Windows 10: Install Win10 on an old WinXP / Linux Box

I have an old PC that was licensed for WinXP. About a year ago I threw Linux on it, but my needs have changed.

Can someone please tell me, if I installed Win10 on it, can I use the XP license code? If not, can I install XP with the code, then perform the free update to Win10?

Note: I also have a Win10 box that was a free upgrade from WinXP, so I know the free upgrade (XP => Win10) is possible.

Thanks!

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:)

 

WinXP printer share to Win10. One box yes. One box no.

I have acquired two Win10 laptops. Both are Win10 Pro. I wanted to use an older printer, network shared by a WinXP box.

First Win10 laptop: I browsed to the WinXP using the Network broswer, and clicked on the shared printer. Everything set up fine and I was able to print a test page from the Win10 laptop.

Second Win10 laptop: I browsed to the WinXP box using the Network browser, and clicked on the shared printer. Windows wanted to download drivers and could find nothing and refused to set up the printer.

Why are they different? What things can I check/confirm/change to make #2 behave like #1? I want the second Win10 laptop to be able to use the WinXP printer and I know Win10 is capable because the first laptop works fine.

Things I checked:

Using the test printout from Win10 #1, I copied the driver files listed over to the Win10 #2 computer. No change.

I confirmed SMBv1 was installed and operating on both Win10 laptops.

1. Open Control Panel.
2. Click on Programs.
3. Click on Turn Windows features on or off link.
4. Expand the SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support option.
5. Check the SMB 1.0/CIFS Client option.
6. Click the OK button.
7. Click the Restart now button.

Any ideas appreciated!

 

WinXP printer share to Win10. One box yes. One box no.

Greg,

I'm confused by your suggestion because I previously explained that there are no driver installation programs to run in compatibility mode, because all of them have appeared in Win10 pick lists due to somehow Win10 is getting them. THAT is the heart of
my question: Why/How is Win10 coming up with different lists of drivers? Is there any way to transfer drivers from the working Win10 laptop to the two other laptops so they can use the same drivers?

Because there is no installation program to run, suggesting to run it in compatibility mode appears confused. Did I miss something?

 

WinXP printer share to Win10. One box yes. One box no.

Thank you to all who gave me excellent tools to learn from! Here's a report to help the person that comes after me. There are at least two tools to manage printers on a Win10 box. In the Start menu, type "print" and both will show up: Print Management,
and Printers & Scanners (under Setup). Plus the Device Manager and the shareware program USBDeview. Here's what I learned.

Different Tools - Different Information

Print Management does not show the parallel port printer shared from a WinXP box after it's installed and working, while Printer/Scanner window does show this printer. I don't know why the difference. In reverse, I have connected the same printer through a
parallel/usb cable (no WinXP box involved) and then plugged the USB cable end directly into Win10. In this case, the printer did not show on the Print/Scan window but did show in Print Management. The disparities are confusing.

USB worked sometimes - Always slow

I used Print Management to delete a whole bunch of repetive printer instantiations using a USB port. I also used the USBDeview program to delete the USB print services. This, followed by a reboot, allowed a clean state. From there I plugged in the USB cable
again and Device Manager found it and created printer port USB001. I was able to add a local printer using Print/Scan onto port USB001. The printer works really slow this way, though, unbuffered, unidirection, and not queued. Plus.. sometimes when I boot,
the USB print service isn't there for 10 or 15 minutes, and a print job will hang during this time. Even when it does work, this is so slow to be intolerable. Printing a picture, some rendering takes 10 minutes or more. Some raw data format must be moving
every single bit on the printout! Last night, Win10 did a big update. I used USBDeview this morning to see if USB001 would show up quickly, and more than 2 dozen USB drivers were gone - all that was left was the ones actually plugged in and active. Now when
I plug in the printer USB connection, Win10 won't even recognize it. Arrrghh.. I do not like Win10 "taking care of me" behind my back.

Making the WinXP share work

So.. I still want the old WinXP shared printer installation to work. This is the same printer, just routed through my LAN to WinXP box then a parallel port to the printer. Print outs happen within a second when submitted from a Win10 box. However, two OTHER
Win10 boxes cannot install the printer at all because they can't find drivers. Well.. part of that was me. The working box showed a Brother MFC-6550MC, which the printer is. The non-working printers and all the USB installations showed a Brother MFC-4500.
I thought the MFC-6550MC was a separate drivers that the other boxes could not find. Using Print Management, I discovered it's the same driver but I had manually renamed the printer name (cue shameful look of embarrassment).

I think all I have to do is install the shared printer and stop looking for better driver - just pick the same MFC-4500 one because Win10 and Brother just do not make a Win10 version for the 6550MFC.