Where to Begin with Windows 10

Where to Begin with Windows 10 A migration to Windows 10 doesn t have to be tough. Understand the basics of the all-new OS and its upgrade process, and you ll be well on your way. BY BRIEN POSEY SUCCESSFUL REQUIRE ANTICIPATION

EDITOR S NOTE Answering Key Windows 10 Questions SUCCESSFUL When I started working on SearchEnterpriseDesktop, I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. The information that IT administrators need about Windows isn t always easy to find and it s often difficult to digest. There are so many versions and editions of the OS, each with its own quirks, and every organization s deployment is unique. As a result, Windows admins have some really important questions, especially when it comes to Windows 10: Is it really free? How do I get it? Should I upgrade? What do I need to know before I migrate? How the heck do I get off Windows XP? This three-part guide answers those questions. For starters, only some versions of Windows 7 and 8.1 are eligible for the free upgrade, and there are a few steps in the download process that might seem a little foreign. Getting continued updates from Microsoft is different in Windows 10, too. Instead of the monthly Patch Tuesdays of the past, smaller and more frequent fixes and feature updates will come down the pike. And as for the question of getting off Windows XP, the answer is simple, but it s not one admins will necessarily want to hear: Get ready for a clean install. Keep reading to learn even more about the shiny new Windows 10 operating system. n Margaret Jones Site Editor TechTarget End-User Computing Media Group 2

UPDATE UPGRADE Windows 10 Brings Major Update, Upgrade Process Changes SUCCESSFUL Whether your shop runs Windows XP, 7 or 8, deciding on a Windows 10 upgrade is no easy task. Microsoft is taking a completely new approach with Windows 10 and the migration process comes with some steps you might not be familiar with. At least one thing remains the same, however: The first thing IT shops must look at when upgrading to a new OS is the licensing cost. Windows 10 is available as a free upgrade from Windows 7 and 8.1, but there are some important caveats. For example, the upgrade is only free for one year, so eligible users can only take advantage of it until July 29, 2016. If you haven t migrated to Windows 10 by then, you must purchase a Windows 10 license if you want to upgrade. A Windows 10 Home Edition license currently sells for $119, and a license for Windows 10 Pro costs $199. Additionally, some OSes aren t eligible for the free upgrade; Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise and Windows RT/RT 8.1 don t make the cut. The edition of Windows you re upgrading from controls the edition of Windows 10 you receive: Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium all upgrade to Windows 10 Home Edition; Windows 7 Professional upgrades to Windows 10 Professional; and Windows 7 Ultimate upgrades to Windows 10 Ultimate. Windows 8.1 (the standard edition) and Windows 8.1 with Bing both have free upgrades to Windows 10 Home Edition. Win As long as your organization applies the patches Microsoft makes available, your Windows 10 migration shouldn t cause too much trouble. 3

UPDATE UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL dows 8.1 Pro including Windows 8.1 Pro for Students has a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro. Windows Phone 8.1 will go to Windows 10 Mobile. Editions of Windows 7 and 8.1 that are not listed are not eligible for a free upgrade. HOW TO GET THE FREE UPGRADE Shops must make sure their patches are up to date before moving to Windows 10. As long as your organization applies the patches that Microsoft makes available, your Windows 10 migration shouldn t cause too much trouble. Make sure your current Windows deployment is activated and ensure that Windows Update recognizes your version of the OS as genuine. Once you have done that, the next step is to run the update process until your machine has every available update. Assuming your edition of Windows qualifies for the free upgrade and your machine is up to date, Windows Update will install a component known as the Get Windows 10 app. It appears on the taskbar in the notification area and the icon looks like the Windows logo. Click on the icon and the Get Windows 10 app will open. It provides a set of upgrade instructions, but all you really have to do is to click Reserve Your Free Upgrade. Upon doing so, you will see a message indicating that your upgrade has been reserved, which puts your machine in the queue for download. You will get a notification once Windows 10 is ready to install. You can install it right away, or you can pick a time that is good for you. The download file is about 3 GB, so you must make sure that your device has enough free space to accommodate the download and complete the installation process. The Get Windows 10 app is only necessary if you plan to use Windows Update to make the transition from Windows 7 to Windows 10, however. If you are instead planning to use an image file to deploy Windows 10, then the Get Windows 10 app is not required. GETTING UPDATES Windows 10 is slated to be the last major Windows desktop release, but that does not mean Microsoft is abandoning the Windows operating system. The company is just taking a 4

