Update vista to windows 10

Installing Windows 10 has its own features that you should know before installing, especially if you have a licensed Windows 7/8 / 8.1.

1. What you need to know before installing Windows 10

If you have Windows 7 or Windows 8 installed, then the configuration of your computer is also suitable for Windows 10. The system requirements are more than democratic:

Processor with a frequency of at least 1 GHz.
1 GB of RAM for 32-bit system, 2 GB for 64-bit.
16 GB for a 32-bit system, 20 GB for a 64-bit one.
Monitor with a resolution of at least 800x600 pixels (find this in our time?).
Video card with support for DirectX 9.

Make backup copies of valuable files!

You never know what will happen. Save photos, videos, documents to a USB flash drive or external hDD. If you have fast internet, you can install (or similar) and drop important files there. They will be available not only from your computer, but also wherever there is internet (just enter your login and password).

2. Questions and Answers

2.1. Installing and activating Windows 10

1. Where to download Windows 10?

Answer: if you do not want to update via the Update Center (for example, for a clean installation or there is no operating system on your PC), use

2. Is it possible to activate Windows 10 key from Windows 7/8?

Answer: directly - no. If you try to install Windows 10 “clean”, with formatting the hard disk, the key will not work. You must first install Windows, for which you have the key, then on top of the "top ten".

3. I heard that Windows 10 needs to be installed only from a disk / USB stick. Is it so?

Answer: Not. If you have installed licensed Windows 7 or 8, This is simple and will allow you to avoid problems with activation.

Answer: The old key will not work anyway. Do not worry: when you connect to the Internet, Windows 10 will check your computer in the Microsoft database - if the top ten has already been activated on this computer, it is successfully activated again (see Start - Options - Update and Security - Activation).

5. I had a licensed Windows on a laptop, but I deleted it and installed the Windows Pro Ultimate Edition build. If I put it on top of Windows 10, will it become licensed?

Answer: not! Put the original Windows of the version that was previously, activate it (the key may be stitched in the BIOS, but most often you will have to activate the key from the sticker on the bottom of the laptop) and then put the "top ten" through Windows Update.

Tip: Most laptops on hard drives have a recovery partition with a backup of the Windows that was at the time of purchase. Unfortunately when clean installing windows with inept hands, this section is damaged and recovery will not work, but still read the instructions for your laptop and try it, maybe you will get Windows back without unnecessary trouble.

6. I have more than one license key for Windows 7/8. Can I alternately install them on my PC, upgrade to Windows 10 and thus get more than one Windows 10 license?

Answer: I did not personally check it, but judging by the reviews, this will not work. The activation of dozens is tied to the computer gland. It is enough to activate the “ten” on your computer once, all subsequent installations of Windows 10 will be tied to the first key. Perhaps Microsoft technical support will help transfer the license to another PC, but there are no guarantees.

7. You say that activation is tied to the gland. And if I replace the video card / motherboard / anything else, what will happen with the activation?

Answer: not yet verified. I assume that in case of significant configuration changes, you will need to re-activate it or contact technical support.

8. Can I get a Windows 10 license for free?

Answer: in general, you can join the Windows Insider program (more on that later), but you will have to pay the price by becoming the tester of the latest updates. So you want stability - pay for the license, no - use Windows 10 "free then", but each update that comes can (but is not required) to cause problems with the system.

9. Put the "top ten", no disk space left! What to do?

Answer: First, the standard "Disk Cleanup" go nowhere. Everybody forgets about this tool, and sometimes you can free up more space than the famous Start - type the word Cleaning - run this program - select disk C: – Ok - wait - button Clear system files - wait - check all the checkboxes (or just the ones you need) - OK

Secondly, in the top ten a new disk cleaning tool appeared. Start - Options - System - Storage - Drive C: - Temporary files -there will be a backup copy of the previous Windows (in case you decide to go back, it’s there for a month) and other files that you can get rid of if you wish.

10. To which version will my Windows 7 Home Premium / Professional, etc. be upgraded?

Answer: see below:


With release	On release
Windows 7 Starter	Windows 10 Home
Windows 7 Home Base
Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows 7 Professional	Windows 10 Pro
Windows 7 Ultimate	Windows 10 Pro


With release	On release
Windows Phone 8.1	Windows 10 Mobile
Windows 8.1	Windows 10 Home
Windows 8.1 Professional	Windows 10 Pro
Windows 8.1 Professional for students

For most home users, there is absolutely no difference between the Windows 10 and Windows 10 Professional versions.

