Windows 10 Old / Weak Hardware

[Skinner]

I have some laptops and netbooks floating around, currently runnining Windows XP, Vista, and 7 (I've never used window 8). They are mostly Duo Core around 1.67-1.93ghz and 1gb-3.5gb (32bit) ram, mixture of SSD and Mechs, mixture of shared dicreet and onboard graphics.

I've been reading that windows 10 is more streamlined, less resource hungry and generally sleeker (aside from privacy issues) so I'm thiking of moving the XP machine (at least) to Windows 10, as I have a few licenses from upgrades.

Just wondering if anyones played with it on older hardware ?

 

[Adam H]

Biggest problem ive seen is driver issues with older stuff, especially laptops. Its pretty hit and miss too though as I stuck windows 10 on an old XP machine for my granddad to use and it all worked perfectly apart from the SD card reader ( which he'd never use anyway ), where others have failed miserably to find any decent drivers. Even my Windows 8 Sony Vaio has borked slightly with the sound drivers , quality is terrible now listening to anything where on windows 8 it was like listening to a good quality soundbar.

Other than searching for those particular models to see if others have ran into issues , best thing to do is probably just give it ago...........keeping the recovery partitions if you can so you can roll back if it goes up the swanny.

 

[AssetDomains]

As adam says drivers can be an issue check the onboard graphics drivers are compatible these tend to give the most problems. got an old Toshiba running with 1gb ram general word-processing etc seemed fluid with the Microsoft basic graphics driver but it didn't enable hardware acceleration for video. even after forcing the vista graphics driver to install in compatibility mode acceleration still would not kick in and videos even YouTube were very choppy.
The exact same driver works flawlessly in the native vista that's on it

 

[Skinner]

They are all pretty much basic installs, nothing really on them. So nothing lost if it goes to hell.

I have never really used to XP machine it were picked up for testing, so think that will be my first victim.

Probably try the ms insider version first.

 

[Edwin]

Linux Mint should run great on just about anything, if you're looking for other alternatives. It turned an 11 year old laptop from a paperweight to something perfectly usable as a guest/casual machine I can leave in any corner of the house.

 

[Adam H]

It turned an 11 year old laptop from a paperweight to something perfectly usable as a guest/casual machine I can leave in any corner of the house.

Ideal for skyping from the west wing to the kitchen to ask for a cuppa tea hey Edwin , I can see every corner of the house from where im sitting now let alone losing a guest on a spare laptop in one

 

[Skinner]

I'm going to try putting the MS Insider version of 10 on before I upgrade one of my Win 7 licenses, see how it runs. If Win10 is a disaster, I'll may try Linux Mint. I anticipate driver issues though, but then I anticipate drivers issues with W10. The upside as the machines are not needed and once M$ ditches them, I'm not going to need them, so can have a play around.

 

[stellar73]

I've put Windows 10 on a number of old (Core 2 Duo) machines now without issue - I've always gone down the route of installing Windows 7 first then doing the upgrade from there. I know you can use Windows 7 licenses to directly install Windows 10 now but I prefer having the option to revert back to 7 if something goes wrong (you get 30 days after an upgrade in which you have the option to revert back). I've found Driver Booster 3 is helpful in locating drivers......Also, if you need any more cheap (but legit) Windows 7 licenses have a look at softwaregeeks.co.uk (currently £18.99 for Windows 7 Pro license)

 

[Adam H]

I've found Driver Booster 3 is helpful in locating drivers......Also, if you need any more cheap (but legit) Windows 7 licenses have a look at softwaregeeks.co.uk (currently £18.99 for Windows 7 Pro license)

Driver booster looks quite good thanks, pitty it only finds out of date drivers though, Ive got 3 things on device manager at the moment which I haven't got a clue what they are as all devices are working.

Is windows 10 a free upgrade from those £18.99 Win 7's ?

 

[Adam H]

Never mind softwaregeeks looks dodgy as hell. Purchasing the licence key and download links. Can anyone confirm they are using legit keys and not just using a key gen ?

 

[stellar73]

Never mind softwaregeeks looks dodgy as hell. Purchasing the licence key and download links. Anyone confirm they are using legit keys and not just using a key gen ?

They're not dodgy at all - I've bought 4 licenses from them - all work perfectly (including months down the line). I would never recommend anything on here that I didn't have personal experience of.....They explain clearly on their site that the licenses are taken from decommissioned PCs..... Look at the reviews for them for starters https://softwaregeeks.co.uk/testimonials/ (my own review in there too somewhere)

 

[stellar73]

Driver booster looks quite good thanks, pitty it only finds out of date drivers though, Ive got 3 things on device manager at the moment which I haven't got a clue what they are as all devices are working.

Is windows 10 a free upgrade from those £18.99 Win 7's ?

It is yes - I've upgraded all mine (x 4) to Windows 10 after installing 7 first

 

[BeachLife]

They're not dodgy at all - I've bought 4 licenses from them - all work perfectly (including months down the line). I would never recommend anything on here that I didn't have personal experience of.....They explain clearly on their site that the licenses are taken from decommissioned PCs..... Look at the reviews for them for starters https://softwaregeeks.co.uk/testimonials/ (my own review in there too somewhere)

Do they send you a piece of hardware to go with the CoA?

 

[Skinner]

Honestly the issues I've had with the Vista Machine today, M$ is making piracy look attractive.

I have 4 licences complete with sticker and original disks, NONE of them will activate. When I click the get help to activate, it offers help to activate. When you visit this, it tells me how to connect to a friend who knows more, tells me where I can buy a new license of takes me back to the pop up. The pop up gives me the option to get help, buy a new license or continue in trial mode.

There is no way to contact MS, the old phone system to re-activate is gone, nothing, so yeah I wonder why people use keygens.

My plan were go for Vista with full working drivers etc, then upgrade to 7, then to 10 hopefully keeping drivers etc.

I imagine I'll have the same problem with Win7, I'm going to try again on the weekend.

 

[stellar73]

There is no way to contact MS, the old phone system to re-activate is gone, nothing, so yeah I wonder why people use keygens.

My plan were go for Vista with full working drivers etc, then upgrade to 7, then to 10 hopefully keeping drivers etc.

Contact them here - they will call you back or you can chat online (it says current wait time only 1 minute), you have to log in with your Microsoft account first though which is a minor pain.

I don't think you can upgrade from Vista to 7 for free anyway. Have these licenses been used before? If so you might need to get Microsoft to de-license them from original machines (assuming they're retail licenses). If they're not retail and are OEM you'll only be able to reinstall them on same machine anyway but best bet just to call Microsoft.

 

[Skinner]

I'll have to dig out all the licences, I have a mix of OEM, OA and Retails. The Vista to 7 are upgrade licenses. I assume these upgrade licenses can be upgraded to 10.

Such a head ache :/