Hey guys i have a friend with an old laptop running Vista what is the best way to upgrade it to W10 ??
Can i upgrade to W7 then on to W10 ?
Or is there another way without buying W10 ?
I checked to see if it would run W10 and it's processor and stuff will !
Any answers appreciated !
Thanks
Chuck
Unfortunately there is no free way to do that.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...for-windows-10
There is a risk in updating older PCs - I found when upgrading a Vista HP laptop that it got VERY hot in Safe Mode - thermal cut-out - but was ok in nomal mode.
A more obscure problem is stutter - latency. Even when one build of Win 10 works, upgrading can cause a few machines to exhibit stutter. Finding the relevant low-level driver and using the one from the previous build works.
At present the latest Win 10 build has been on hold- withdrawn for a month after major bugs some experienced. The previous build, 1803, has problems with setting default programs.
One trick which might still work is to buy a cheap Windows 7 licence and upgrade from that. Install Windows 7 and check it activates. Then use the Media Creation Tool to make a bootable Windows 10 USB installation drive. Boot to that and upgrade to Windows 10. Many people report that the free upgrade still works. Your Windows 10 should activate with a digital licence. Make a reference image backup when configured e.g.using Macrium Reflect Free.
Check you PC supports the instructions required for 64 bit Windows 10, else you might need to install the 32 bit version.
Thanks Steve & dalchina i'm just going to tell him it's not possible without worrying about problems that could arise !
Much appreciated !!
Chuck
Oh.. and then there are the potential compatibility problems with installed programs... more of a problem if it's licensed (paid for) of course, or no update available.
Buy a cheap Windows 7 license. Create a new partition on the hard drive. Install Windows 7 to the new partition, see how well that sets up. Then upgrade that to Windows 10. You will still have Vista in the old partition to fall back on.
... or if there is not enough room to split off a 2nd partition, do a Macrium Reflect image backup of Vista to an external hard drive then install Windows 7 on the current hard drive and upgrade to Windows 10. If problems restore the Macrium image and you're back to Vista.
Another way would be to install a different hard drive and save the current Vista hard drive, then do the Win 7 to Win 10 thing.
If you get a Windows 7 licence you could upgrade Vista to Windows 7. Once activated, this could then be upgraded to Windows 10. The advantage of trying this two step upgrade is that you would be able to retain all installed software (or at least, all that is compatible with W10).
As Ztrucker suggested, make a Macrium image of Vista first. Then you've got a way back if the experiment doesn't work out.
One word of caution. It was common (but bad) practice in XP and probably in Vista to use the built-in Administrator account as the only account on the PC. Upgrading a PC like this to Windows 10 can lead to some serious (uncorrectable) problems should you ever try switching to a Microsoft Account. It should not be possible to link the Built-in Administrator to a Microsoft account under any circumstances, but upgrading a machine that ONLY has the Administrator account is a loophole that make it possible.
It is absolutely essential that if Administrator is the only account on the Vista PC you should first create a second local administrator account, then use that to perform the upgrades to 7 then on to 10. Once you have a second local administrator account it would be best to set a blank password for Administrator and disable that account to match how it would be in a clean install of W10.
How to remove Microsoft Account from the Hidden Administrator - Windows 10 ForumsKari said:
Last edited by Bree; 07 Nov 2018 at 22:31.
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