Computer users who have been using Windows XP for years without upgrading to Windows Vista or Windows 7 may want to upgrade to Windows 8. Microsoft has already announced that Windows XP users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 till January 31st, 2013.
If you have downloaded ISO file from your MSDN or TechNet account and not sure how to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 8, complete the below mentioned steps to upgrade your existing XP installation to Windows 8. We suggest you check out our Windows 8 editions comparison and decide the suitable edition for you before purchasing your copy of Windows 8.
Please note that Windows XP users, unlike Windows 7 users, won’t be able to keep installed programs and Windows settings during the upgrade. All installed programs and Windows settings will be deleted. Also note that users who are running Windows XP 32-bit won’t be able to upgrade to Windows 8 x64.
We recommend you have at least 20 GB of free disk space on your Windows XP drive. Make sure that your computer meets Windows 8’s minimum system requirements before upgrading to Windows 8. Also make sure your PC’s processor is compatible with Windows 8 to avoid receiving “Your PC’s CPU isn’t compatible with Windows 8” error during installation.
Procedure:
Step 1: Switch on your PC and boot into Windows XP.
Step 2: Insert your Windows 8 DVD or connect Windows 8 bootable USB to your PC (your can either use Refus tool or our create bootable USB guide). And if you have the ISO file, you need to either mount the ISO file using our how to mount an ISO file in Windows guide or extract the ISO file to a folder using 7-Zip (free), WinZip or WinRAR software.
Step 3: Open up the DVD drive and double-click on Setup.exe file to launch the setup. And if you are using the bootable USB, open the USB drive and then do a double-click on setup.exe file to run the setup. If you have extracted the ISO file, simply open the folder where you have saved extracted files and run Setup.exe file.
Step 4: On the first screen, you will see two options: Go online to install updates now (recommended), No, thanks option.
Select No, thanks and click Next button to proceed to the next screen. You can install all available updates after installing Windows 8.
Step 5: On this screen, you need to enter the product key. Enter the 25 character product key and then click Next button to proceed to the next screen. The product key should be with the box the DVD came in or on your email receipt.
Step 6: On the next screen, select I accept the license terms and click Accept button to continue.
Step 7: Here, select Keep personal files only and click Next button start installing Windows 8. As mentioned earlier in this post, Windows XP users will be able to keep only Personal Files during the upgrade. All installed programs and Windows settings will be deleted.
Step 8: The Windows 8 setup will scan your system to make sure that your PC meets Windows 8’s minimum system requirements and other issues that may prevent the upgrade process. Once the scan is done, you will see Install button. Click Install button to begin the installation.
Your PC may restart twice or thrice during the installation.
Step 9: Once the installation is done, you will see the Personalize screen where you pick color for the Start screen background, and tiles. You can change select a different color after completing the upgrade process.
Step 10: In a while you will see the Windows 8 Start screen. Good luck!
Samia Phillipos says
Hi
Can you pleases send me the easiest instruction is how to install Win 8 on XP Toshiba pc 3 years old
Or how can I upgrade from XP to Win 8 without installing Win 7
Thanks
Gary says
Billy,
I just did. It went fairly smoothly. I had read somewhere that it was better (or required) that the user upgrade first to Win 8 from XP, then go through a separate upgrade from Win 8 to Win 8.1. I did a disk image backup first using a free program called Paragon. Then, working from the report from the Microsoft Windows 8 Upgrade Advisor, I saved and/or downloaded various program and driver files since it appeared that I might need to reinstall drivers after the upgrade. I used another free program called DriverMax to back up the drivers efficiently. However I did NOT try to update the drivers in DriverMax since there seemed to be so many complaints about this part of DriverMax in the comments on CNet.
Another preparation that I did was to download the installation files for the software apps that I would need to install right away, so that they would be right there on the laptop when the Win 8 upgrade was completed. This saved a lot of Web surfing and downloading at that point.
After those preparations I popped the Win 8 upgrade disc into my laptop and began the upgrade. There were four or five restarts performed by the upgrade program, and it finished up in about 45 minutes. After that I added over a hundred updates using Windows Update. That took a few hours, but I could do other things during most of that time.
The result was a clean installation of Windows 8 with at least some generic drivers for all the parts of the laptop that I needed to operate it. To get back the Start button I downloaded a utility called Start8. This worked great on my WIn 8.1 desktop and it works well on the my laptop too. That way I don’t have to mess with the Metro (aka Modern Apps) interface most of the time.
Now to finish up installing the rest of my application programs . . .
Ann says
Right now am using windows xp,and the only cd that I have when I purchase my pc is wordperfect office 12.its that the cd I have to upgrade windows xp to windows 7 or 8 with.thank you.
billy roy says
if anyone has I would like to hear from,their experiences ?
billy roy says
but who has successfully upgraded from win xp to windows 8 ?