If you’re an older Windows system and looking for upgrading it to Windows 10, then this article is for you. Well, upgrade from your existing Windows OS to Windows 10’s any edition will be only possible, if an upgrade path exists.
So you must have clear information about the possible upgrade paths for your existing older Windows edition. This article will share you those upgrade paths, which can help you to get upgrade to right edition you’re looking for.
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Windows 10 Upgrade Paths
Following are the upgrade paths possible for most selling Windows editions. This is referenced from Microsoft and full upgrade paths can be found here.
Here, ‘Upgrade possible‘ means you can upgrade using ISO file. This upgrade should preserve your settings, files/data, applications. While ‘Downgrade possible‘ means if you’ve the license for edition resulting after downgrade, you can make clean install for that. Note the downgrading via product key isn’t available.
| Existing Windows OS↓ |
Windows 10 Home |
Windows 10 Pro |
Windows 10 Pro Education | Windows 10 Education | Windows 10 Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 7 Starter | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | N/A |
| Windows 7 Home Basic | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | N/A |
| Windows 7 Home Premium | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | N/A |
| Windows 7 Professional | Downgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible |
| Windows 7 Ultimate | Downgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible |
| Windows 7 Enterprise | N/A | N/A | N/A | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible |
| Windows 8.1 Core | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | N/A |
| Windows 8.1 Connected |
Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | N/A |
| Windows 8.1 Pro |
Downgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible |
| Windows 8.1 Pro Student | Downgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible |
| Windows 8.1 Pro With WMC | Downgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible |
| Windows 8.1 Enterprise | N/A | N/A | N/A | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible |
| Windows 8.1 Embedded Industry | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Upgrade possible |
| Windows 10 Home | In-place upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | N/A |
| Windows 10 Pro | Downgrade possible | In-place upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible | Upgrade possible |
| Windows 10 Education | N/A | N/A | N/A | In-place upgrade possible | Downgrade possible |
| Windows 10 Enterprise | N/A | N/A | N/A | Upgrade possible | In-place upgrade possible |
| Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Upgrade possible |
Important points:
Hope you find the article informative!
Also check: A Quick Comparison Of Windows 10 Editions.
2 Comments
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Hi, I am trying to upgrade my Windows 8.1 installation to Windows 10. I downloaded Windows 10 ISO and created a DVD. I opened the DVD using File Explorer and ran setup and after “”We’re getting a few things ready” It says that Windows isn’t activated on this PC and it is asking me for the Windows 10 Product Key.
Now, prior to running setup I cloned my hard disk and am working with the cloned drive. The drive seems to work and the Product Key is the same as on the original drive and I am able to download Windows Updates. Could cloning the hard drive cause this problem? If I go ahead and do a clean Windows 10 install on my clone will I be able to go back and install my original drive with Windows 8.1 if I do not want to keep Windows 10?
Thanks,
Frank
^^ Cloning might have cause the issue, but I am not sure if it is the only culprit. See if cloning termination helps you in this case.