Windows 8 Upgrade Advisor

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I was reading about the upgrade pricing yesterday and a “Windows 8 Upgrade Advisor” was mentioned. I tried Binging it as well as searching on the MSFT site, but all I came up with said that it wasn’t available.

Anything different from you out there? the only thing Im concerned about would be my Lexmark Pro 700 Printer

thanks

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None of the Windows 8 related programs have reached the finish line yet. My understanding of the Windows 8 upgrade process is that the upgrade advisor will run automatically when you attempt an upgrade. As far as what to worry about – who knows? It all depends on driver compatibility and driver updates.

Joe

--Joe

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It appears that your printer has drivers for XP to Win 7. Quite a few devices work fine with either the default drivers or Win 7 drivers. Have you tried Win 8 RP? Does the printer work with it?

Many devices have not updated to Win 8 specific drivers yet. The first I have heard about is Nvidia Graphics Adapter. I would think that any devices that will be updated will have drivers before long. Those that do not might work fine with Win 7 drivers and S/W. My Canon Pixma MP 620 multi=function works fine with Win 7 drivers and Win 7 S/W (remember the printer talking to the OS is a driver function, the scanning, copying, etc., are functions of the installed S/W in multi-function devices.

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When I installed Windows 8 RP, it had a step that said something like “Checking for problems…” I suspect that is a built in Upgrade Advisor checking for incompatibilities based on your current installation and hardware.

Jerry

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The following is directly the Windows Blog:

“When you use Windows.com to purchase an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant makes upgrading simple by walking you through the upgrade process step-by-step from purchase to download and then of course installation.

The Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant will check to make sure your PC is ready for Windows 8. It will provide a detailed compatibility report that lets you know of anything you may have to address before or after the upgrade and outlines actions to take.

It will also inform you of any application or device compatibility issues. It will ask you what you want to keep from your current Windows installation. ”

It almost sounds as though it will be a wizard of sorts. For those not intimately involved with Win 8 this could be a big assist. In working both here and in a Win 8 Forum, and seeing the problems people are having with installing properly, this could be a big help.

As for me, I will do the Custom Install and Format during the installation. I like to start a new OS with a clean slate. I just do not want some of the past problems. (It seems like every time I tried an Upgrade, something unexpected happen and I ended up clean installing anyway.

I will take everything from my present Win 8 RP that I want to go into Win 8 Pro and save it in a folder on my data partition. Then I can just grab all this stuff and put it where it belongs.

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Ted, there’s no upgrade of Win 8 RTM over Win 8 RP. It’s only for Windows 7 or earlier. RP must be blown away and replaced with Win 7 or earlier (from the original MS blog posting and Comments attached to it). And once the upgrade is installed, there’s no going back to Windows 7.

I did the Win 8 CP to RP upgrade with the Upgrade Assistant. The DL is half the size of the ISO. And Upgrade Advisor gave useful information of what I had which would work, and what I had which might not work, and suggestions about how to fix some things. The Advisor is also an excellent DL Manager, and can be interrupted and resumed where it left off. The same advantages seem to carry over to the RTM Upgrade Advisor, at least for the Pro Edition.

For Dual-Booters, the blog clearly states that we will need the System Builder Edition, which will be offered at a “reduced price”, yet to be posted. Also, there is doubt as to whether System Builders will be allowed the free Media Center upgrade. (No loss for me, as I prefer free alternatives.) Home users will be allowed to use System Builder, but MS support will be limited or non-existent for this Edition.

All of this was posted in the MS blog posting and the Comments attached to it. And confirmed by several other online resources.

-- rc primak

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Bob,

The no going back thing is similar to what happens with all windows versions. You cannot downgrade, unless you clean install and you can always clean install Windows 7 or restore an image (which I think everyone would be advised to create before upgrading). So, the risks are the same as they were with previous Windows upgrades.

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Bob, I do realize everything you mentioned. My plan is to Custom (Clean) Install into my Win 7 partition (I will have a new Image just prior to doing this). I will burn the ISO File to DVD,

From the Windows Blog:
“Or if you prefer to format your hard drive as part of your upgrade experience, you can do so as long as you boot from media and then format your hard drive from within the setup experience for installing Windows 8, not prior to it.

After your download finishes, you can choose to proceed with the upgrade (“Install now”) or install later either from your desktop or by creating your own media. If you choose to create your own media, you will be able to create your own bootable USB or .ISO file which can be burned onto a DVD for upgrade and backup purposes.”

Then boot to the DVD, format my Win 7 partition and install Win 8 Pro there. After this I will install all the apps I wish to use, customize my OS as much as I wish, then create a full system Image of my new Win 8 Pro using Acronis. I will boot to the Acronis boot media and create the Image from outside Windows.

Afterward I will delete the Win 8 RP partition from within Win 8 Pro and then resize my Win 8 Pro partition to reclaim this space.

I feel comfortable that this procedure will work well.

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I feel comfortable that this procedure will work well.

I can also be comfortable with your plan :).

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I don’t suppose that there is a stand-alone windows upgrade advisor for Windows 8 (like there was with W7) that does not require the ISO download. Probably too early yet for something like this.
All I want to do at this point is check driver and software compatibilities, not download a beta ISO.

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I don’t suppose that there is a stand-alone windows upgrade advisor for Windows 8 (like there was with W7) that does not require the ISO download. Probably too early yet for something like this.
All I want to do at this point is check driver and software compatibilities, not download a beta ISO.

Actually, none of the Windows 8 Upgrade Advisors so far requires you to download the ISO. The installer is only half the size of the ISO. And yes, you can stop at the point where the advice results are displayed and not continue with the download. Nothing automatic about that step — you have to ask the Advisor to continue with the download. I’d do ithe download anyway, if I were already paying for the discounted upgrade.

A form of the Upgrade Advisor will also be available without deciding to buy the installer license key. Same as with previous Windows Upgrade Advisors for Windows 7 and Vista. Many people will take advantage of this opportnity to find out whether our hardware supports the key requirements for Windows 8 before deciding on upgrading or not.

My own run of the Win 8 RP Upgrade Advisor told me about drivers and software I might want to upgrade before installing the Win 8 RP upgrade, for example. That was before I committed to the installer download.

Of more interest to me as an continuing Win 7/Win 8 dual booter, will be an online walk-through for using the System Builder Edition to recreate the existing dual-boot configuration with the RTM on the Win 8 side.

-- rc primak

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I have not heard of this yet. Perhaps there will be at some point in time. Drivers are still being developed at this time. I know it appears both NVidia and AMD have certified graphics drivers available. Hardware.infolists both of these sites.

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Yeah, probably a bit early yet.
Thanks Ted.

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Microsoft has a harware/software compatability list here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/en-US/CompatCenter/Home

Jerry

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I would believe that Win 8 Pro will have very similar compatibility as Win 8 RP as shown in Jerry’s link.

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Since Win 8 RP can be upgraded to Win 8 Pro, your dual boot setup can continue with Win 7 and Win 8 Pro.

MS confirms Win 8 RP testerswill qualify for the $40 upgrade price.

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