[SOLVED] Which Windows 10 free upgrade from Win 8.1?

Tim042

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I have Win 8.1 which only comes in one flavour? , so which win 10 version do i get for the free upgrade , home, pro, ect? as i need to to a fresh install of win 10
 

Tim042

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Tim042

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Sounds about right

On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB

boot from installer

follow this guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/how-to-do-a-clean-installation-of-windows-10.3170366/
only stage you need to change is entering product key when it asks.
i have all the diff windows installs and repair computers ect but never had windows 8 or 8.1 and see it looks like win 10 which was a surprise after like 7 so much . Its a ASUS T100 with 32 bit and 2GB soldered into board so i think i will stay with 32 bit and try a fresh win 10 Home and see if the 8.1 key accepts. Win 10 can be unstable on some products but ASUS seems to have win 10 in their support for this 2in1 , but i be ready to go back to 8.1 which final support ends in a couple years anyway and will work for years after as win 7 is doing now... Vista really had compatability problems from my experiance too but 8.1 seems stable so not popular i guess but seems perfectly good although ended.

cheers
Tim.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
I like your attitude, many around here going mad trying to get win 11 to install and you happy using old OS as they still work fine on your hardware. Its smart. You don't have to be on latest.

Vista would be a struggle on newer hardware. I had to give it up in 2012 as too many patches to upgrade it at time. It wanted a new license too due to too many hardware changes, so I grabbed win 7.

MIcrosoft keep rereleasing the same OS with a new UI, and people go mad wanting it. They called it 8.1, then 10, now 11. Its almost same underneath.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
10 was made to get as many people off the previous OS as possible so it runs on almost anything that has drivers for it.

There are some PC that are better off on 7 though. But for most part it got PC that shouldn't be on it, people upgraded XP PC to it. We have a thread about what is worst PC you installed 10 on.
 

Tim042

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This Win 11 requirement for UEFI instead of Legacy has given many some anger and concern for landfills filling with perfectly good not too old laptops but i see the test version, they found a way to bypass that. I wonder when its released formally (october?) will they change it to both or fix that bypass so it can ONLY run on UEFI? MS can be brutal sometimes.
Also i remember it took just 3 hours to love win 7 when i first faced it from XP but 3 DAYS to sort of like win 10!! Right click and left click and all the diffs compared to ease of Win 7
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Most PC made in last 12 years have some sort of UEFI, so that shouldn't be a big issue for a large number of users. I know there are some left behind but thats more on the hardware maker and not Microsoft. MS expecting UEFI boot and GPT drives 12 years after it was released is almost about time.

A lot of the blame should go onto hardware makers. They are the ones who drop support for their hardware before windows stops working with it. Or don't add support for things MIcrosoft has been asking for, for at least since 8.1 was released... namely the real bug bear:

The requirements that upset most people are the necessity to have Trusted PLatform Module support on CPU or Motherbaord, and many don't have it. That is what is going to cause more heart ache. PC that are as little as 4 years old can't upgrade to 11.

The PC without UEFI are from before 2009 (and a few after) and probably shouldn't be upgrading to new OS now. Comes a time PC has to just stay on an OS that it works on. I never put 8.1 on my VIsta PC. I sort of guessed it was too old.
 

Tim042

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Most PC made in last 12 years have some sort of UEFI, so that shouldn't be a big issue for a large number of users. I know there are some left behind but thats more on the hardware maker and not Microsoft. MS expecting UEFI boot and GPT drives 12 years after it was released is almost about time.

A lot of the blame should go onto hardware makers. They are the ones who drop support for their hardware before windows stops working with it. Or don't add support for things MIcrosoft has been asking for, for at least since 8.1 was released... namely the real bug bear:

The requirements that upset most people are the necessity to have Trusted PLatform Module support on CPU or Motherbaord, and many don't have it. That is what is going to cause more heart ache. PC that are as little as 4 years old can't upgrade to 11.

The PC without UEFI are from before 2009 (and a few after) and probably shouldn't be upgrading to new OS now. Comes a time PC has to just stay on an OS that it works on. I never put 8.1 on my VIsta PC. I sort of guessed it was too old.

Yeah sorry i forgot about TPM as even my old dell has UEFI and its ten years old. It be nice if MS listened to feedback and made windows requirements comparable for the as the amazing work they put into its ability to work with so many computers and programs. Free upgrade is nothing to sneer at too.
Its funny, i install win 10 Pro on all computers/laptop i do for customers, but i still on Win 7 as i just hate the day i need to go to 10 when 7 starts to break down a bit. Bit with the right medication, i sure i can make the transition!! :giggle:
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Well, the tpm requirements are different depending on how you install.
If you get it through windows update you need to match the minimum requirements on their website including tpm 2.0 but
if you downlaod the ISO and update using the ISO you only need a dual core CPU, 4gb ram and TPM 1.2

That lets a few more PC in but TPM is required.

I used 10 so long I forget differences. Now I am on 11 and I can't see any differences between it and 10. Its the same and not worth breaking PC to get. There are changes but nothing noticeable on a daily basis.