To perform the upgrade, launch Windows 8 Setup while your existing version of Windows is running. You can’t upgrade by booting your PC from Windows 8 Setup.
Unlike earlier versions of Windows, in Windows 8 you can’t easily bypass entering the product key. Windows Setup hasn’t made any changes to your PC at this point, so if you don’t have a product key, just close Setup and restart it when you have a product key. If you enter a product key that has already been used, Windows Setup will continue, but you’ll be required to purchase a new product key once Windows 8 is running.
The Choose What To Keep page presents a very important choice:
● Keep Windows Settings, Personal Files, And Apps Choose this option (available in Windows 7 and Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 or later only) to migrate everything to Windows 8. This is the right choice for most people.
● Keep Personal Files Only This option forgets your Windows settings (such as your desktop background) and your apps. This is the right choice if you are upgrading from Windows XP. If you’re using Windows 7, choose this option only if you haven’t customized Windows and the only app you use is a web browser.
● Nothing This performs a clean install of Windows 8, deleting all your files, apps, and settings. Only do this if you want to start completely clean and you have anything important backed up to an external hard drive.
If you choose Keep Personal Files Only or Nothing, Windows Setup will move the data it couldn’t migrate, including the data in your Program Files and Documents And Settings folders, into C:\Windows.old, so you can access it after setup is complete. You will need to reinstall every app that you need.
If you choose to keep your apps, Setup will analyze your apps to determine if there’s anything that definitely won’t work in Windows 8. It prompts you to uninstall those apps to continue setup. The compatibility report for my ultrabook shows two hardware related apps. While both those apps provide important functionality in Windows 7, Windows 8 has hardware support for those components built in, so I can uninstall the apps and still be able to use my trackpad and wireless.
You might have to restart your computer and then start setup again after uninstalling the apps. However, if an app’s uninstaller warns you that you need to restart your PC for the changes to take effect, you can probably ignore the warning and continue with setup. If there are any apps you absolutely need that Windows 8 does not support, you have a few options:
● Upgrade to Windows 8 and run the app with compatibility settings “Adding, removing, and managing apps.” This won’t work for some apps, however.
● Upgrade to Windows 8 and run an earlier version of Windows within a virtual machine. Then, install the app in the virtual machine. This will work for many apps, but it might not work for games or apps that require a specific hardware accessory.
● Install Windows 8 separately from your current Windows installation, and then dualboot your PC. This will allow you to start either your existing Windows installation or Windows 8. However, Windows Setup will not automatically migrate your apps and settings.
Once you begin the installation, Windows will take about 20 minutes before it prompts you to personalize Windows. The process closely resembles that used to perform a clean installation of Windows 8.
All your hardware, including Bluetooth accessories, should work properly during Windows 8 setup. If you need to run a command to configure hardware, press Shift+F10 to open an administrative command prompt.
The Sign In To Your PC page will prompt you to enter your email address. We’re so accustomed to entering our email address in forms that it would be easy to overlook the significance of this step. If you enter your email address, your existing local account will be associated with a Microsoft account, and Windows 8 will use your Microsoft account for future logins and to synchronize your files. I’m a huge fan of using a Microsoft account, but if you prefer to keep your login local, choose Skip on the Sign In To Your PC page.
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