Best way from Vista to Win 10

[MrComputerSaint]

Wondering what the best way is from Vista to Windows 10?

Customer has a laptop with Windows Vista on it, they want Windows 10 installing. Should I get an OEM version of Win 10 to install? £70 - £80 at the moment seemingly.

[DDY]

Firstly, have you checked that all the important devices, even down to small things like the touch pad have Win 10 drivers that work?

I have upgraded several Vista era laptops to Win 10 and a few of them don't have full functionality due to the lack of drivers, the touch pad being notable amongst them.

Regardless, going from Vista to Win 10; a fresh install is the only route. The in place upgrade to Win 10 only works with Win 7 onwards.

The OEM or system builder Win 10 licence is one of the cheapest options, while the cheapest option I can think of is taking advantage of the free Win 10 upgrade offer with a Win 7/8/8.1 upgrade licence.

[MrComputerSaint]

Firstly, have you checked that all the important devices, even down to small things like the touch pad have Win 10 drivers that work?

I have upgraded several Vista era laptops to Win 10 and a few of them don't have full functionality due to the lack of drivers, the touch pad being notable amongst them.

Regardless, going from Vista to Win 10; a fresh install is the only route. The in place upgrade to Win 10 only works with Win 7 onwards.

The OEM or system builder Win 10 licence is one of the cheapest options, while the cheapest option I can think of is taking advantage of the free Win 10 upgrade offer with a Win 7/8/8.1 upgrade licence.

I have not checked the devices. The customer hasn't given me the laptop at the moment. I'll find out the model number and do a bit of research. Thanks for the heads up.

Would you think this could be any good?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Microsoft-...sAAOSwvU5XMw~h

They say I'd get a piece of RAM from the original machine, however the MS OEM re-seller support basically says it needs to be the motherboard.
https://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/lic...?hashlink=faq3 - search for upgrade.

[DDY]

I would avoid cheap Windows or any other software licence keys for that matter, I'm sure you've got that gut feeling that something's not quite right.

Often, these cheap licence keys are 'recycled' OEM keys e.g. pulled off an existing machine, or they're bulk licences. Either way, these keys are dodgy and may be spontaneously black-listed, resulting in a 'Windows is not genuine' deactivation.

Forget the myth about Windows licences and accompanying hardware, in my experience a seller who insists on shipping a a bit of hardware along with a Windows key is selling a dodgy key. Anyone is permitted to buy a legitimate Windows system builder licence without an accompanying bit of hardware.

EDIT: I've just realised I contradicted myself in my earlier post, a fresh install isn't the only route, but I wouldn't advise an in place upgrade, Vista > Win 7 > Win 10! Even with an upgrade licence, it's possible to do fresh installs.

[EndlessWaves]

If you can't get an OEM version any cheaper than £70-80 legitimately then I would be going for a Retail version as it's hardly any more money (~£85) and comes with a couple of perks, notably the ability to install it on other computers in future.

[MrComputerSaint]

I would avoid cheap Windows or any other software licence keys for that matter, I'm sure you've got that gut feeling that something's not quite right.

Yeah I do

Often, these cheap licence keys are 'recycled' OEM keys e.g. pulled off an existing machine, or they're bulk licences. Either way, these keys are dodgy and may be spontaneously black-listed, resulting in a 'Windows is not genuine' deactivation.

Forget the myth about Windows licences and accompanying hardware, in my experience a seller who insists on shipping a a bit of hardware along with a Windows key is selling a dodgy key. Anyone is permitted to buy a legitimate Windows system builder licence without an accompanying bit of hardware.

EDIT: I've just realised I contradicted myself in my earlier post, a fresh install isn't the only route, but I wouldn't advise an in place upgrade, Vista > Win 7 > Win 10! Even with an upgrade licence, it's possible to do fresh installs.

I know and I realised the upgrade route and I wouldn't advise it either

Thanks EndlessWaves, I'll check that out

[noveltylamp]

A friend of mine had problems with wifi drop-outs on his vista-era laptop moving to Windows 8 (and 10) which were not a problem under Vista or Win7. The problem being no Win8+ drivers being available and the old driver didn't work properly. The only fix being to swap out the card for one with an up to date driver. Just something else to check.

You could perhaps pop in a spare hard drive or take an image of the existing and then install the Win 10 evaluation version and see what works/doesn't work before spending the money? It would probably greatly benefit from an SSD too