Confirmed: Windows 10 Due July 29; Plus Upgrade Paths

Microsoft has confirmed Windows 10 will be available July 29, 2015. It's also advising those who wish to take the plunge to Windows 10 do some prep work before installing the new operating system.

The date is a minor surprise as, more often than not, previous Windows editions came out in the fall. Fall release dates are usually meant to target people buying new PCs for the new academic year, or for the Christmas shopping season. That may be less relevant, however, as Windows 10 is a free upgrade.

Windows 10 Upgrade Paths

The upgrade process should be relatively simple, starting with the choice of editions for consumers.

Put simply: if you are upgrading from a Professional or Ultimate edition of Windows 7 or 8.1, you will get Windows 10 Professional. All other consumer editions of Windows will upgrade to Windows 10 Home. The upgrade is free as long as you install it on your system within a year, meaning before July 29, 2016.

Rather than have users visit a website and fill in forms to get Windows 10, Microsoft is releasing a dedicated application to manage the whole process. It will appear automatically as part of the regular update process, though users will need to be running either Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows 8.1 in order to qualify for the upgrade.

Reserve Free Windows 10 Upgrade Now

Once the "Get Windows 10" application has been activated, users will see a white Windows icon in the notification area of the taskbar (next to the clock). The "Get Windows 10" program is noted by the executable "GWX.exe" according to Windows Task Manager, and for many users, became activated yesterday.

Clicking on the "Get Windows 10" icon will bring up the option to "reserve your free upgrade." Once this option is selected, Windows will download some files now and the rest on July 29 to complete the installation. Users can manually change when the files will be downloaded and installed. (Source: pcworld.com)

The "Get Windows 10" application will also scan the computer to check that it meets the hardware specifications needed for Windows 10, and that users are not missing any key driver files. For the most part, machines that run Windows 7 or 8.1 should cope fine.

Some Programs May Be Affected By Upgrade

It's considered very solid advice to perform an entire system backup before Windows 10 is scheduled to install.

Microsoft says most files and programs should be unaffected during the upgrade, but there are some exceptions. The main exceptions are that Windows Media Center will be removed and users may need to get a separate program for playing DVDs, such as VLC Media Player.

Windows will also automatically uninstall any anti-virus software running on the system during the installation, in order to avoid any potential conflicts. Once Windows 10 is in place, it will automatically download and install the latest antivirus edition from the relevant manufacturer, but users should make sure to check this has worked properly. (Source: microsoft.com)

Windows XP Upgrade to Windows 10: Pricing

Microsoft has also revealed the pricing for those unable to take advantage of the free upgrade, including users running Windows XP. The upgrade cost will be $119 for Windows 10 Home, and $199 for Windows 10 Professional. If users get Home and later decided to upgrade to Professional, it will cost a further $99.

Recommended Prep Work before Installing Windows 10

Many users in the past have asked if Windows 10 should be installed fresh or as an upgrade. It appears that the rollout due July 29, 2015 will come as an upgrade. This means it will be installed 'over top' of the existing Windows installation, leaving existing programs and data in place.

As such, we highly recommend that users backup their existing operating system using a disk image backup (with a program such as Acronis True Image), in case the upgrade fails to install. For this reason, many tech professionals always recommend performing a 'fresh install' of Windows (which means formatting the hard drive and starting new), so that there are no chances of a failed installation. If the installation fails, it will likely be difficult to extract and reclaim data.

To date, not much has been made public regarding the download of the "full install media", but we suspect that information will become available as the July 29 release date approaches.

On a side note: if you require help backing up your system, you may contact Dennis for remote desktop support. He can help you to install Acronis True Image, set up the backup for you, and / or advise you on what needs to be done to ensure that you are prepared before Windows 10 deploys.

What's Your Opinion?

Do you plan to upgrade to Windows 10 from day 1? Will you take advantage of the one-year deadline to instead "wait and see"? Or are you happy with your current system and believe that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."