Windows 10 Hardware Checker

[leachim]

I am sure there used to be a utility you could run to check to see if W10 could run on your (older) computer

Is it still available to download ?

Thanks

[renegade600]

the easiest way to find out if you computer can run win10 is to go to the computer manufacturers website, search for your specific computer model in their drivers section and see if there are win10 drivers. if they do, it is compatible, if not, then do not upgrade. the hardware test you are asking for are unreliable.

[Digerati]

I agree with Dan. If your hardware maker has not made W10 drivers available, don't do it.

Is it still available to download ?

There never really was such a program. If you already had Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 installed and you didn't mess with the Windows Update defaults, an update called the "Get Windows 10" app would be installed on your system. It would then scan your computer to determine if your computer was compatible.

Unfortunately, as Dan noted, it was not very reliable. If it reported your hardware not compatible, it probably wasn't. But sadly, it often reported hardware as compatible when in reality, it was not. In fairness to Microsoft, this was not always Microsoft's fault. In many cases, it was due to computer (especially notebook) makers modifying drivers making them proprietary. If these modifications were never logged in whatever databases kept track of the 1000s and 1000s of different hardware devices out there, Microsoft would never know to look for them.

Still, it seems apparent many of the failures to properly identify incompatible hardware was indeed Microsoft's fault so in no way am I letting the off the hook. And FTR, while I agree with their goal of moving everyone to W10, clearly their methods were poorly planned, executed, and managed. But that's for another discussion.

If you are upgrading a system originally designed for and running Windows 8.1, your odds of success are very much in your favor.

But if an older machine originally designed for and running W7, your odds, while still good, decrease. And they further decrease if the system was originally running an even older version of Windows and was upgraded to W7.

Having said all that, W10 is, by far, the most secure version of Windows to date, and getting more secure as it continues to evolve. For that reason alone, upgrading is a desired goal - especially if currently running an insecure OS like XP. Note Vista is no longer supported either and even W7 "mainstream" support ended 3 years ago!

If you want to try it anyway, make sure you have backed up any data you don't want to lose (whether system is totally compatible or not!).

Otherwise, I would urge you to start budgeting for modern hardware that does support W10, or migrate to a modern version of Linux.

[leachim]

Thanks - much appreciated !