Is there a way to "upgrade" to Windows 8?

Hey,

So we have one of computers that was using Windows 7 and we upgraded it to Windows 10.

Now I just found that we have an extra copy of Windows 8 Pro that I bought when it first came out since it was so inexpensive but never utilized it on any of our computers.

What I'd like to do (hopefully without losing info on the computer) is to downgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 8 Pro, then upgrade that computer to Windows 10 Pro.

Is that somehow possible without having to install Windows 8 Pro fresh and clean?

Thanks

If one did have Win8 on a system today,would Microsoft still offer an upgrade to 8.1 today?
If I recall when i had Win8 it was really buggy, with many problems after 8.1 it was a small bit better.

If you have a spare hard drive available then what you can do is disconnect the win 10 HD.

install Windows 8.1 pro on spare HD activate it.

Upgrade to Windows 10 pro using the media creation tool. Make sure its activated.

Disconnect spare HD. Connect original HD and upgrade your windows 10 home to pro using the USB/dvd you created and pro should stay activated.

If it asks for product key press skip when doing upgrade fron windows 10 home to pro.

digitalcurisity said:

If one did have Win8 on a system today,would Microsoft still offer an upgrade to 8.1 today?
If I recall when i had Win8 it was really buggy, with many problems after 8.1 it was a small bit better.

But if Microsoft wants more folks running Win8.0 to get the free Upgrade it should still be possible to get to the Store to get Win8.1 then it would meet the requirements for Win10. Somewhere I read Win10 could be installed over Win8.0 but haven't yet seen credible results.

1. Clean install Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.

2. Check that Windows 7/8/8.1 is activated.

3. There is no need to install updates from Windows Update in Windows 7/8/8.1.

4. Create a Windows 10 installation media (USB/DVD/ISO) using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool.

Windows 10 Media Creation Tool



5. Upgrade Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10 from Windows 10 USB/DVD/ISO.

For example:
- In Windows 8/8.1, mount the Windows 10 ISO image file by right-clicking the ISO image file and choosing Mount.
- Run the setup (setup.exe) file to start Windows 10 Setup.



Here is more info: How to download and clean install Windows 8.1 -> link

Note: This Windows 8.1 installation media accepts Windows 8/8.1 product keys, both OEM and retail (for example, "Windows 8 Pro $15/$40 Upgrade Offer" product key).

Don't know how this rumour that you can't upgrade from Win8 to Win10 got started but it needs to be stopped. You CAN upgrade directly from Win8 to Win10 you just can't use Windows Update to do it; instead, you have to use Win10 Media to do the upgrade.

While we could clean install 8, we're trying to avoid that, we were hoping there was some way to "upgrade" from 10 to 8 pro and not lose all of our installed programs, settings, etc.

I may try the method of using an extra hard drive if we have any laying around the house.