blog. No actual downloading of the games that were included in XP or W-7. If you want the older games here’s the site: http://www.ghacks.net/2015/12/14/install-windows-7-games-on-windows-10/
Follow the instructions for downloading and you’ll be playing your favorite games. I’ve happily been playing MahJong Titans for over a month now. It’s a free download but a small donation to the guy who was able to give us the old games would be appreciated.
Enjoy!
Hi Cynthia,
Thanks for the advice about games.
But I really regret the gadgets now missing (calendar, notes, weather, pix slide show, …)
Is there some place to download the missing gadgets ?
Thanks and regards,
Chris
I missed my Screensavers on 10, but discovered when I open my folder of pix (I created for favorite pix) to be used for Wallpaper, there is now an option “Picture tools/manage”. Clicking on that brings up “Slideshow” option. one click on that starts showing all pictures in my Wallpaper folder….REPLACEMENT for Screensavers….YAY!! To stop the slideshow,( a.k.a. Screensaver)a simple right-click brings up option to EXIT. Click that & back in business as usual. LOVE IT!!
Have you tried right-clicking on a blank spot on the desktop and choosing personalize?
I just bought a cd with games. Every time I try to find free games, you can play for a week then you have to buy it. I have found very few free games.
Would not download free solitaire, I would not type in my windows password!