Update OS on Old Laptop (will it take?)

BrokenDaily · 25 Sep 2018

my mother had/has an old dell laptop, a studio 1737, Dell Service Tag#: 2TXW6K1. IT has windows vista, and my father wants me to do some maintenance on it, possibly send it to her in new york so she can do more than what she could do on her iPad. Since it has an old OS, i'm thinking/hoping I can update it to either windows 7, 8.1, or 10 (Home Version only, no ultimate or pro variants), but I don't know about 8.1 or 10

From what I saw on its drivers & downloads page, i can choose between 32-bit/64-bit vista, or windows 7 64-bit, so I guess I can update it to windows 7 (unless it fails the hardware requirements to do so), but I don't know if the hardware it has is good enough to support windows 8.1, or even windows 10, and I would like to know if it can upgrade higher than 7. It won't be a problem if it can't, as I might put linux on it and replace the old HP laptop I have that is being a lot of things I can't mention on tenforums without getting banned; Besides the laptop's dell configuration page, attachment with laptop specs as follows (thanks speccy); reply wen able, and thank you all for doing so

bobkn · 25 Sep 2018

Vista did not qualify for a free Windows 10 upgrade. I don't know whether there is a free (or cheap) path. (I refer only to legal paths.)

A "system builder" (OEM) version of Windows 10 Home (either 32 or 64 bit) can be had for $99 (from Newegg, for example). If memory serves, the license agreement for that is for white box PC builders for resale only. You're not supposed to use it as a personal license. As far as I know, there has never been any enforcement of that.

There may be an issue with whether you can run Win10 X64 on it. There were some fairly obscure requirements for X64 that were added for 8.1, and continue with 10. The odds are good that there will be no problem. (The CPU was new in 2009.)

I upgraded a 2008 Compaq laptop with 4GB of RAM and an AMD Athlon64 X2 CPU to Win10 X64. It didn't run any slower than Windows 7. (Which is to say, it was still fairly slow.)

I'm not a Linux user, but maybe it'd be a better choice, if you can get all the drivers that you need to run the laptop with it.

I'd normally advise against publishing a license key in a forum, but I'm not sure how much it would matter for Vista.

Samuria · 25 Sep 2018

Make a disk image of Vista so you can role back if needed. Download the free windows 10 ISO boot from it and see it may well abort if it's not compatible. If it installed then you need buy a licence if it has less than 4 gig get 32 bit version more than 4 64 bit

Bree · 25 Sep 2018

Your 4GB RAM is more than enough for 64-bit Windows 10.

Your Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T6600 processor has the Execute Disable bit which is the key hardware requirement to support Windows 8 or 10, so there's a chance it will run Windows 10.
Intel Coreâ„¢2 Duo Processor T6600 (2M Cache, 2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) Product Specifications
You may first have to enable this in the BIOS though.

However, the 'Intel Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family' graphics does not have a Win10 driver. See this thread...
Intel mobile series 4 and Windows 10 |Intel Communities

Windows 10 will have to use the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter, which will work, but may not provide all the resolutions the chipset is capable of. Sleep will also be disabled as it relies on a compatible graphics driver. You will be able to use hibernate though. Other graphics functions like NightLight will also be disabled. This may be acceptable, that's up to you.

Well, wonders will never cease. Windows Update should find and install these...

Intel Corporation driver update for Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.1)
Windows 10 and later upgrade & servicing drivers

Microsoft Update Catalog

You cannot upgrade Vista to W10 so it has to be a clean install. If you have a spare HDD, I would swap the drive and do a test install of W10. You can get the Service Manual here which tells you how to replace the HDD.

Support for Studio 1737 | Manuals & documents | Dell US

If it is not acceptable, you can just put back the HDD with Vista installed and nothing is lost. If it is acceptable you will of course have to buy a Win10 licence in order to activate it and use it legally in line with the EULA.

DavidY · 25 Sep 2018

I seem to remember that some Dells needed a BIOS update to install Windows 8 (and presumably anything later). Without the update they would appear to install but boot to a black screen.
But as far as I can tell there isn't a later one for that machine (?) so you may be lucky.

If a spare internal disk isn't available to follow the course Bree suggests, then I'd definitely do a full backup with something like Macrium Reflect Free onto an external drive if possible. And also make sure you have created the bootable rescue media that goes with it, and that you can get it to boot and "see" the external drive.

Berton · 25 Sep 2018

I have a Dell Studio 17 1747 [17"] that works fine with Win10. It was a rehab, needed a new HDD but I used one I had on hand, cheaper that way. I Upgraded first to Win7 then to Win10.
RAM SSD Upgrades | Dell Studio 1747 | Crucial.com

Crucial 8GB Kit (2 x 4GB) DDR3L-1600 SODIMM

CT5311125

DDR3 PC3-12800 • CL=11 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR3-1600 • 1.35V •

UPDATE: I posted the wrong link but the information looks to be the same.
RAM SSD Upgrades | Dell Studio 1737 | Crucial.com

BrokenDaily · 25 Sep 2018

Imma coin flip between windows 7 and 8.1; side question to windows 8.1: when I get it from the microsoft download page, and install it fresh, does windows 8.1 do an automatic digital license activation of some sort like windows 10 does? Or will I have to enter a license key I buy online to activate it? Only wondering if it will pull the embedded license key from the laptop motherboard or not

Berton · 25 Sep 2018

The chart on this page should help in your decision making:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...cle-fact-sheet

I think most Win8.1 machines have the necessary coding built in to activate the OS which should work with Win10. Win7 needs the Product Key on the COA/Certificate of Authenticity sticker somewhere on the computer.

bobkn · 25 Sep 2018

BrokenDaily said:

Imma coin flip between windows 7 and 8.1; side question to windows 8.1: when I get it from the microsoft download page, and install it fresh, does windows 8.1 do an automatic digital license activation of some sort like windows 10 does? Or will I have to enter a license key I buy online to activate it? Only wondering if it will pull the embedded license key from the laptop motherboard or not

I suggest either 7 or 10. IMHO, 8 was a transitional OS to 10.

I don't know that the laptop uses SLP (system locked pre-activation), but I suppose that it does. (Windows keys embedded in the BIOS are more recent.) SLP required a Windows installer that was matched to the SLP code.

It may be possible to customize a Windows 7 installer to use the SLP. I haven't done anything like that in years, and that was for XP. (It was to do a clean install of the OS, on a machine that came from Dell with XP.)

NavyLCDR · 25 Sep 2018

BrokenDaily said:

Imma coin flip between windows 7 and 8.1; side question to windows 8.1: when I get it from the microsoft download page, and install it fresh, does windows 8.1 do an automatic digital license activation of some sort like windows 10 does? Or will I have to enter a license key I buy online to activate it? Only wondering if it will pull the embedded license key from the laptop motherboard or not

I would start with Windows 7. You can find Windows 7 product keys very cheap (hopefully you get a real one). Once you have the Windows 7 installed and activated, make a backup image of it, and then upgrade it to Windows 10. It will still upgrade for free to Windows 10. Personally, I would do the Windows 7 on a newly installed SSD.