2.2. Work with Windows 10

1. How is she, smart?

Answer: subjectively - it loads faster than Windows 7. Compared to Windows 8 .1 There is no difference in performance, in my opinion. Is that the applications installed from the Store, run faster.

2. Stable?

Answer: If anyone remembers the release of Windows XP (without SP1, SP2 ...), then Windows 10 is now at the same level. That is, everything works so-so. Of the most frequent problems: the fall of explorer.exe (close the desktop and windows open folders), do not create shortcuts to installed programs in the Start menu. About critical errors, because of which Windows 10 was not loaded, while few people reported (on request "Windows 10 does not start" there are not so many messages). There are problems with games that use anti-piracy and anti-cheat systems, but this is not a Windows problem, but the developers of such creations, in the future they will fix everything, they will not go anywhere. So if you do not start the online game, look at its system requirements - if there is no Windows 10, then it does not have to run on it. Wait for updates, patches.

3. What is the new Start menu?

Answer: menu as a menu, nothing special. Live tiles are no longer full screen (this is customizable), so you can use them. For example, in the Start menu it is convenient to watch the weather forecast. Search carried in a separate button and I think this is correct. What is missing is the assistant Cortana in Russian.

4. What else is new in Windows 10?

Answer: in fact, a lot of things were added to this OS, you just need to take a closer look. For example:

Several Desktops. Yes, yes, finally the creation of multiple desktops is maintained at the system level.
Record games. Yes, Windows 10 will delight beginners. Click Win + G and try. It is not enough tweaks, but you can use.
Notification Center.Unfortunately, a very buggy thing, but the idea is not bad - to collect all the notifications of programs in one place.
Tablet mode. When turned on, each window opens to full screen automatically. Tablet users will appreciate.
Convenient volume control. Finally!
Extended driver database. For all the PCs on which I installed Windows 10, there were standard drivers for all devices. Everything is working. Even the standard AMD video card driver provided a comfortable game for the third Witcher. If I had installed Windows 7/8, with a standard driver the game would not have gone so fast. This does not mean that it is not necessary to install third-party drivers, but at least there will be fewer complaints from newbies: “Reinstalled Windows, games are now slowing down!”.
And other.

Of course, the changes also affected the Windows kernel. This means that various anti-cheat systems for games and drivers for older devices will most likely not work. This is normal when a new OS is released.

3. Three ways to install

Windows 10 can be installed in three ways:

1. Upgrade to Windows 10 through Update Center. The easiest installation option, if you already have Windows 7 or 8.1 installed. On the first day of the release, dozens of them were updated this way. 14 million pcs!

2. Install over update from disk / flash drive. Again, it is no different from installing previous OSs.

Pros: You do not need to reinstall anything, except that the drivers for video and sound cards. The rest of the drivers are optional.

Minuses: if you somehow spoiled the Windows settings (played with the system optimizers), then most likely the glitches will remain. Windows Vista does not know how to directly upgrade to Windows 10. You will have to install the update one by one over from a disk / flash drive: Windows Vista -\u003e Windows 7 -\u003e Windows 8.1 -\u003e Windows 10.

3. Installation from scratch. No different from installing Windows 7 () or Windows 8 (), except to create bootable disks and flash drives is now easier nowhere.

Pros: put a clean system. Everything will work as fast as possible, because the system is not littered with third-party software.

Minuses: You will have to re-install programs, games, customize.

4. Upgrade to Windows 10 via Update Center

As already said, the easiest way. Make sure that

you have a licensed Windows 7 or 8,
all important files are copied to a safe place,
you have C: free at least 16 GB (more is better, it all depends on the specific PC),
all system updates are installed (about it below).

Come in Start - Control Panel - Windows Update. If you backed up your Windows 10 installation, this one will appear: This is not good, because you have to wait. Ideally, it should be like this:

That offer to install Windows 10

Then it’s enough to click on “Getting started”, wait for the download (if it hasn’t already loaded), agree with the license agreement and wait. Installed for half an hour or longer, depending on the performance of the computer. E if Windows updates have not been installed, then Windows 10 is still far away. You need to install all updates:

Windows Update offers to install updates.

