Technical Level : Basic
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Summary
Compatibility testers are available for Windows 7, 8.1 & 10.
The Windows 10 compatibility tester cannot run on Windows XP or Vista but a substitute is available.
Details
1 Test for compatibility with Windows 7 & Windows 8.1
1.1 If you plan to install Windows 7 or 8, you need to check your computer’s hardware & software compatibility with the new OS.
Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Download[This can run on WinXP & Vista] - see also Windows 7 system requirements
Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant - download[This can run on WinXP & Vista] - see alsoWindows 8 system requirements
1.2 In addition to providing information about the chances of a successful installation, the compatibility reports will alert you to any hardware components that you will need to pay attention to afterwards.See Where to get hardware drivers.
2Test for compatibility with Windows 10
2.1 If you plan to install Windows 10, you need to check your computer’s hardware & software compatibility with the new OS. Review the Windows 10 System requirements carefully; whilst it starts off with a simple table of requirements, there is an awful lot tucked away in its details [see also my section 3 below].
- If you are using Windows 7 SP1 or 8/8.1, use the Windows 10 upgrade checker [GWX]. I am not sure but I think that if you have Windows 7 pre-SP1 and do not want to complete that update first, you might have to use the same substitute compatibility checker that I suggest for XP & Vista users.
- If you are using XP or Vista you will have to use a substitute compatibility checker because the Windows 10 upgrade checker [GWX]cannot run on Windows XP or Vista.So, for XP & Vista, run the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistantinstead as that does run on those OSs.TheWindows 10 System requirementsand the Windows 8 system requirementsare just about the same so the results will still be useful.
2.2 In addition to providing information about the chances of a successful installation, the compatibility reports will alert you to any hardware components that you will need to pay attention to afterwards. See Compatibility report for Windows 10 FAQ - Windows Help &Where to get hardware drivers.
3Additional Windows 10 system requirements
3.1To install a 64-bit OS on a 64-bit PC, your processor needs to support CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, and LAHF/SAHF.This is stated in Windows 10 System requirements but is tucked away near the end [Additional requirements to use certain features section, four bullet points up from the end]. The Windows 10 upgrade checker [GWX] and Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant check all these items.
3.2 Early versions of the Windows 10 System requirements stated that the CPU must support SSE2, NX, PAE extensions [a requirement that was introduced for Windows 8.1]. Whilst current versions of the Windows 10 System requirementsstatement do not include this constraint, a forum user reported on 18 April 2016 that lack of support for NX extensions was given as the reason for failure during an attempted upgrade to Windows 10. The Windows 10 upgrade checker [GWX] and Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant check for these items. For further information about SSE2, NX, PAE requirements, see
What are PAE, NX, and SSE2 - Windows 8.1 Helpand note in particular its statement that CPU NX extensions might be available but turned off in the BIOS.
Your PC's CPU isn't compatible with Windows 8,10where some alternative BIOS names for these extensions are mentioned.There is no need to use the Microsoft SysInternals tool that is referred to.
4Install Windows 10 as a test before parting with any money
4.1 Even if your computer is compatible you might find that Windows 10 does not perform very well. It does make tougher demands on your hardware then previous OSs and applications can be noticeably slower.
4.2 Just by way of example, I have Windows 10 running well on a twelve year old Dell Inspiron 9300 with just two problems [that I have managed to work around] yet I was in touch in the Dell forums with another user of the same model with apparently the same specs but his Windows 10 problems proved insurmountable.
4.3 You won't know if it works until you try it. So even if it passes all the tests, get yourself a system imaging utility such as Macrium Reflect [free edition] and make a system image of your computer] before installing Windows 10.
- There is guidance on using it on their website and also at Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - TenForums.
- You will normally also need to make a Macrium Reflect rescue disk.
- A system image will enable you to get back to where you started so that you do not destroy your original OS.
4.4 You can install Windows 10 by booting the computer from installation media created using the Media creation tool. Make sure you choose the right Windows 10 in the choices you make here so that you can avoid any need to reinstall if you do decide to buy it.
- If your review of the Windows 10 System requirements indicates that you can use 64 bit [x64] Windows 10 then you can choose that for its faster processing capabilities. If not, or if you think that you will be in other respects pushing the specs, choose 32 bit [x86].
- To decide whether or not you want Windows 10 Home or Pro, see the comparison chart in this Wikipedia article comparing Windows 10 editions. As far as home users are concerned, the only difference that is likely to matter is encryption [EFS, Bitlocker] as it is only available with Windows 10 Pro.
- During your test installation you will be asked to provide a product key but you can skip that and the installation will complete so that you can test your computer with Windows 10. The installation will not be activated so it can only be used for a limited time before limitations start to be imposed [I do not know how long this will be or what limitations will appear].
4.5 If you currently have Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1, you might still be able to upgrade for free. See Get Windows 10 upgrade still - GroovyPost
Denis
Before deploying Windows 10, it's a good idea to check the readiness of your existing machines running Windows 7, 8/8.1, Or even Windows 10.
In this blog post I will use setup.exe with /compat scanonly switch to check the compatibility without performing the upgrade. The reason for not choosing the Upgrade task sequence for this job is to avoid sending the whole 3.5 GB source files over the network.
Package & Command line
Here's the command line with switches to silently check the compatibility. setup.exe /Auto Upgrade /Quiet /NoReboot /Compat ScanOnly
Windows 10 Software Compatibility List
Since the clients don't need to download the full set of source files to check the compatibility, as the setup.exe only validates the existence of the files which can be even on a network share. Instead of creating a package with full set of source files, all i am using is a 1KB batch file to call a network share where the source files are located.
Command line of the batch file: -
start /wait <ServerShare>setup.exe /Auto Upgrade /Quiet /NoReboot /Compat ScanOnly
exit /b %errorlevel%
The client will still download some source files which is significantly less than the whole set. Here's a snapshot of the SMB traffic during this operation -
Program
The program for the package above simply executes the batch file. Based on the above network traffic, you might want to set the estimated disk space and the Max allowed run time.
It should run regardless a user is logged on or not.
Results
The resultant output of the scan results is not the typical 0 for success, refer the table below for the list expected Decimal Output returned by ConfigMgr and Hex Code returned by the windows setup log files.
Reporting
For reporting purposes, you can leverage the attached report which takes the package name as input. Refer the screenshot below.
The above package can also be called out in a Task Sequence where you can add additional steps to capture logs in case of failure. Attaching the exported TS for reference.
Step 1 – Add an Install Package step to run the above package. Make sure you check the box Continue on error in the Options tab.
Step 2- Add a group to Capture Logs if the result is anything other than -1047526896 which is Success/No issues found.
Step 3 – Map Network Drive to a server share where you want to dump the log files
Step 4 – Create Folder for each computer.
Step 5 – Copy the Log files to the network share.
Step 6 – Copy the XML files to the network share.
Step 7 – Disconnect the Network Drive
Reporting – TS
Refer the attached report which takes the Task Sequence name as input to display the compatibility results. Screenshot below.
Download Reports - Note – The reports are built using SSRS 2016 schema.
Download Windows 10 Compatibility Checker Tool
Legacy Reports - For importing into SSRS 2008 R2, 2012 & 2014
Download Windows 10 Compatibility Checker Download
Thanks,
Download Windows 10 Compatibility Checker
Arnab Mitra