Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 Will Work on Vista PCs
Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 Will Work on Vista PCs
Posted: 15 Jan 2015
A few months ago, soon after Microsoft released the official download links for Windows 10 Technical Preview and we found its system requirements as well, we were told that both new and old computers should be able to run the operating system with little effort.
System requirements haven't changed too much since Windows Vista came to be and they will remain the same in Windows 10 as well, so computers running this old operating system should also be able to run the modern version.
That's what Gabriel Aul, head of the Windows Insider boss, has said in a short tweet today, confirming that Microsoft has been hard at work to keep system requirements unchanged when developing a new version of Windows.
Any reason why W10 WOULDN'T work on these machines -- any machine running W7 will run W10 and a load of XP machines probably will too. Newer CPU's of course can take advantage of new instructions in the processor while the OS will call routines to handle the cases where the latest cpu instructions don't exist in the older processors.
This is often done as a matter of course in floating point calculations where a lot of CPU's don't have native floating point instructions. OK it takes a bit longer but the computer is still useable. Sometimes you could add what was known as a Co-processor -- this happened on early 8086 processors for example where you could add in an extra 8087 co-processor to improve the floating point maths.
There are few people that posted that they couldn't upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1 because of hardware, CPU I think? I probably should have read the article before I posted this. But hey, where's the fun in that?
Computer Type: PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number: Pi Foundation Raspberry Pi 4B OS: Windows 10 IoT CPU: Broadcom BCM2711B0 quad-core A72 (ARMv8-A) 64-bit @ 1.5GHz Motherboard: Raspberry Pi Model 4B Memory: 4GB LPDDR4 SDRAM Graphics Card: Broadcom VideoCore VI Sound Card: Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video Monitor(s) Displays: 7 Inch Pi Foundation Touch Screen Screen Resolution: Two 4K displays at up to 4Kp30 or a single display at up to 4Kp60 Keyboard: Mini Wireless with touchpad Mouse: FT5406 10 point capacitive touchscreen PSU: USB C 5.1V @ 3A Case: Pibow Coupe Ninja Cooling: Heat Sink and Fan Shim. Hard Drives: 16 GB SanDisk Ultra Class 1 Micro SD card. Internet Speed: Gigabit Ethernet + 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac Browser: Edge Antivirus: non Other Info: Dual Micro HDMI
2 USB 2 ports and 2 USB 3 ports
40 GPIO pins
Bluetooth 5.0, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Camera interface (CSI)
Display interface (DSI)
Micro SD card slot
I think the hardware requirement for W10 is actually LESS than W8/W8.1. Remember in W10 you can essentially disable the whole wretched Metro stuff as W10 is designed initially for DESKTOP users whom Ms hope to wean away from W7. The Consumer preview to come might be somewhat more machine intensive if the graphics are tested more (dynamic metro apps with video) but desktops should run just fine on it.
Windows 8 and 10 have some CPU requirements above that for Windows 7. The CPU must support PAE, NX and SSE2. Prior to Windows 8 these were recommendations but not required. There are some older systems running XP and even Vista that do not meet these requirements.
Edit: Windows 8.1 added the requirement for the CMPXCHG16b instruction for a 64 bit OS. For technical reasons this instruction could not be emulated without serious degradation of performance.
Computer Type: PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number: Pi Foundation Raspberry Pi 4B OS: Windows 10 IoT CPU: Broadcom BCM2711B0 quad-core A72 (ARMv8-A) 64-bit @ 1.5GHz Motherboard: Raspberry Pi Model 4B Memory: 4GB LPDDR4 SDRAM Graphics Card: Broadcom VideoCore VI Sound Card: Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video Monitor(s) Displays: 7 Inch Pi Foundation Touch Screen Screen Resolution: Two 4K displays at up to 4Kp30 or a single display at up to 4Kp60 Keyboard: Mini Wireless with touchpad Mouse: FT5406 10 point capacitive touchscreen PSU: USB C 5.1V @ 3A Case: Pibow Coupe Ninja Cooling: Heat Sink and Fan Shim. Hard Drives: 16 GB SanDisk Ultra Class 1 Micro SD card. Internet Speed: Gigabit Ethernet + 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac Browser: Edge Antivirus: non Other Info: Dual Micro HDMI
2 USB 2 ports and 2 USB 3 ports
40 GPIO pins
Bluetooth 5.0, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Camera interface (CSI)
Display interface (DSI)
Micro SD card slot
Windows 8 and 10 have some CPU requirements above that for Windows 7. The CPU must support PAE, NX and SSE2. Prior to Windows 8 these were recommendations but not required. There are some older systems running XP and even Vista that do not meet these requirements.
