If you purchased your PC with Windows 10 already installed and have no interest in dual-booting, this appendix isn't for you. Go straight to the Introduction, or Chapter 1, at the beginning of this book, and forget all about upgrading.
If you purchased an upgrade version of Windows 10 to replace your current version of Windows and you haven't installed that upgrade, this appendix helps you complete the upgrade. However, you don't have to read the entire appendix to install your upgrade. Just do this:
When the installation is complete, remove the disk from your disk drive, put it someplace safe, and ignore the rest of this appendix. If these two steps don't quite get the job done, read on.
Windows 10 has the same hardware requirements as Windows 7 and Windows 8.x, but it requires a bit more hardware horsepower than versions of Windows prior to 7. The more hardware capability you have, the better Windows 10 runs. The recommended minimum hardware requirements are as follows:
When you run the installation program for Windows 10, it automatically runs the Windows 10 Installation Compatibility Advisor tool on your computer. This tool tests to ensure your computer meets minimum requirements for Windows 10. It also checks many of your installed programs for known problems with those programs running with Windows 10.
If you've been using your PC for a while with an earlier version of Windows, you have a few things to do before you begin your upgrade:
Most enterprise IT environments provide at least some mechanism for backing up your documents and other data. Services such as Backblaze (www.backblaze.com
), Carbonite (www.carbonite.com
), and Mozy (www.mozy.com
) enable you to back up your computer outside the enterprise environment (such as at home). But even in the absence of those backup options, you can back up documents, e-mail messages, names and addresses, and so on.
To upgrade an existing version of Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.x, first start the computer and get to a clean desktop with no open program windows or dialog boxes. You have a few options for starting the upgrade. Perhaps the easiest is to use Windows Update, available from the Settings app. Or, you can update Windows through the Microsoft Store. The third option is to use a Windows 10 disk.
Regardless of the method you use to start the update, after the installation procedure begins, you may notice that the screen goes blank once in a while during the installation. Don't be alarmed — that's normal. If the screen goes blank for a long time, try moving the mouse to bring it back. To complete the installation, just follow the instructions provided by Setup. The following sections will help you understand the choices you will be offered during setup.
Next, the setup routine requests several pieces of information. The exact procedure varies a bit, depending on which version of Windows 10 you're installing. Also, the routine may request slightly different information depending on the hardware that's connected to your computer. Here's a summary of the items you're likely to encounter along the way.
You may discover that some of the programs that used to start automatically on your computer don't do so after you've installed Windows 10. You can follow these steps to get those programs to start automatically again in the future:
Windows 10 should restart with the programs from your previous version of Windows.