UPDATE UPGRADE different approach than it has in the past. Microsoft used to deliver a new version of Windows every few years. Customers had to pay a licensing fee to get the upgrade, and then they had to work through a sometimes-painful migration process. The other disadvantage to this upgrade model was that customers had to wait for long periods of time to get updated features. Microsoft s new approach to OS deployments involves perpetual updates to the Windows 10 operating system that regularly add new functionality to Windows 10. It is probably unrealistic to think that Windows 10 will really be the final Microsoft Windows operating system, but it will likely be the last one released for quite some time. Microsoft s approach is not entirely unprecedented. Google takes a similar tack: It uses an automatic update process that ensures that Chromebooks always run the newest version of the Chrome operating system. n SUCCESSFUL 5

PLAN PROPERLY Successful Migrations Require Anticipation SUCCESSFUL Once you ve decided to upgrade to Windows 10, there are two components to consider: applications and hardware. The key to a successful upgrade is thorough planning and performing some test upgrades to make sure your plan will work as intended. It s also critical to anticipate issues such as application and hardware compatibility, cost and bugs. Perhaps the most important step in preparing for a Windows 10 migration involves compiling an application inventory and verifying that those applications work correctly with Windows 10. The upgrade leaves applications and most of your system settings intact, but there is no guarantee your applications will continue to function after the upgrade. There are two especially common mistakes that are often made during this process. The first involves neglecting to verify that the application will survive the upgrade process. It s one thing for an application to be compatible with Windows 10, but it s quite another for the application to run on Windows 7 or 8.1 and then suddenly be on Windows 10. Most of the applications that work with Windows 7 and 8.1 seem to be able to handle the upgrade to Windows 10, but there are exceptions. The other common mistake that often occurs when shops evaluate applications is neglecting to test infrastructure applications. For example, if desktops run an older antivirus application, that software may not work with Windows 10. You may need to patch an application prior to the upgrade. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS Another thing to consider is desktop hardware. Any time you perform a desktop operating system upgrade there is a possibility that you ll have to upgrade some hardware, too. In most 6

PLAN PROPERLY SUCCESSFUL cases, a desktop that can comfortably run Windows 7 or 8.1 will probably also be able to run Windows 10 without any problems. Even so, it is important to perform a desktop hardware inventory and compare it against the official hardware requirements for Windows 10. The minimum hardware requirements for Windows 10 include: A 1 GHz or faster CPU 1 GB of RAM (2 GB for the 64-bit version) 16 GB of free disk space (20 GB for the 64-bit version) A video card that supports DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0 A display that supports at least a 1024 x 600 resolution The minimum hardware requirements for Windows 10 vary slightly between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. If you will perform an inplace migration, then the version of Windows 10 you get matches the version of Windows 8.1 you had. In other words, if you currently run the 32-bit version of Windows 8.1, then the upgrade process installs the 32-bit version of Windows 10. If you have the 32-bit version of Windows 7 or 8.1 and you want to move to the 64-bit version of Windows 10, you won t be able to perform an in-place upgrade. Instead, you have to perform a clean install. Some Windows 10 features have special hardware requirements you must keep in mind. For example, Windows Hello requires a special camera, you need a touch screen to take advantage of gestures, and you need a microphone if you want to give Cortana voice commands. Plus the number of apps that Windows 10 can display on the screen simultaneously depends on your video resolution. NOT SO FAST: WHY AVOID AN UPGRADE Upgrading to a brand new OS isn t always the smartest move. In the majority of cases, upgrading to Windows 10 probably won t cause significant problems, but there are some situations where it may be ill-advised. One potential issue for people considering an upgrade to Windows 10 is application compatibility. Most applications that run on Windows 7 or 8 should work with Windows 10, but there 7

PLAN PROPERLY SUCCESSFUL are no guarantees. If you discover that a critical line-of-business application does not work with Windows 10, you would need to hold off on upgrading to Windows 10 until the application vendor has a chance to address the compatibility issues. Another problem that could stand in the way of upgrading to Windows 10 is hardware compatibility. Generally speaking, a computer that can run Windows 7 or 8 should be able to run Windows 10, but it is impossible for Microsoft to test every hardware configuration. It is conceivable that there are machines running Windows 7 or 8 that cannot run Windows 10 efficiently. Yet another reason you might hold off on upgrading to Windows 10 is that the upgrade isn t free for enterprise environments. Organizations that run the Enterprise edition of Windows must pay for the upgrade. This doesn t mean that you shouldn t upgrade, but rather that you should plan for the cost involved. Finally, as with any new operating system there may be undiscovered bugs. You may opt to wait for a while to upgrade so Microsoft can discover and address some of these bugs. If you discover a critical application doesn t work with Windows 10, hold off on upgrading until the app vendor can address compatibility issues. Still, mainstream support for Windows 7 is over, and although extended support is available until 2020, it s time to begin thinking about a Windows 10 migration. When it comes to Windows 8, there s less of a draw to migrate, but its reputation as a user-hated OS could have some sway on whether shops should take the plunge to Windows 10. If your machines are eligible for the free upgrade, that s also a push in the migration direction. n 8