Set (button "Install Updates"), restart the computer, go back in, click "Search for updates" and put the update again. If you had Windows 8, you will first install the update to Windows 8.1 (almost gigabytes), then about 1.1 GB - updates for Windows 8.1. If you have a slow Internet, the installation may take a day. Then another 2.6 GB of Windows 10 will start loading ...

4.1. Fix the lack of a suggestion to install Windows 10 in the Update Center

4.1.1. Possible problems, because of which there is no proposal to establish the "top ten"

1. Important updates are not installed. See the update log (button on the left in the Center), if some updates have the status “Failure”, double-click on this line, see the error information and google the error code - there will surely be a solution.

2. You did not reserve an update (optional step):

3. Incorrect installation of updates. Click "Settings" and make the following settings:

Search for updates again.

4.1.2. Command "wuauclt.exe / updatenow"

If the above does not help, open the Start menu and type " cmd"Without quotes." Item will appear "Command line". Click on it with the left mouse button - a black command window will open. Type in the command "Wuauclt.exe / updatenow" and press Enter. This command forces the update mechanism to work. After starting the window can be closed. Wait a minute and open it again. There should appear an indicator of Windows 10 loading, after which we will need the offer to upgrade to Windows 10.

Team "Wuauclt.exe / updatenow"you can enter in the "Run" (the combination of keys Win + R). If all Windows updates are installed

4.1.3. If the Windows backup icon still does not appear

You can install Windows update using MediaCreationTool. See below for this (Installing Windows 10 from a disk or flash drive over an existing one). I do not recommend this method, because at the moment it is not clear whether the license will be transferred to the new Windows. I can not check, because the license is already attached to my PC.

4.1.4. If you get errors when installing an update to Windows 10

When trying to install Windows 10 via Update Center, errors 80240020 and 80070057 may appear:

How to fix: 1. Delete everything in the folder C: \\ Windows \\ SoftwareDistribution \\ Download. 2. Run the command again. "Wuauclt.exe / updatenow".

1. After installing Windows 10, update the driver. How to look for drivers, I told in the chapter instructions for installing the previous version of Windows - Eight. The "ten" differs for the better in that the vast majority of drivers are installed out of the box, so you need to install the driver only on the most important piece of hardware - the video card. Without a driver from the manufacturer, you will not get maximum smoothness in games.

2. Start the activation of Windows 10: Start - Options - Update and Security - Activation -button "Activate". Then in the future you will be able to format the hard disk at least a hundred times and put the “ten” clean - it is activated without a key.

5. Installing Windows 10 from a disk or flash drive over existing

You can start the installation either from the purchased disk with the ten and choose the installation with preservation of all parametersor use a program from Microsoft that will download and update Windows:

You need to download, depending on the bit of your Windows. The 32-bit version will not run on 64-bit Windows and vice versa. This is logical, because 32-bit Windows cannot be upgraded to 64-bit Windows. With the help of clear questions MediaCreationTool will guide you through all stages of installation.

6. Installing Windows 10 from a disk or flash drive "clean"

I will not repeat - the installation of Windows 10 in this regard is no different from the only difference in simplifying the creation of a boot disk (see below).

7. How to create a boot disk or USB flash drive with Windows 10 for a clean install or upgrade over

There is no place to be easier - you need to use MediaCreationTool, which does everything for you, so long as there is internet and a blank disk in the drive. A flash drive with a capacity of 4 GB or more is also suitable.

Yes, yes, Microsoft finally made a program that can both update Windows and create boot disks. This is just a holiday of some kind!

You need to download, depending on the bit of your Windows. The 32-bit version will not run on 64-bit Windows and vice versa.

If you need to know how to boot from such a disk, you can read my old article. Now, not BIOS, but UEFI rules on computers, but on the whole, everything remains the same.

8. Why (not) need to install Windows 10

The arguments "for" and "against" the installation of Windows 10 are the same, only the point of view is different:

1. Windows 10 will be the latest major version of Windows. New features will appear with new updates. Most likely, initially it was supposed to do with Windows 8, but did not grow together - users of this OS did not accept, besides the importance of timely updates is still not clear to many. Therefore, the developers have acted hard - in the home version of Windows 10 (without the addition of Pro), the system update cannot be disabled by standard means.

For against

Behind: Now the system will be protected with the latest patches that eliminate vulnerabilities.

Vs: updates can break operating system, the computer simply does not turn on, for beginners it is a disaster.