That's where I was going with my other post. If you think about it though, most of those users likely won't upgrade the OS on those PC's ever. Some may if 10 is offered free, but most won't. They'll just keep using it as is until it won't boot up anymore. If they wouldn't upgrade from XP or Vista to Windows 7, I don't see them upgrading to Windows 10. I'm sure there will be some tech enthusiasts here that will try 10 on some old hardware, but Joe average won't. IMHO that is.
Computer Type: PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number: Pi Foundation Raspberry Pi 4B OS: Windows 10 IoT CPU: Broadcom BCM2711B0 quad-core A72 (ARMv8-A) 64-bit @ 1.5GHz Motherboard: Raspberry Pi Model 4B Memory: 4GB LPDDR4 SDRAM Graphics Card: Broadcom VideoCore VI Sound Card: Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video Monitor(s) Displays: 7 Inch Pi Foundation Touch Screen Screen Resolution: Two 4K displays at up to 4Kp30 or a single display at up to 4Kp60 Keyboard: Mini Wireless with touchpad Mouse: FT5406 10 point capacitive touchscreen PSU: USB C 5.1V @ 3A Case: Pibow Coupe Ninja Cooling: Heat Sink and Fan Shim. Hard Drives: 16 GB SanDisk Ultra Class 1 Micro SD card. Internet Speed: Gigabit Ethernet + 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac Browser: Edge Antivirus: non Other Info: Dual Micro HDMI
2 USB 2 ports and 2 USB 3 ports
40 GPIO pins
Bluetooth 5.0, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Camera interface (CSI)
Display interface (DSI)
Micro SD card slot
Yep if Microsoft really wants holdouts there would be allot of refunds if old hardware was not compatible,
Allot of old machines are still up and kicking because they are good quality,
Some x-p's might need some tweaking but most of that might only be ram
Vista had about the same ram requirements as 7 so it wouldn't make any sense to exclude them from an upgrade,
Besides I doubt many would go for many of the live titles anyway and those are the most resource heavy items in 8 or 10.
Computer Type: PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number: Custom assembled by me :} OS: 3-Win-7Prox64 3-Win10Prox64 3-LinuxMint20.2 CPU: i9-10900k with Optimus foundation water block Motherboard: ASUS z490 ROG XII Maximus Apex Memory: Trident-Z Royal 4000C16 2x16gb's Graphics Card: Titan Xp with copper water block Sound Card: Built in RealTek with Insignia 2.0 soundbar HSB318 Monitor(s) Displays: 1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24" 144Hz Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 144Hz Keyboard: Logitech G710+ wired Mouse: 2-RedDragon M901 Perdition 16400 dpi Gaming mouse = wired PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000wP2 80+ PLATINUM Case: 2-Corsair 450D case with 2nd floor for radiator Cooling: D5 combo/ 280ce/ built in VRM copper/ 240GTX/ D5 top/ CPU Plexi copper/ GPU Plexi nickle/ Mora 360 Hard Drives: 1-970 evo 500gb M.2/ 2-850 Pro 256gb/ 2-Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD's/ 2-2.5 W.D. Black 750gb/3-3.5 WD Black 1tb hdd's Internet Speed: Comcast Ping 19ms 179.31mbps download speed 6.12mbps upload Browser: PaleMoon & Firefox Antivirus: Malwarebytes Pro
Computer Type: PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number: Custom assembled by me :} OS: Win-7-Prox64 10pro CPU: i9-9940x with Optimus SigV2 water block & Heatkiller VRM Plexi copper water block Motherboard: Asus x299 Rampage VI Apex Memory: Trident Z 3600C16 4x8gb's F4-3600C16Q-32GTZKK Graphics Card: 1080ti FTW3 with water block Sound Card: Built in Realtek HD with Insignia 2.0 soundbar HSB318 Monitor(s) Displays: ASUS VG248QE 24" 144Hz Screen Resolution: 1920x1080 Keyboard: Logitech G910 Orion Spectrum Mouse: RedDragon M901 Perdition 16400 dpi Gaming mouse = wired PSU: EVGA SuperNova 1200wP2 Platinum Case: Corsair 450D Black with 2nd floor to house radiator Cooling: D5 reservoir combo/ 280GTX/ VRM plexi copper/ 280GTX/ D5 top/ CPU plexi copper/ GPU copper/ Mora 360 Hard Drives: 1-970 Evo Plus M.2 500gb/ 850 Pro 256gb/ 2-860 Pro 250gb/ Samsung 850 Pro 256gb/ several Western digital 1tb & 750gb hdd's couple Samsung 500gb evo's Browser: Palemoon/ Firefox Antivirus: mbam premium
Yep if Microsoft really wants holdouts there would be allot of refunds if old hardware was not compatible,
Allot of old machines are still up and kicking because they are good quality,
Some x-p's might need some tweaking but most of that might only be ram
Vista had about the same ram requirements as 7 so it wouldn't make any sense to exclude them from an upgrade,
Besides I doubt many would go for many of the live titles anyway and those are the most resource heavy items in 8 or 10.