GET OFF XP Tips, Tricks and Tools for XP-to-Windows-10 Migrations SUCCESSFUL If your shop continues to run Windows XP, you should consider making an eventual transition to Windows 10. But that migration won t be smooth for everyone: Microsoft doesn t support in-place migrations, and leapfrogs are risky. For most shops, the best option is to perform a clean install of Windows 10. Windows XP reached the end of its extended support period in April 2014. The operating system continues to function, but many hardware vendors no longer create XP drivers. As a result, it s not in most IT administrators best interest to keep their shops on XP. Transitioning from XP to Windows 10 is a bigger undertaking than migrating from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Microsoft doesn t offer XP users free upgrades and doesn t support inplace upgrades from XP to Windows 10. In some situations, it is possible to perform a leapfrog upgrade from the 32-bit editions of XP to Windows 10, but Microsoft doesn t support that process, and it s impractical in most cases. A leapfrog migration first requires an upgrade from XP to a comparable edition of Windows Vista. You must then upgrade from Vista to Windows 7, and ultimately from Windows 7 to Windows 10. This process works, but it is filled with gotchas; any one of them can potentially bring the entire migration to a screeching halt. Only IT shops with no other alternatives should consider this approach. Microsoft recommends a clean installation of the new operating system, but that requires a lot of planning. UPGRADE PLANNING 101 Start by performing a comprehensive hardware and software inventory of all the desktop computers in your organization to determine whether or not they meet the hardware requirements for Windows 10. 9

GET OFF XP SUCCESSFUL During the hardware inventory, remember that Windows XP is an older operating system and it may run on older hardware. Some older PCs could meet the minimum requirements to run Windows 10, but they may lack the resources to run it efficiently. It is also Assessment and planning tools can help jumpstart Windows XP to Windows 10 migration preparation, but ultimately there s no substitute for testing. relatively common for older computers to have hardware problems that do not manifest themselves until a major operation, such as a transition to a new operating system. Shops that plan to reuse existing desktop hardware should have some spare parts on hand just in case any problems show up. One of the problems with not being able to perform an in-place upgrade to Windows 10 is that you must reinstall all desktop applications on the new operating system. Dealing with these applications is by far the most challenging part of the migration process. In preparing for a migration to Windows 10, there are four questions shops must be able to answer with regard to desktop applications: What applications do workers use? Are these applications compatible with Windows 10? Do we have the installation media, or some way of installing of the applications? How will we prove that the application migration works? Determining which applications workers use is relatively easy. There are countless utilities available that can compile software inventories across desktop computers. Things get a little trickier when it comes to determining application compatibility for Windows 10. UPGRADE TOOLS AND TESTS Microsoft s Assessment and Planning Toolkit is a free utility that can help analyze PCs and determine their level of readiness. The builtin inventory tool can show which applications workers use throughout your organization, but it also provides information on whether 10

GET OFF XP or not each application is compatible with Windows 10. The Assessment and Planning Toolkit can help jumpstart Windows XP to Windows 10 migration planning, but ultimately there is no substitute for testing. The only way to know for sure whether the migration will be success- ful is to set up a pilot deployment program. Pick some power users who have non-critical job functions and let them try out Windows 10. These users should be able to report back any issues that they might find, which you can address before rolling out Windows 10 to the entire organization. n SUCCESSFUL 11

ABOUT THE AUTHOR BRIEN POSEY is a seven-time Microsoft MVP with two decades of IT experience, with expertise in SharePoint administration. During that time he has published thousands of articles and has written or contributed to dozens of IT books. Prior to becoming a freelance writer, Posey served as CIO for a national chain of hospitals and healthcare facilities. He has also worked as a network administrator for some of the nation s largest insurance companies and for the Department of Defense at Fort Knox. Where to Begin with Windows 10 is a SearchEnterpriseDesktop.com e-publication. Colin Steele Associate Editorial Director Margaret Jones Site Editor Linda Koury Director of Online Design SUCCESSFUL Neva Maniscalco Graphic Designer Josh Garland Publisher jgarland@techtarget.com TechTarget 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA 02466 www.techtarget.com STAY CONNECTED! Follow @EntDesktopTT today. 2016 TechTarget Inc. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. TechTarget reprints are available through The YGS Group. About TechTarget: TechTarget publishes media for information technology professionals. More than 100 focused websites enable quick access to a deep store of news, advice and analysis about the technologies, products and processes crucial to your job. Our live and virtual events give you direct access to independent expert commentary and advice. At IT Knowledge Exchange, our social community, you can get advice and share solutions with peers and experts. COVER ART: FOTOLIA 12