Now that Microsoft has announced the official launch date for the final version of Windows 10 and allowing Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users to reserve their free upgrade copies, many of you might be wondering what edition of Windows 10 you would get when you upgrade to Windows 10.
While Windows 10 is available in a total of seven editions, actually there are just two desktop editions available for end-users: Windows 10 Home, and Windows 10 Pro. As with the case of previous Windows versions, the Enterprise edition is suitable and available for mid to large enterprises only.
You get these editions when you upgrade from Windows 7/8.1 to Windows 10
If you’re coming from Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic or Home Premium edition, you’ll get Windows 10 Home edition as part of free upgrade. Likewise, Windows 7 Professional and Enterprise users will be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro edition.
Users who upgrade from Windows 8.1 will be offered Windows 10 Home edition and those who come from Windows 8.1 Pro will get Windows 10 Pro edition. As simple as that!
That said, users who get Windows 10 Home edition can upgrade to Windows 10 Pro buy purchasing the upgrade license.
* If you’re on Windows 7, you must download and install the Service Pack 1 in order to upgrade to Windows 10 via Windows Update.
** Likewise, it’s not possible to upgrade from Windows 8 but Windows 8.1. Please download and install all available updates to prepare your Windows 8.1 PC for the upgrade.
Read this before upgrading to Windows 10
For those who are wondering, the Home edition of Windows 10 includes all the features minus some business-oriented features present in the Pro edition.
Finally, there are a few points you need to remember when upgrading your Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 installation to Windows 10. The following are some of the points that you should know before upgrading to Windows 10.
# None of the editions of Windows 10 include Windows Media Center. If you’re running an edition of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 with Media Center, the feature will be removed during the upgrade process. Windows 10 is bundled with an app to play DVDs.
# Those of you who want to grab the free upgrade offer must perform the upgrade before Windows 10 turns a year old, meaning you must upgrade before July 29th, 2016.
# You can upgrade to Windows 10 without losing most of the installed programs. Upgrade Assistant might ask you to uninstall some security programs though.
# You can upgrade to Windows 10 without losing your personal data.
# The Aero glass transparency theme is not present in Windows 10, just like Windows 8/8.1. One can enable Aero glass in Windows 10 with the help of third-party tools, though.
# Desktop gadgets are not part of Windows 10. Again, one can install Windows 7 desktop gadgets in Windows 10 by downloading Desktop gadgets for Windows 10.
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