Windows 10: Upgrade from Windows XP

I downloaded the iso image for the 32bit version and burned into a DVD. When I boot from the DVD I get the nice Windows 10 blue screen that lasts for 2 minutes or so and then the screen goes away and the computer tries to reboot again. Tried several times with the same results.
System Spec: Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 3. 2GB of RAM and Celeron 2.93 GHZ processor.

:)

 

Can I upgrade to Window 10 directly from Windows XP

Original Title: Windows XP upgrade

Can I upgrade to Window 10 directly from Windows XP

 

After upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 and then to Windows 10. Issues with finding documents and pictures from Windows.old folder.

Original Title: Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 to Windows 10

Hi,

I've upgraded a PC that had Windows XP to Windows 7. After I installed Windows 7, Old files (including documents and pictures) from Windows XP moved to some subfolders inside Windows.old.

Just after I installed Windows 7, I was prompted that I can upgrade it to Windows 10. I thought it's a good idea, so I proceeded with the upgrade.

Now, after the upgrade to Windows 10, the Windows.old folder from Windows XP was now replaced with a new Windows.old folder of Windows 7 (I was sure it would be renamed to Windows.old.0 or something, but it didn't). I can't find the previous Windows.old
folder from Windows XP. It means that all the documents and pictures I originally had in Windows XP were lost....

Is there any way to restore them?

Thanks!

Zvi

 

Do you have a Windows 10 product key that you purchased? You can't upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 10. You will have to clean install Windows 10 and for that to activate, you will need a purchased Windows 10 product key.

Although booting from the DVD you should have at least gotten to the point of getting an option to do a clean install of Windows 10. I would look at a bad ISO download or bad DVD burn first.

 

Coming directly from Windows XP, you cannot do an upgrade to Windows 10; it is not technically possible. But what is possible is an upgrade from Windows 7. And Windows XP can be upgraded to Windows 7.

So, if you really want to do an upgrade, it might be the cheapest solution to buy a Windows 7 Home Premium license. With that license, you can upgrade your system to Windows 7. And from Windows 7, you can upgrade to Windows 10.

Actually, I think that the advice to go for a Windows 7 license is really the best one for you: Before you buy anything, download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from the Microsoft website and run it to see, in how far your hardware and your programs will be supported in Windows 7. Windows 7 itself will still be supported until 2020, so until then you will have a secure operating system with Windows 7 (which you do not have with Windows XP).
If you then upgrade to Windows 10 or not, is another question - when I have a look at your computer, then I am not sure, how fast Windows 10 will run on it. You possibly also have some hardware and programs in it, which is no longer supported in Windows 10. However, that is what you will then see in the upgrade tool, which you will have in Windows 7 after you installed all updates for Windows 7.

 

Actually, NO, you can not do a direct upgrade from XP to Win7 and keep anything. MS has traditionally only supported upgrading to the next OS release to preserve stuff. See the linked article: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...45dcf57?auth=1

So, basically, since you have to reinstall everything from scratch anyway, going from XP to Win10 is no different procedurally than going from XP to Win7 -- it's a totally clean install either way.

 

Oh, true. They call it "custom install", but it in fact does not keep things. I missed that.

Anyway, I still recommend that, if you want to upgrade, you should do that by going to Windows 7. That way you will have a secure system again and you save the option to upgrade to Windows 10, should you want to.

If you bought Windows 10 Home, you would not be able to go down to Windows 7. So should you not be satisfied with Windows 10 (e.g. because it is slow on your PC or because things are just not running), then you had spent money for something you cannot use.

 

You need to tell us what make and model computer you have and the graphics adapter. Your computer might not even be compatible with Windows 10 without some hardware upgrades even if it meets the specs for Windows 10 due to lack of Windows 10 drivers.