WIndows Vista upgrade to Windows 10 device driver compatibility

3

I have a Windows Vista computer.

How can I check if all my hardware is supported by Windows 10?

I don't want to purchase it and then find out there are no drivers for the chipset or whatever.

posfan12

Posted 2015-06-02T02:40:51.540

Reputation: 525

There is not. There are tools to verify if your system will support Windows 7 though – Ramhound – 2015-06-02T02:49:51.117

You can try the Preview I suppose. – Karan – 2015-06-02T03:13:53.733

1

Download the current Win10 Preview (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso), create a bootable USB flash drive (Rufus) or burn a DVD-RW and test it. If the setup detects issues it will notice you.

– magicandre1981 – 2015-06-02T04:36:38.150

1It is worth pointing out. There is no upgrade path from Windows Vista to Windows 10. The reason I suggested Windows 7, is because you can install it using a generic key on another partition, and by doing so determine if drivers exist for your system. The only device you have to worry at that point is your display driver because the WDM changed between Windows 7 and Windows 10 by a significant amount. – Ramhound – 2015-06-02T13:10:18.903

So, the preview can be burned to disc and booted like a Ubuntu live cd? – posfan12 – 2015-06-02T20:10:26.003

Answers

3

What Microsoft has said so far about hardware requirement for Windows 10 Technical Preview, one could assume it will not change much if any for the final release.

System requirements:

Basically, if your PC can run Windows 8.1, you're good to go. If you're not sure, don't worry – Windows 10 will check your system to make sure it can install the preview.

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster

RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)

Free hard disk space: 16 GB

Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

A Microsoft account and Internet access

Source

Also there is this statement about W10 Preview

"Drivers for basic functions like storage, networking, input, and display come with Windows. These drivers allow you to complete the Windows installation and connect to the Internet. You might be able to get more drivers from Windows Update."

Source

This is all that is known at this point in time.

Moab

Posted 2015-06-02T02:40:51.540

Reputation: 54 203

You better tell Microsoft then, its what they said not me. – Moab – 2015-06-02T12:54:48.477

I wonder why they put it under "requirements" then, very misleading. You didn't ping, I check all responses to threads I post on. – Moab – 2015-06-02T13:29:53.383

I think you do need internet access if you want to activate Windows and continue using it. – Moab – 2015-06-02T18:00:59.567

Minimum specs don't mean there are working drivers however. – posfan12 – 2015-06-02T21:24:43.687

1These are hardware specs not driver specs. – Moab – 2015-06-02T22:03:19.773

Precisely. I'm interested in drivers. – posfan12 – 2015-06-04T06:08:21.450

I think those specs are released to manufacturers not end consumers. – Moab – 2015-06-04T12:06:02.380

So the only thing to do is try it out and see? – posfan12 – 2015-06-29T09:49:32.590

That's what I did. – Moab – 2015-06-30T17:09:22.587

1

MSDN win10 changes say about new WDDM 2.0 driver model. It changes interaction with GPU, so at least you need adapted to Windows 10 driver for video card ((

gavenkoa

Posted 2015-06-02T02:40:51.540

Reputation: 1 386