Can I Install Windows 7/8.1 On Windows XP Computer?

Windows XP, the most successful desktop operating system in terms of market share, is going out of support on April 8^th, 2014. Microsoft has been doing its best to move Windows XP users to Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1, but millions of users are still happily using the aging Windows XP.

A couple of days ago, Microsoft in partnership with PCmover software released a free tool named PCmover Express for Windows XP to help millions of Windows XP users easily move data and Windows settings to a higher version of Windows.

If you’re still running Windows XP, we recommend you upgrade to a higher version of Windows such as Windows 7, Windows 8, or the latest Windows 8.1 before the 13 year old operating system goes out of support to avoid security issues. And if you’re not sure if your PC supports Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, you can use the official upgrade assistant software.

Check if Windows XP computer supports Windows 7

Minimum hardware requirements to install Windows 7:

1 GHz or faster processor

1 GB of RAM for 32-bit Windows 7 or 2 GB of RAM for 64-bit Windows 7

16 GB of free disk space to install 32-bit Windows 7 or 20 GB for 64-bit

DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

The best way to check if your PC running Windows XP supports Windows 7 is to download, install and run the official Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor software. The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor scans your PC for installed hardware, devices and applications and offers you suggestions. For instance, you can easily know if your antivirus program and printer is compatible with Windows 7. And if for some reason, you start experiencing issues with Windows 7, how to downgrade from Windows 7 to Windows XP guide should help.

Visit this page to download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, double-click on the installer to begin installing the same. Once the installation is done, Upgrade Assistant will automatically start and scan your PC for installed hardware and software. If your PC’s hardware is compatible with Windows 7, you’ll see your PC supports Windows 7 message and an option to upgrade to Windows 7.

As you should know, although one can upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 by keeping data and Windows settings, it’s not possible to keep installed applications during the upgrade, meaning that you need to re-install all programs after upgrading the installation to Windows 7. Also note that you might need to upgrade device drivers after the upgrade.

Test if your Windows XP PC compatible with Windows 8/8.1:

Windows 8/8.1 system requirements:

1 GHz or faster processor with support for PAE, NX and SSE2

1 GB of RAM for 32-bit or 2 GB of RAM for 64-bit

16 GB of free disk space to install 32-bit Windows 7 or 20 GB for 64-bit

DirectX graphics device with WDDM driver

While Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant can be installed on Windows XP, the official Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant doesn’t work on Windows XP, meaning that you have no option but to run Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant software even if you want to install Windows 8.1 on your PC. As some of you know, all programs and devices that support Windows 8 are fully compatible with Windows 8.1 as well.

The catch? One can’t directly upgrade Windows XP installation to Windows 8.1. That is, you need to uninstall or remove Windows XP first and then install Windows 8.1, as the Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant doesn’t work on Windows 8.1 (see difference between Windows 8 and 8.1). However, if you want to directly upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 8.1 without having to remove the XP installation first, you need to upgrade to your Windows XP installation to Windows 8 first and then upgrade the installation to Windows 8.1 by installing necessary updates (free) from the Windows Store.

If you don’t want to remove or uninstall Windows XP, you can install Windows 8/8.1 in dual boot with Windows XP.