Could one hypothetically upgrade a computer from Windows 95 to Windows 8

Hypothetically, could you start with a computer running Windows 95, upgrade this to Windows 98, then upgrade this to Windows XP, then upgrade this to Vista, then to 7 and finally to 8 (consumer preview)?

What state would the OS be in after so many upgrades? Would any of the native Windows 95 apps still be sticking around in Windows 8?

Has anybody done anything like this before?

I don't need to do this, I am just asking out of curiosity!

Thanks

JMK

Posted 2012-03-26T17:08:10.043

Reputation: 2 839

8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPnehDhGa14 it's not windows 8, but.. – Raystafarian – 2012-03-26T17:12:14.130

Somebody else has been as bored as I am right now! +1 – JMK – 2012-03-26T17:13:57.010

computers 'rot' over time. if it is possible, any errors the Microsoft people made will be compounded with each upgrade and it may result 'bad things' or strange behavior.... even if it is possible (probably so I think) it would be a bad idea. – conspiritech – 2012-03-26T17:14:21.223

1I don't really understand the question; if the computer hardware meets the system requirements than any OS would run, regardless of the previously installed OS – Nate Koppenhaver – 2012-03-26T17:14:41.953

Not just asking about whether or not it would run, but if the upgrade process would work the whole way through. – JMK – 2012-03-26T17:15:49.660

1http://catb.org/jargon/html/B/Bad-Thing.html – conspiritech – 2012-03-26T17:19:13.147

1@JMK the upgrade process would probably work, but the original system would have to be upgraded so much that when you eventually arrived at Windows8, it would basically be a completely different computer – Nate Koppenhaver – 2012-03-26T19:17:40.430

Is it possible? Yes, it should be. Will it work? Well, again, yes, it should since the upgrade process wipes out a lot of the parts of the old version. Will it be like a fresh install? Of course not‼ Will it run any good? Probably. Is it desirable? Only as a brief novelty on a test system, otherwise it is better to use a backup program to migrate files and settings to a fresh install. – Synetech – 2012-10-26T19:01:31.607

Answers

I see no reason why it wouldn't be possible.

However, the original hardware would need to be upgraded so much to get the newer OSs to run that in the end you'd basically have a completely different computer.

Also, regarding your question about the native Win95 apps: Newer versions of Windows (I'm not sure about Windows8 though) are backwards compatible with applications written for an older version of Windows, with a few exceptions: I haven't been able to find a way to get WinVista to run 16-bit DOS apps, and if a program is incompatible with WindowsNT it won't run on NT and above

Nate Koppenhaver

Posted 2012-03-26T17:08:10.043

Reputation: 3 523

I see, would there be any middle ground here? As in, would there be any 32 bit high end servers/gaming machines floating around from the 90's that could run Windows 95 and also just about manage Windows 7? – JMK – 2012-03-26T20:12:58.147

@JMK not really. the Cray T3E (a high-end supercomputer from the late 90s) would not be able to run Windows 7. Also, around the Windows95 era, a gaming computer was one with 32 megs of ram and a 200mhz processor

– Nate Koppenhaver – 2012-03-26T21:10:20.480

That's fascinating! Could I ask why not? The 675 MHz processor is a bit below the 1GHz required but I've seen videos before where Windows 7 has run on similar (especially with 40 cores) and you can get 512MB ram in there, and a 1TB hard drive! You could probably use this for Facebook, if you used Chrome and were willing to forego antivirus? Or is it not x86? – JMK – 2012-03-26T21:20:23.667

Also I don't think the Cray T3E could handle Aero, you would be stuck with Windows Basic =( – JMK – 2012-03-26T21:21:42.587

@JMK you need 1GB of RAM minimum for Win7. You're also right about the graphics processing not being up to par; nowadays, most mid-end graphics cards can outperform that computer (the T3E)

– Nate Koppenhaver – 2012-03-27T03:50:49.590

1That's like that old philosophical question. If you have an axe, and you replace the handle, and then some time later you replace the head, is it still the same axe? – dangph – 2013-02-26T22:49:04.193

Technically, yes.

Of course, the upgrade to Windows 2000 (between 98 and XP) would be followed by converting the FAT16 partition to an NTFS partition. Then Windows 2000 can be upgraded to XP.

Andrew J. Brehm

Posted 2012-03-26T17:08:10.043

Reputation: 4 411

But, if the Windows 95 system isn't ACPI, then no. – LawrenceC – 2012-03-26T17:31:57.580