2. New appearancenew features. Before developers and designers was a difficult task: to make the operating system so different from Windows 8.1 so that it seems really new, but at the same time not cause the impression of foreignness.

For against

Behind: New features are useful. The "Start" menu is finalized and convenient. There was a record of games, support for multiple virtual desktops, convenient work with windows and more. Performance is subjectively faster than Windows 7 (compared to 8.1, there are no differences).

Vs: outwardly neither fish nor fowl. To many, the Start menu seems awful. Under the hood - all the same "eight" with a new skin. New features that drastically change the look of Windows can confuse people who are unsure about using computers.

The question arises: go for it or stay on the old 7/8? My answer is: it is really a new version Windows You can, of course, use the old phone, wear old jeans, eat food a month ago ... This is a personal choice of everyone. I not I adhere to the thoughtless principle “everything is new - good,” but in this case I recommend trying a new operating system.

I already have Windows 10, and you?

To begin with - the news is bad, more precisely, even two bad news. First, the Windows XP operating system to Windows 10 to upgrade for free will not work. Well, officially at least. In other words, in order to install a licensed Windows 10 instead of the old Win XP, you must first buy a license from Microsoft.

Secondly, upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 10 provides only for the so-called clean installation, that is, switching from the old OS to the new one, without affecting the files stored in the computer’s memory, programs and settings will not work either.

And this is not a condition of Windows 10, but a feature of Windows XP: even when upgrading from XP to “Seven”, you still need a clean installation of windows with the inevitable formatting of the hard disk, etc.

from Windows XP to Windows 10: how much is Win 10?

From versions of Windows older than 7 or, say, non-original versions of the system, you can only upgrade to Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Professional.

Home is currently in MicrosoftStore 7900 p. (in the online shops of software you can find it for 5700 rubles), and Professional - 13900 r. (about 9800 r. on the Internet).

But even if you agree with the prices and, having re-read all the reviews, you have already understood that Windows 10 is now considered the best of all Microsoft OS operating systems, then as an experienced user should understand that before you can say goodbye to Windows XP you should first clarify, “ Will the new computer be on the same computer? Windows 10, of course, is praised, including the fact that it is not too demanding on the “hardware” and works well even on relatively ancient machines, but such a test still does not hurt.

from Windows XP to Windows 10: is it necessary to buy a new desktop or laptop ?

Windows 10 has already surprised many owners of new machines, moreover, in a good way, because after its installation, computers really start to function noticeably faster. In part, this is explained by a clean installation, in the process of which the old software and any software garbage are guaranteed to be removed from the hard disk, which, as a rule, brings little benefit, but the system and memory will “eat up” qualitatively.

In addition, the “responsiveness” of the new Windows 10 shows up perfectly on computers and laptops with SSDs, which are known to work faster than standard HDDs. Therefore, if you intend to install Win 10 on an old computer instead of Win XP, then in this case it is recommended to replace its hard drive with a more modern SSD (by the way, repair computers in Kiwe - here such a replacement will be better and faster). However, if the machine is already quite elderly - i.e. over 7 years old, then, of course, it would be more logical not to spend money on licensed Windows, but to put this money on a new laptop or PC.

how to upgrade windows xp to windows 10?

If you still accept the decision, then Microsoft offers you two options to choose from - Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro, plus two more options - to get the system on a physical disk or in digital form (download from the site). And here there is a place to be important moment: Will it be possible to launch the installation of the digital version from Windows XP later, if you need to format the PC hard disk before?

Of course, before starting the upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 10, you need to copy to some safe place (preferably an external screw or USB flash drive) everything important and necessary from the computer's memory. You also need an installation disk and license keys for Windows XP. If they are lost and forgotten after years, it is better to restore them, for example, with the help of utilities such as Magical Jellybean Keyfinde, and also save them on external media or simply write them on paper. In addition, you must not forget about the contents of mailboxes, if it is stored on your PC, browser bookmarks and program settings - all this can be saved using the built-in options.

And only after all these tedious, but necessary activities, you can begin to install Windows 10.

We note immediately another important fact: there are no guarantees that all the programs that worked with XP will work with Win 10 in the same way, by the way, like all the old peripherals, especially printers and scanners. Because it does not hurt also google information about the compatibility of such programs and device models with the new OSes. A little hint: if you find out that there are drivers for Windows 7 for your printer (scanner, keyboard, joystick, etc.), then it will most likely work with Windows 10 too.

how to upgrade windows xp to windows 10 for free?

