Windows 10: About to upgrade XP to Win 10

I am brand new to this forum, but impressed with the help available. I have purchased a 64 bit version of Win 10 Pro, and want to replace XP on my PC.

To test out system / program compatibility before upgrading I installed Win 10, and activated it, on a removable HDD, and it boots up my system fine - although it does not 'see' my existing PC SATA drives when I look in Win 10 at 'This Computer'. Maybe because it is running from a USB HDD??

I really don't want to screw up my PC, or data on it, so before I finally 'press the button' and overwrite XP with Win 10 does anyone have any tips or advice on the best (and safest) way forward. Any help would be really appreciated.

:)

 

Upgrade Path

My question is about upgrading an old pc from Windows XP using the following path.

1) Clean install of Win XP (32 bit) OEM.

2) Upgrade to Win 7 (64 bit) with the upgrade disc (retail pack) - it is NOT the version for use as a clean install.

3) Upgrade to Win 10 (64 bit).

The hardware is capable of running Win 7 as all drivers are available.

 

INSTALLED WIN XP ON WIN 7 THEN UPGRADED TO WIN 10 TO RUN OLDER SOFTWARE

I INSTALLED WIN XP ON MY WIN 7 COMPUTER.

I THEN UPGRADED TO WIN 10

NOW THE WIN XP WILL NOT WORK?

SHOULD I REINSTALL WIN XP?

 

Backup and do a clean install.

 

How did you install on external drive?

There is a san policy that defines whether you can see internal drives or not. https://social.technet.microsoft.com...ort=MostUseful

But you should be able to bring them on line using disk management... Windows To Go - Unhide Drives from Host Computer

 

Backup of all data is done. Do you reckon Win 10 will find all my drives when I install on PC drive rather than USB HD which it is on now?

 

Yes. Almost certainly.

 

Maybe, more likely that the file system isn't recognised or it is, but doesn't have a drive letter. It should still show up in Disk Management if that's the case.

 

I used a bit of software called 'WinToUSB' and it worked fine.

 

How did you backup all of the data? I would highly recommend doing a complete image with Macrium Reflect for several reasons:

1. If everything fails catastrophically, you can restore the HDD back to it's fully functioning Windows XP state.

2. If you find that you need something running under XP that won't run in Windows 10, you can restore only the XP partition to free space you create on the HDD and dual boot, or run the XP backup inside Windows 10 as a virtual machine.

3. You can browse the Macrium Reflect image and retrieve single files from it if you need to.

Macrium Reflect Free

 

Thanks for this advice - I shall dowload it and create a backup of my system (C) drive (all my data is stored on 2 separate mirrored drives) so, as you say, I can restore it if everythig goes wrong!!

 

Hi,

By default all internal disks are marked offline with Windows To Go installs.
This can easily be changed in Disk Management.

Cheers, *Wink

 

Not sure if it was said yet, but unplug all your other hard drives before installing any operating system.