APPENDIX A: Upgrading to Windows 8.1

IN THIS APPENDIX

Windows 8.1 system requirements

Pre-installation housekeeping

Installing Windows 8.1

If you purchased your PC with Windows 8.1 already installed and have no interest in dual-booting, you need to hang a U-turn. There's nothing in this appendix for you. Go straight to the Introduction, or Chapter 1, at the beginning of this book, and forget all about this appendix.

If you purchased an upgrade version of Windows 8.1 to replace your current version of Windows and you haven't yet installed that upgrade, this is the place to be. To tell you the truth, you really don't have to read this entire appendix to install your upgrade. You really just have to do this:

1. Insert the disk that came with your Windows 8.1 upgrade into your computer's disk drive and wait a few seconds.
2. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to install Windows 8.1 by upgrading your current version of Windows.

When the installation is complete, remove the new 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 8.1 System Requirements

Windows 8.1 has the same hardware requirements as Windows 7 and Windows 8, but it requires a bit more hardware horsepower than versions of Windows prior to 7. The more hardware capability you have, the better Windows 8.1 will run. The recommended minimum hardware requirements are as follows:

• 1GB of RAM for 32-bit (x86) versions; 2GB of RAM for 64-bit (x64) versions
• A 1.0 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• At least 16GB free space available for 32-bit (x86) versions; 20GB for 64-bit (x64) versions
• DirectX 9–capable GPU with WDDM 1.0 driver or higher
• Screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768 for Windows 8 apps
• Screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768 for the Snap feature

When you run the installation program for Windows 8.1, it automatically runs the Windows 8 Installation Compatibility Advisor tool on your computer. This tool tests to ensure your computer meets minimum requirements for Windows 8.1. It also checks many of your installed programs to see if there are any known problems with those programs running with Windows 8.1.

Pre-Installation Housekeeping

If you've been using your PC for a while with an earlier version of Windows, you'll want to do some things before you begin your upgrade:

• If your computer has any time-out features, such as the power-down features found on some portable PCs, disable those features now.
• If you have an antivirus program handy, run it now to check for, and delete, dormant viruses that may still be lurking on your hard drive.
• Make sure that any external devices (printers, external disk drives, and so on) are connected and turned on so that Windows 8.1 can detect them during installation.
• If at all possible, back up the entire hard drive at this point. At the very least, jot down all the information you need to connect to your Internet account. Back up all your documents, e-mail messages, contacts, and anything else you'll need after you complete the upgrade.

Most enterprise IT environments provide at least some mechanism of backing up your documents and other data. There are also services such as Backblaze (www.backblaze.com), Carbonite (www.carbonite.com), and Mozy (www.mozy.com), which 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 forth. One option for backup that Windows 8 includes is the Windows Easy Transfer.

See Chapter 24 for some general pointers on backing up documents.

Installing Windows 8.1

To upgrade an existing version of Windows 7, start your computer normally. You'd do well to restart the computer and get to a clean desktop with no open program windows or dialog boxes. Then put the Windows 8.1 disk in your disk drive and wait for the Welcome screen to open. If nothing appears on the screen within a minute or so, follow these steps:

1. Open Computer.
2. Open the icon for your disk drive. If the Welcome screen opens, skip the next step.
3. Click (or double-click) the setup (or setup.exe) file on the disk.

By now, you should definitely see on your screen some options for installing Windows 8.1. To get things rolling:

1. Choose the Install Now option.
2. When the Get Important Updates for Installation window appears, you're able to go online to get the latest updates for your installation of Windows 8.1. If you choose this option, your system needs to stay connected throughout the installation.

Before clicking Install, you can use Windows Easy Transfer, an application included with Windows 8, for copying your files and settings to a different computer.

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 around a bit to bring it back. From here on out, you can just follow the instructions on the screen.

Installation options

The exact procedure from this point on varies a bit, depending on what version of Windows 8.1 you're installing. Also, the specific hardware that's connected to your computer affects the information that the setup procedure requests. Each request is largely self-explanatory, but here's a summary of the items you're likely to encounter along the way.

• Get updates: During the upgrade process, you can instruct Windows 8.1 to download and install any updates that Microsoft has released. You need to have an Internet connection for this to take place.
• Product key: Type the product key. You should be able to find it on the sleeve in which the Windows 8.1 disk was delivered.
• License terms: If you agree with the terms and conditions of the license, select the I Accept the License Terms check box.
• Upgrade or custom installation: If you decide that you want to do a fresh installation, choose the Custom option. This will not keep your personal files and programs. The Upgrade option will.
• Date and time settings: Set the date and current time, choose your time zone, and decide whether you want Windows to automatically adjust for daylight saving time.

Reenabling old startup programs

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 8.1. You can follow these steps to get those programs to start automatically again in the future:

1. Open the Start screen, type Task Manager, and click Task Manager in the search results. This runs the Task Manager tool.
2. Select the Startup tab.
3. Right-click a program that shows Disabled in the Status column and click Enable. Or click a program that shows Disabled in the Status column and click the Enable button at the bottom of the Task Manager window.
4. Choose File ⇒ Exit to close the Task Manager.

Windows 8.1 should restart with the programs from your previous version of Windows.