In the official blog of Microsoft, they wrote that everyone who participated in testing Windows 10 as part of their insider program will be able to use the new system free of charge after July 29, since the program is not yet complete. This means that if you managed to register as an “insider” before the 29th, then you can install a trial version of the system and then upgrade to the final Windows 10 for free, although in fact it will still be a beta OS.

Microsoft has provided users with licensed Windows 7, 8, 8.1 the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge. However, the owners of Vista and XP are deprived of this advantage. For a direct upgrade to the "Tens" they will have to pay $ 119 or more. However, you can upgrade to Windows 10 with Windows Vista absolutely free.

Upgraded from Windows XP and Vista to Windows 10

Users who are still using Windows XP and Vista to upgrade to Windows 10 without losing data, must initially upgrade to the "Seven" and only after that go to the new OS.

More fast way is only a clean installation with data formatting. To do this, you can use the ISO image from the official developer site or the Windows Media Creation utility.

If you want to upgrade from XP to Windows 10 without buying a license and saving the data, you need to update the system to Windows 7.

Download the image from the official Microsoft site of the bitness and build the system that you have installed. That is, if you use Vista Home 32-bit, then Windows 7 should be Home 32-bit.
After downloading the image, download the utility Windows 7 USB / DVD Download Tool from the developer’s website, which will help to mount the necessary image on the flash drive (the size of the flash drive must be at least 8 GB). Download and run the tool on your PC.

After installation, run the Download Tool. The program will ask you to specify the storage location of the system image. Select the file and click "Next."

Specify the drive on which you are going to burn the image. All data previously stored on a flash drive will be erased.

After creating the file, run Vista updates from XP to Windows 7. To do this, select the section "Run this computer upgrade now."

Once you upgrade to the G7, you can save your personal data using various methods.

Important! Before upgrading to Windows 7, and later to Windows 10, you need to check if specifications PC official requirements.

There is an opinion that today the upgrade to Windows 10 Windows Vista for free is no longer possible. You will need to either buy a full distribution with the Ten, or pay Microsoft for the opportunity to upgrade. However, in practice, a free update is still available. Some people believe that the announcement of a time-limited free update was an advertising campaign of Microsoft at all. Others believe that they will soon close this opportunity.

Network update

The most frequently used option, which is offered by Microsoft itself as the main one. In fact, Vista itself will remind the user of the need to upgrade. You can refuse the offer, but you can agree. In this case, the OS itself will download all the files it needs and install them. This process, I must say, is very slow, so it will take quite a lot of time. But the user does not need to perform any actions, so you can leave the update for the night - and wake up in the morning with the already fully updated operating system.

Standard update tools can also help - via the Toolbar, go to the Update Center and allow downloading the necessary files.

Update from disk

You can upgrade Vista to Windows 10 and from the system disk with the Ten. In this case, the procedure will be as follows.

When running Vista, the system disk is inserted and the menu item “Update Vista to Windows 10” is selected in the menu. It is recommended, of course, to back up all of your most important files in case something goes wrong. Although it is assumed that when updating all documents remain in place, in practice anything can happen ...

You can get a copy of Tens, for example, from the official Microsoft website. And you can buy a disc with this OS, or by downloading it from some third-party resource.

Utility to update

Instead of a disk, you can also just download the utility to update the system capacity you need. In this case, after launching, the utility will ask whether it will be necessary to install updates on the current machine, or create a separate disk to update another computer.

Next, you need to select the desired system language, and then specify which flash drive should be used to download all the necessary files. Of course, all information from the flash drive will be deleted.

When all files are downloaded, the system will ask to agree to the terms of the License. You will also be prompted to save documents and configuration files. It is recommended to perform the update with their preservation.

Further, it only remains to observe how the progress of the installation proceeds in percent. Upon reaching 100%, the computer will reboot with the new operating system.

You can upgrade, but is it worth it?

If for some reason you still have Windows XP or Vista installed, and the system and hardware parameters of the computer are at least minimal for work in the Top Ten - then yes, it is better to upgrade. Still, the new Windows is much better protected than the old versions, plus everything, all sorts of security updates are released for it all the time, which is no longer the case with Vista and, moreover, Windows XP.

It is possible that in the near future to upgrade Vista to Windows 10 for free and in fact it will be impossible. So everyone who wants to move to the new Top Ten should hurry to do it.