Later this summer most of us will be upgrading our current operating system to Windows 10, and while Microsoft has already confirmed that the next version will be free for most of the major version of Windows the upgrade paths were still unclear.
Today, the software giant at the WinHEC conference in China, has revealed a few more details about Windows 10, including pirated copies of Windows will also qualified to upgrade for free, but also shared some details on the upgrade path options.
Microsoft will offer two ways path to upgrade to Windows 10: the first one is via an ISO file and the second option is by using Windows Update.
Those users running Windows 8 and Windows 7 can use the ISO file to create an installation media or use the update process using Windows Update to move to Windows 10. However, some iterations of Windows will only be possible to upgrade using an ISO file, as you can see in the “Upgrade Matrix” screenshot below.
As the chart details, all major versions of the operating system will upgrade to Windows 10 – this includes all iterations of Windows 7 and Windows 8. In the other hand, if you’re running Windows Phone 8, you must upgrade to Windows Phone 8.1 before moving to Windows 10 for phones.
As expected, Windows RT will not have an upgrade path to Windows 10 as Microsoft is moving away from this operating system. However, the company has promised some Windows 10 features will come as an update to Windows RT devices.
Don’t get confused, the chart only shows the upgrade paths. If you’re still running Windows Vista or Windows XP, chances are that your PC will run Windows 10 just fine, but you’ll need to do a clean install using an ISO.
This perhaps will be the easiest upgrade process we’ve ever seen with Windows, and seeing that it’s also a free upgrade, we can expect that the adoption rate will be pretty impressive after Windows 10 releases later this year.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].