If 10 does show up as an online download for those people, I would think there would be an upgrade advisor type of check to confirm that PC supports it before you download or pay for it. Then it becomes buyer beware.
Computer Type: PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number: Pi Foundation Raspberry Pi 4B OS: Windows 10 IoT CPU: Broadcom BCM2711B0 quad-core A72 (ARMv8-A) 64-bit @ 1.5GHz Motherboard: Raspberry Pi Model 4B Memory: 4GB LPDDR4 SDRAM Graphics Card: Broadcom VideoCore VI Sound Card: Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video Monitor(s) Displays: 7 Inch Pi Foundation Touch Screen Screen Resolution: Two 4K displays at up to 4Kp30 or a single display at up to 4Kp60 Keyboard: Mini Wireless with touchpad Mouse: FT5406 10 point capacitive touchscreen PSU: USB C 5.1V @ 3A Case: Pibow Coupe Ninja Cooling: Heat Sink and Fan Shim. Hard Drives: 16 GB SanDisk Ultra Class 1 Micro SD card. Internet Speed: Gigabit Ethernet + 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac Browser: Edge Antivirus: non Other Info: Dual Micro HDMI
2 USB 2 ports and 2 USB 3 ports
40 GPIO pins
Bluetooth 5.0, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Camera interface (CSI)
Display interface (DSI)
Micro SD card slot
Yep I believe that is what the downloadable 10 tool kit is about and then 10 update will be delivered through the windows update system as a trial,
I have my 8.1 ready to download the tool kit as soon as it's available and update to 10 that way so I might be ready for any special upgrade os deals that may strike
The iso is easy enough to download for a clean install if no deal hits :)
Computer Type: PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number: Custom assembled by me :} OS: 3-Win-7Prox64 3-Win10Prox64 3-LinuxMint20.2 CPU: i9-10900k with Optimus foundation water block Motherboard: ASUS z490 ROG XII Maximus Apex Memory: Trident-Z Royal 4000C16 2x16gb's Graphics Card: Titan Xp with copper water block Sound Card: Built in RealTek with Insignia 2.0 soundbar HSB318 Monitor(s) Displays: 1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24" 144Hz Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 144Hz Keyboard: Logitech G710+ wired Mouse: 2-RedDragon M901 Perdition 16400 dpi Gaming mouse = wired PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000wP2 80+ PLATINUM Case: 2-Corsair 450D case with 2nd floor for radiator Cooling: D5 combo/ 280ce/ built in VRM copper/ 240GTX/ D5 top/ CPU Plexi copper/ GPU Plexi nickle/ Mora 360 Hard Drives: 1-970 evo 500gb M.2/ 2-850 Pro 256gb/ 2-Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD's/ 2-2.5 W.D. Black 750gb/3-3.5 WD Black 1tb hdd's Internet Speed: Comcast Ping 19ms 179.31mbps download speed 6.12mbps upload Browser: PaleMoon & Firefox Antivirus: Malwarebytes Pro
Computer Type: PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number: Custom assembled by me :} OS: Win-7-Prox64 10pro CPU: i9-9940x with Optimus SigV2 water block & Heatkiller VRM Plexi copper water block Motherboard: Asus x299 Rampage VI Apex Memory: Trident Z 3600C16 4x8gb's F4-3600C16Q-32GTZKK Graphics Card: 1080ti FTW3 with water block Sound Card: Built in Realtek HD with Insignia 2.0 soundbar HSB318 Monitor(s) Displays: ASUS VG248QE 24" 144Hz Screen Resolution: 1920x1080 Keyboard: Logitech G910 Orion Spectrum Mouse: RedDragon M901 Perdition 16400 dpi Gaming mouse = wired PSU: EVGA SuperNova 1200wP2 Platinum Case: Corsair 450D Black with 2nd floor to house radiator Cooling: D5 reservoir combo/ 280GTX/ VRM plexi copper/ 280GTX/ D5 top/ CPU plexi copper/ GPU copper/ Mora 360 Hard Drives: 1-970 Evo Plus M.2 500gb/ 850 Pro 256gb/ 2-860 Pro 250gb/ Samsung 850 Pro 256gb/ several Western digital 1tb & 750gb hdd's couple Samsung 500gb evo's Browser: Palemoon/ Firefox Antivirus: mbam premium